Guilty Pleasure: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
I have always loved The Stone Roses‘ self-titled debut album from 1989. As far as guilty pleasures go, it’s hardly dancing around the house to Queen in your underpants, but it’s a high.
The humble beginnings of Britpop, before Liam Gallagher anointed himself the rising phoenix from the ashes of John Lennon, can be heard on tracks like “Made Of Stone”, “This Is The One”, and “I Am The Resurrection”. They were influenced by the post-punk scene in Manchester, but their sound isn’t as dark, nor nearly as minimal. If you like Oasis, they liked The Stone Roses. If you hate Oasis, The Stone Roses were much, much better.
I recommend taking this album as an album and listening to it from beginning to end, but that said, almost every track can stand up on its own. I love the bass intro on “I Wanna Be Adored”; “She Bangs The Drums” is a good, solid 80s dance song; and I can’t not sing along to “Made Of Stone”–even though I finally cared to notice what it’s about. Google those lyrics, man, seriously.
I do attribute my extreme fondness for this album partly to the fact that it was the soundtrack to my first real time away from home. I was alone on a long train ride with nothing but a book and a discman. I listened to “Waterfall” with my cheek stuck to the window; I bounced through the traincars to “Fools Gold”. But honestly, years later and sedentary, I can say that it’s one of those “journey” albums whether or not you take it on the road.
Nowadays, the Roses are no more. Ian Brown does his own thing. John Squire has The Seahorses. You might know Mani from Primal Scream. And Reni. . . what’s up with Reni these days? All I know is, nearly 20 years later, The Stone Roses remains a gem.
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Elizabeth no need to feel guilty for the stone roses. Considering this is usually in the top half of almost every “best of” list of the 80’s albums and is one of the landmark albums of the britpop resurgence. Although “I wanna be adored” sounds exactly like the smiths and in fact the album really does sound alot like Marr and the gand its still a damn good album. Same cant be said for thier second album though.
I put down The Stone Roses as a guilty pleasure because I still relate to the album like it’s some kind of personal secret, but yeah, it most certainly ain’t no secret, especially in the UK.
It is a pity about that second album, but hey, one great album is still a big deal.
Or well, a big deal. . . more like, something to take pride in.
YES, YES and YES
Great great album. I never would have considered it a guilty pleasure, but I guess there are reasons for it to be one. And yes, “Made of Stone” is pretty fucked up. A group of my friends and I loved the song and decided to cover it for a school event. Only then did we realize just what it was about.
Cheers EG,such great tunes.As a fan of the roses back in the dreadful late 80’s transition to the awful early 9o’s,it’s a bit nice now to realize how awesomely brilliant they were.
They still stand the test of time 20 years on and better.
“I don’t have to sell my soul,He’s already in me”!
Hi Grunge.Goodbye crappy metal.To have attitude with style back then was definitely not topping the charts here in the USA.
Yeah, I can’t conceive any situation where this would be considered a “guilty pleasure.” This album is considered great by all kinds of critics and music snobs. And it is great. A guilty pleasure is something like Girl You Know It’s True.