Greatest Band

The Stone Roses are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchestermovement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's most successful lineup consists of vocalist Ian Brown, guitaristJohn Squire, bassist Mani, and drummer Reni.

The band released their debut album, The Stone Roses, in 1989. The album was a breakthrough success for the band and garnered critical acclaim, with many critics regarding it as one of the greatest British albums ever recorded. At this time the group decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label. Their current record label, Silvertone, would not let them out of their contract, which led to a long legal battle that culminated with the band signing with Geffen Records in 1991. The Stone Roses then released their second album, Second Coming, which was met with lacklustre reviews in 1994. The group soon disbanded after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, which began with Reni first departing in late 1995, followed by Squire in April 1996. Brown and Mani dissolved the remains of the group in October 1996 following their appearance at the Reading Festival.

Following much intensified media speculation, The Stone Roses called a press conference on 18 October 2011 to announce that the band had reunited and would perform a reunion tour of the world in 2012, including three homecoming shows in Heaton Park, Manchester. Plans to record a third album in the future were also floated. In June 2012, Chris Coghill, the writer of the new film which is set during the Stone Roses 1990 Spike Island show, revealed that the band "have at least three or four new tracks recorded". In June 2013, a documentary about the band's reformation directed by Shane Meadows and titled The Stone Roses: Made of Stone was released.

Ian Brown (at the time the bassist) and guitarist John Squire, who knew each other from Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, formed a short-lived Clash-inspired band called The Patrol in 1980 along with singer/guitarist Andy Couzens and drummer Simon Wolstencroft. They played several gigs in 1980 and recorded a demo tape, but towards the end of that year decided on a change of direction. Brown had got a taste of being a frontman during the last Patrol show, singing The Sweet's "Blockbuster" to close the set, with the band's friend/roadie Pete Garner standing in on bass, and Couzens wanting to concentrate on guitar. The band members lost enthusiasm in 1981, Brown selling his bass guitar to buy a scooter, and Wolstencroft joined the pre-Smiths band Freak Party. Squire continued to practise guitar while working as an animator for Cosgrove Hall during the day, while Brown ran a Northern soul night in aSalford club. Squire and Couzens started a new band, The Fireside Chaps, with bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, later recruiting a singer named Kaiser and drummer Chris Goodwin, and changing their name to The Waterfront (after the film On the Waterfront), their sound influenced by 1960s groups and contemporary bands such as Orange Juice. Goodwin left before the band recorded their first demo and, shortly after the demo, Squire asked Brown to join as singer. A meeting with Geno Washington at a party at Brown's flat in Hulme, in which Washington told Brown that he would be a star and should be a singer, convinced Brown to take Squire up on his offer. Brown joined The Waterfront in late 1983, for a time sharing vocals with Kaiser.

Like the earlier attempts at bands, The Waterfront fizzled out, but in late 1983 Couzens decided to try again at starting a band, and approached Brown. They decided on Wolstencroft (who had turned down the job of drummer in The Smiths) as drummer and Pete Garner as bassist (despite his admission that he could not play anything but "Blockbuster"). They also decided that they needed Squire in the band, and when he agreed the band's line-up was cemented. Leaving their previous bands behind, they worked solely on new material. Brown's vocal limitations prompted him to take singing lessons for three weeks. After rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with 'The Stone Roses'. Several stories later emerged suggesting that the band had initially been called 'English Rose' or that the name was somehow linked to The Rolling Stones, but these were untrue, Brown explaining "No, I don't know where that English Rose story came from. John thought up the name 'Stone Roses' - something with a contrast, two words that went against each other". The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall's band The Colourfield. They got Goodwin to rejoin, but he lasted for only one rehearsal, so they advertised for a replacement and began auditioning, eventually recruiting Alan Wren in May 1984.

After rehearsing and writing songs over the summer, they recorded their first demo in late August, making 100 cassettes, with artwork by Squire, and set about trying to get gigs. They played their first gig as the Stone Roses on 23 October 1984, supporting Pete Townshend at an anti-heroin concert at the Moonlight Club in London, Brown having sent the demo with an accompanying letter stating "I'm surrounded by skagheads, I wanna smash 'em. Can you give us a show?". The show was seen by journalists including Sounds‍ '​ Gary Johnson, who arranged to interview the band a few weeks later. The band received management offers and more gigs soon followed.

Howard Jones, who had recently left his job as manager of The Haçienda, producer Martin Hannett, and Tim Chambers agreed to work with the band on an album, setting up Thin Line Records to release it, with Jones taking on management of the band, although they had already made a similar agreement with Caroline Reed in London. The band got their first positive press in late December, with Johnson tipping them for success in 1985 in Sounds, with a feature on the band following in January.