The Stone Roses - In Profile

The Stone Roses are hailed as one of the most influential British bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

It all started in 1985, when old school friends John Squire (guitar) and Ian Brown (vocals) regrouped their existing band English Rose (also known at various times as The Patrol and The Waterfront), and brought in Reni - full name Alan John Wren - (drums), Andy Couzens (guitar), and Pete Garner (bass).

Couzens and Garner left the band in 1986 and 1987 respectively, but are considered to have had a great influence on the band's style during their time. Replacement bassist Mani - full name Gary Mounfield - joined shortly afterwards, and the scene was set for the band's first single release So Young on the Thin Line Records label. Their second single Sally Cinnamon attracted more interest and helped lead the band to their first proper recording contract with Silverstone Records in late 1988. Their third single, and the first released on the new label was Elephant Stone, followed by Made Of Stone and She Bangs The Drums which was the band's first UK Top 40 single. The Stone Roses' success began to grow as they played sell-out gigs in Manchester and London.

The band released their first album, the self-titled The Stone Roses in 1989, followed by a double A-side single:What The World Is Waiting For / Fools Gold. Fools Gold reached number 8 in the UK singles chart in November 1989, success which triggered a series of re-releases. Around this time, it transpired that the band's deal with Silvertone Records was not favourable, and a long legal battle followed. The band eventually managed to get released from their bad contract after a court case, and signed a multi-million pound deal with Geffen Records in 1991. The last single released on the Silvertone label was One Love in July 1990, which reached number 4 in the UK charts.

The Stone Roses are considered by many to have been part of the "Madchester" scene - a musically productive era based around the city of Manchester, England, along with bands such as the Happy Mondays. Some fans dispute that the Stone Roses were part of the Madchester scene at all, indeed The Stone Roses weren't on the Factory Records label as most of the Manchester bands were. Ian Brown reportedly took offence to any such inference. Whether or not you consider them to be part of that scene or not, they certainly grew as a band during that time, and had a great influence on many of the bands of the era, and many others since, including many of the "Britpop" bands around in the mid to late 90s. Liam Gallagher of Oasis has attributed his desire to be a rock star to watching a Stone Roses gig, and the band's style influenced The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets, Blur and many other legendary bands, both in musical and vocal style.



The Stone Roses long-awaited second album Second Coming did not materialise until 1994, five long years after their iconic debut, delayed by their long-running battle with Silvertone Records, and had a more guitar/rock style courtesy of John Squire's influence, however it was not well-received by the music press. Love Spreads was the first single release from the new album, reaching number 2 in the UK charts. The following year saw the beginning of the end of The Stone Roses - Reni and John both left the band replaced by Robbie Maddix and Aziz Ibrahim respectively. The band continued for a further year before splitting in October 1996 .

• John Squire went on to form The Seahorses, who enjoyed one successful album in 1997 before splitting. A solo album "Time Changes Everything" was released in 2002, followed by "Marshall's House" in 2004.


• Reni formed a new band "Rub", featuring former Stone Roses band member Pete Garner, and also recorded a solo album *.


• Mani took his bass-playing talents to the band Primal Scream in 1998.


• Ian Brown has released four solo albums to date, the first of which, "Unfinished Monkey Business", was released in early 1998. Aziz Ibrahim played guitar on several tracks on that album, and has also co-written much of Brown's solo material.