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The Stone Roses: Made of Stone

I’m due for a confession. For as much as I tout myself as a great fan of alternative rock and all sub-genres that fall under that description, I only recently (in the past three years) began to regularly listen to English rock legends The Stone Roses. Still, it’s not too shocking. As fans of music, we all experience our own “eras” or “phases.” But it seems now more than ever, I’m coming around to the rich contributions that the UK offered to the rock music of the eighties and nineties.  It’s not that I’ve been completely blind to it, it’s just that I’m now immersing myself in it.

I recently watched The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, a 2013 music documentary directed by Shane Meadows that follows The Stone Roses' reunion after 16 years of inactivity. It's a great introduction and introspection into this often overlooked band. What’s documented is some prefacing and history of the band, woven with footage of them at work and at play, rehearsing their music and preparing for a long-awaited tour across Europe which climaxes with three celebrated shows at Heaton Park in their hometown of Manchester. Amongst all this, the film shows and supports just how strong the legacy of The Stone Roses is.

A quick history: The Stones Roses were formed in 1983, and are widely considered a pioneering group of “Madchester," a British music scene that was cultivated in Manchester, England (hence the play on words) during the late 1980s. The sound that is associated with Madchester is one that blends alternative and psychedelic rock with elements of dance music. Bands like James, The Charlatans, and The Stone Roses are easily dubbed as some of the innovators of the scene. But, like many musical scenes before and after it, Madchester eventually declined and evolved into the next, one that interestingly seems to split with the emergence of groups like Blur, Oasis, and The Verve covering the rock aspect, Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead embracing a much more electronic and beat-based sound, and just to keep things interesting and still innovative - “shoegazing” arose as the new UK music focus on the heels of Madchester. 

It took them a bit to take off, but when they did, it was a fast and furious ride. Their first headlining show was is January 1985, and was followed by a Swedish tour that spring. Shortly after, they began to work on a debut album but shelved it when becoming unhappy with the results. But persistence paid off, and in the spring of 1989, that debut album was released. The Stone Roses has since become a landmark album in alternative rock. From the start, The Stone Roses knew they had something good, and they were almost annoyingly arrogant about it. In the early days, after not receiving the local attention they thought they were due, Ian Brown and Reni (singer and drummer, respectively) embarked on a D.I.Y. promotional graffiti spree, tagging their name on walls all around Manchester. Ian Brown, the group’s singer, had some pretty memorable quotes from early interviews with NME, “We’re the most important group in the world because we’ve got the best songs, and we haven’t even begun to show our potential yet” and “We haven’t been there. America doesn’t deserve us yet.”

A big part of their lasting legacy is their rapport with the press; a number of interviews during their time of growing popularity were very uneventful, and by that I mean that they would often stonewall journalists, sitting in complete silence and answering curtly with unabashed sarcasm. In their defense though, some of the interviews I’ve heard, like the one featured in the film, consist of irrelevant and loaded questions.  Despite this seemingly bratty tactic, The Stone Roses maintained a prominent place in music news, press and publications for the majority of their active years.

The Stone Roses were very impactful in their home country, and judging from the film they are probably bigger in the UK now than they were during their creative years, most likely because there have been more than two decades for their music to resonate with a more global audience. It’s beautifully displayed in the section of the film that documents the Warrington show at Parr Hall, the first gig on their 2012 reunion tour. Announced as a surprise show the morning of and with only an 11-song set list, it was intended as a warm-up show for the following reunion tour. The film shows footage of fans young and old running to the venue to get in line, hoping to get one of a limited amount of tickets available. Of course it wasn’t that easy. The Stone Roses kept things interesting and added a catch - in an effort to bring in the most die-hard and dedicated fans, you had to have with you one of three specific items in order to qualify for a ticket: A Stone Roses CD inlay, an official band T-shirt, or a ticket to the already announced Heaton Park shows (tickets that sold out in about 15 minutes).

The section of the film that shows the build-up to the Parr Hall concert, and the show itself, is something very special and easily my favorite moment of the film. Here is a clip of them opening the show with “I Wanna Be Adored," a classic track from their first record, and a perfect choice to begin such a memorable evening. The energy and atmosphere in the building grips you, even viewing it on a screen, and when watching this portion of the film it’s nearly impossible to not say “I want to be there.” For anyone who has deeply appreciated or loved a band for their music, you can easily relate to the fans who received tickets and are beaming with delight, as well as the fans who get shut out, posted up outside the venue walls all night long, listening, imagining and mourning. For those who know and love The Stone Roses, or even for those who don’t, this is a great film documenting a band whose importance has yet to fade away, and still has room for recognition.

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