I got into the Stone Roses completely backwards. Before I ever heard this album, I was already a huge fan of Manchester music without realizing it: Oasis, New Order, the Smiths, etc. Then I read an article about the biggest British bands that never really broke in America, and the Stone Roses were basically the example. So in January 2017, right after Trump got inaugurated, I threw the album on during my commute to work.
The first thing that hit me was how much this album feels tied to a specific place and time, late-'80s Manchester. It sounded like a world I knew nothing about but immediately wanted to know more about. I ended up going down a rabbit hole reading books about the band and the whole Madchester scene, listening to Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets and their contemporaries. Looking back on it now, I think my obsession with this record and associated scene was probably a reaction to the start of Trump's first term.
I remember standing on the platform at Allegheny Station in the freezing air, staring down at Kensington Ave. beneath me while the country felt like it was openly moving toward fascism, and this album was an escape. I wanted to be literally anywhere else.
What makes the album work for me is that the rhythm section is really the star of the show (something I tend to look for). Mani and Reni lock into these grooves that almost feel more dance music than rock music, while John Squire's guitars just shimmer and swirl all over everything. Ian honestly isn't a great singer, but it weirdly doesn't matter. The vocals add to the atmosphere instead of dominating it, much like early R.E.M.
My favorite lyrics:
"Sometimes I fantasize, when the streets are cold and lonely, and the cars they burn below me. Don't these times fill your eyes?"
"I'd like to leave the country, for a month of Sundays, and burn the town where I was born..."
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