(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister



Her hair
Soft drifted snow
Death white
We die tomorrow

Well she hates
All that she does
But she gives
It all that she's got

Until the sky turns green
The grass is several shades of blue
Every member of parliament trips on glue

Until the sky turns green
And the grass is several shades of blue
Every member of parliament trips on glue

It takes all these things and all our time
Till my sugar spun sister's happy
With this love of mine
It'll take all these things and oh much more

I've paid
For fifteen or more
But my guts
Can't take many more

My hands
Are stuck to my jeans
And she knows, she knows
What this must mean

She wakes up with the sun
She asks me 'what is all the fuss ?'
As she gave me more than she thought she should
She wakes up with the sun
I think 'what have I done ?'
As I gave her more than I thought I would

It takes all these things and all my time
Till my sugar spun sister's happy
With this love of mine

Yeah yeah yeah
The candyfloss girl
The sticky fingered boy
Oh that sister of mine (1)
Yeah her


Lyrics by:
Squire / Brown

Music by:
Squire / Brown

Written:
1986

Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums, backing vocals)

Producer:
John Leckie

Engineer:
Paul Schroeder

Available on:
The Stone Roses (3.25)
The Stone Roses (10th Anniversary Edition) (3.26)

First live performance:
Liverpool Mardi Gras (August 1986)

Details:
In an interview with Stone Roses website 'I Am Without Shoes' in 2001, Mani claimed that 'Angel Of Harlem' by U2 was a rip off of (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister. However, Angel Of Harlem - from U2's 1988 'Rattle And Hum' album - was released before (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister (2). (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister was debuted live in August 1986 at the Mardi Gras in Liverpool and for Mani's claim to be accurate, U2 would have had to have heard a live recording, or somehow heard a demo of the track in advance. With the assassination of the Queen taking place at the end of the preceding song (Elizabeth My Dear), this track opens brightly musically, almost as if to herald a new dawn. Musically, it borrows from 'Pretty Flamingo' by Manfred Mann, with this 60's track also providing the inspiration for Angel Of Harlem, I would imagine. From the same era as this Manfred Mann hit, one could possibly find the lyrical inspiration ("The candyfloss girl", etc). 'Sugar Sugar' by The Archies. This song by The Archies, the band's most successful hit, was one of the biggest hits of the 'bubblegum pop' genre that flourished from 1968 to 1972.

 

Left: Pretty Flamingo (1966) by Manfred Mann.
Right: Sugar Sugar (1969) by The Archies.

(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister appears to be about a prostitute (3) who "hates all that she does but she gives it all that she's got"; I propose that Jesus is the 'Sugar Spun Sister'. The opening - "Her hair. Soft drifted snow. Death white..." - is derivative of the book of Revelation:

The lyric "She wakes up with the sun" (like other Roses songs such as I Am The Resurrection, Going Down, She Bangs The Drums and Waterfall) refers to the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus expressed worry to God in the Garden of Gethsemane yet, despite His torment, He nevertheless gave it all that He had, in vowing to carry through with God's will:

Jesus purposely chose the humble (fishermen) and outcasts of society to associate with, such as lepers and prostitutes (see Bye Bye Badman). The narrator of the song, just as on She Bangs The Drums, is a disciple of Jesus. The disciple comes to the realization that he has sinned ("I think 'what have I done ?'") after She (Jesus) wakes up with the Sun (is resurrected). This is remininiscent of Jesus's conversation with Thomas the Doubter, in which Thomas expresses doubt concerning the validity of His return:

Jesus had given Thomas "more than she thought she should" (have to) in offering physical proof to Thomas (allowing Thomas to touch Him) of his resurrection. However, I think that the narrator of the song is not Thomas, but rather, Judas Iscariot. Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples after Judas had died, and then to the twelve after Matthias had replaced Judas. Thus, Jesus never appeared to Judas, but I propose that the song is an imagined conversation between Jesus and Judas in the afterlife, rather like 'Until the End of the World' (1991) by U2. The opening lines of the song, I propose, are Judas' thoughts at the Last Supper, in the knowledge that he was about to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that Judas had agreed to betray Him, and in passing the bread to Judas, thus knew "what this must mean". Jesus declared at the table that Judas would be the one to betray Him. Jesus implicitly (passing the bread to Judas) demonstrates this to Judas, then subsequently makes it explicit, announcing that He Himself will die and that Judas may as well be dead also ("we die tomorrow"):

'The Kiss of Judas' (1602) by Caravaggio (1571 - 1610). Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss, which was the signal for the chief priests and the guards to arrest Jesus. U2's 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' contains allusion to this event in the lyric, "one man betrayed with a kiss." Judas has become the archetype of the betrayer in Western art and literature. The opening verse of Ian Brown's Corpses In Their Mouths ("Slip your neck into a rope...you want the dough") alludes to John Squire being a 'Judas' for his sudden departure from The Stone Roses, and quick formation of The Seahorses.

There are two different canonical references to how Judas' life ended. The Gospel of Matthew says that, after Jesus' arrest by the Roman authorities - but before his execution - the guilt-ridden Judas ("I think 'what have I done ?'") returned the thirty silver coins to the priests and committed suicide by hanging. The priests, forbidden by Jewish law from returning the money to the treasury, used it to buy the potter's field in order to bury strangers. The Gospel account presents this as a fulfilment of prophecy. In the Acts of the Apostles, Judas falls and his intestines spill out. This would explain why the narrator's "guts can't take any more" on (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister. Another account was preserved by the early Christian leader, Papias: "Judas walked about in this world a sad example of impiety; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass easily, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out."

The U2 song, Until the End of the World, from their 1991 album, Achtung Baby, is directed from Judas to Jesus after meeting Him in the afterlife. The first verse relates to the Last Supper ("We ate the food, we drank the wine"), the second verse relates to the betrayal of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the third verse relates to Judas committing suicide, after becoming overwhelmed with guilt and sadness.

   

   

   

Top (left - right):
'The Joshua Tree' (March 1987) by U2. The album features the band's exploration of roots rock, with their music exhibiting influences from blues-rock, folk rock, country music, and gospel music. Lyrically, The Joshua Tree reflects the band's fascination with America.
'Nevermind' (September 1991) by Nirvana. 1991 was also the year of the invasion of 'Grunge'. Grunge effectively began its decline when Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April 1994. Following this event, the pendulum swung back to Britain, where 'Britpop' was about to take off.
'Loveless' (November 1991) by My Bloody Valentine. Recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios, this album was a landmark work of the shoegazing genre. Lead vocalist and guitarist Kevin Shields, a latter-day Brian Wilson in his obsessiveness to achieve a particular sound for the record, made use of various techniques such as guitars strummed with a tremolo bar, sampled drum loops, and obscured vocals. Shoegazing bands stood relatively still during live performances, whilst concentrating on their effects pedals on the floor, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes. The shoegazing sound is typified by significant use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars.
Middle (left - right):
Achtung Baby (November 1991) by U2.
'Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.' by 2Pac (February 1993). "Suede seemed like a step backwards to me. Like when us and the Mondays were written about, a lot of things seemed to be getting more and more real. Then house music broke. But Suede doing their '70s Bowie imitations took it back again. It was like London wanted something of its own. It was at that time that hip-hop and black music should have come through. To me, bands like Suede and Blur were in the way. Oasis are good but the others just got in the way." (Ian Brown speaking to Q in March 1995) Ian met Biggie Smalls in September 1995: "He was like something out of the Bible, talking in parables, and he looked like an old '20s jazz star. Some days I have to pinch myself that I met him." (NME, October 2009). Speaking to the NME in October 2009, Ian Brown urged teachers in Britain's inner cities to show their pupils biographical films by Eminem and 50 Cent. "I think all kids should be made to watch the Biggie Smalls film ('Notorious'), the Eminem story ('8 Mile') and the 50 Cent film ('Get Rich or Die Tryin')." One would have to question the potential impact of forcing young people to watch films featuring extreme violence, profanity and strong sexual content. Instead, a better option, one feels, would be that offered currently by Berkeley University, whereby those of a mature age have the choice to study the writings of Tupac Shakur. Ian's proposal of institutional conditioning through enforced exposure to these works is not unlike Alex DeLarge being coerced into getting a bit of the ol' Ludwig van lodged in his gulliver.
'Suede' (March 1993) by Suede became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, immediately going to number one on the UK album chart, and winning the Mercury Music Prize in 1993. This was a key record in Britpop's inception. The band lost guitarist Bernard Butler in 1994 and were temporarily pushed to the sidelines, but soon recovered to be among the movement's key players.
Bottom (left - right):
'Parklife' (April 1994) by Blur, the quintessential Britpop album. Blur's sound and attitude markedly defined this rekindling of British music as a new movement.
'Definitely Maybe' (August 1994) by Oasis, which became the fastest-selling British debut album ever. John Squire later described watching Oasis' debut appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1994, with 'Shakermaker', as a moment of realisation that Oasis had taken on the Roses' mantle. Although not being particularly impressed with the song, Squire said that the band 'looked right.' However, the Roses' baton had effectively already been taken by U2 three years prior to the release of this album.
'Different Class' (October 1995) by Pulp. The Pulp song, 'Sorted for E's & Wizz', was inspired by The Stone Roses at Spike Island and neatly encapsulated the post-rave hangover of British pop. On a night out, Jarvis Cocker was speaking to a woman who had been to Spike Island, whose main recollection of the day was people walking around saying, "Everybody sorted for E's and Wizz?". The single, from 1995's 'Different Class' album, caused controversy over its description of a teenager going to a rave "somewhere in a field in Hampshire", consuming drugs ("E's and Wizz" refers to Ecstasy and Speed). In addition, the single's CD sleeve contained instructions on how to make a paper wallet to hold drugs, prompting tabloid condemnation. The song, rather than further the portrayal of the rave scene as one of complete euphoria, in actual fact addressed the down-side of the scene's associated drug use.

The Stone Roses did more than simply kick off 'the Madchester revolution' (4) and their legacy should not be limited to such a capacity. They were the blueprint for Oasis (5) and integral to the reinvention of U2, a band who went on to become the biggest in the world:

'Achtung Baby' was released two years after Bono announced the band would have to "go away and dream it all up again", following the mixed reception of 1988's 'Rattle and Hum'. Brown goes on to explain how U2 realised musical potential within themselves in no small part through exposure to these LPs (7) but his assessment will also have been based to a small degree on how U2, just as The Stone Roses did on their debut album, structured some songs on 'Achtung Baby' along biblical lines (8). U2 in a sense created the follow-up to The Stone Roses' debut LP that the Roses' themselves failed to deliver in the early 1990s. The Stone Roses' 1989 debut is justifiably regarded as the finest album of its era, testament to which is how its influence helped shaped the next decade in the U.K., culturally and musically.

 

Left: On the track 'In God's Country', from 'The Joshua Tree', Bono dreamed of seeing a desert rose. That dream was to materialise, as it was to be a band who took their name from a desert rose that would provide the inspiration for U2's sonic re-birth at the turn of the decade.
Right: Desert Rose is a name given to specimens of Gypsum, Barite, Celestine and other minerals that form this particular rosette shape. The rosette crystal habit tends to occur when the crystals form in arid sandy conditions, when the mineral precipitates from the groundwater, with sandy inclusions giving the distinctive texture. This Gypsum specimen was found at the Inanamas Oasis in Algeria.

(1) Ian seems to ambiguously sing the final line of the song as "Oh that sister of mine" / "Older sister of mine".
(2) Mani was correct about U2 drawing inspiration from Begging You on 'Discotheque', for their 'Pop' album (March 1997), however. Speaking to I Am Without Shoes, Mani recalls his conversation with Bono: "I was speaking to Bono about that and he said (adopts Irish accent) 'Well you've got to take from somewhere, haven’t you ?'"
(3) This is supported somewhat by Ian's gesticulations during the performance of this song at Manchester Hacienda on 27th February 1989.
(4) Hot Press interview from March 2002. 'Madchester' was a term given to the late 1980s / early 1990s Manchester music scene, in which The Stone Roses were unhappily categorised. Other 'Madchester' bands included The Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans and electronic music outfits such as 808 State and A Guy Called Gerald. Madchester music was a combination of indie rock, psychedelia and dance. In many instances it came out of collaboration between guitar-based groups and dance music producers. Producers such as Paul Oakenfold, Martin Hannett, Andrew Weatherall and Stephen Hague had a significant impact upon the Madchester scene, frequently incorporating elements of the mid-tempo 'Balearic' dance style associated with Ibiza nightclubs at that time. The Madchester scene was marked by an influx of drug culture into the city (predominantly Ecstasy) that helped fuel the rise of some of the most popular dance music clubs of the time, such as Fac 51 Haçienda. 'The Haçienda' was run by Factory Records record label impresario Tony Wilson, whose label signed many of the artists associated with the Madchester scene, such as The Happy Mondays and New Order. 'Madchester' effectively happened around The Stone Roses without them being an active part of it. Speaking to Mojo magazine in Autumn 2001, Squire expressed his dissatisfaction at the Roses' association with the scene: "I was getting sick of the whole 'Madchester' thing. I felt like we were flogging something for somebody, but I didn't know what it was or who they were. A lifestyle, I suppose. An attitude." Speaking to NME in December 1989 about the band's wish not to be exclusively confined to the Manchester scene, Squire quoted Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel", before adding, "and the same goes for regionalism." According to biographer James Boswell, Johnson made this pronouncement on the evening of 7th April 1775, and stresses that Johnson was not indicting patriotism in general, only false patriotism. Ian Brown, speaking to Uncut magazine in February 1998, is heavily critical of the 'Madchester' roster of acts:

(5) At the turn of the 90's, the North-West's two finest acts - The La's and The Stone Roses - had hit brick walls. Lee Mavers became the JD Salinger of pop, and the globe held by Ian Brown in 1990 was to exchange hands; the lyric, "We live in the shadows and we had the chance and threw it away", from 'Hello', the opening track of Oasis' follow-up album '(What's the Story) Morning Glory ?', served as a knowingly fitting epitaph by Noel Gallagher to the stalled Roses. The Stone Roses appeared in Select Magazine in December 1995, two months after the release of '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'. John Squire is seen 'mouthing' the words "Hello ! Hello ! It's good to be back !", a lyric from 'Hello', leading one to conclude that the Roses themselves were aware of this connection. 'Don't Look Back in Anger', from the same Oasis album, also contains a veiled allusion to The Stone Roses' hiatus from the music scene. Noel has since stated in interviews that Sally in this song refers to Sally Cinnamon. Thus, "So Sally can wait, she knows it's too late as we're walking on by" can easily be interpreted as Oasis overtaking their mentors, The Stone Roses ('Sally'). Liam Gallagher was responsible for this addition to the song; in a 2006 radio interview, Liam said that it was he who came up with the lyric "So Sally can wait", as Noel was struggling with that particular line at the time. Noel confirms this on the bonus DVD, entitled 'Lock the Box', released with the 'Stop the Clocks' retrospective album: "I was doing it in the soundcheck and the 'So Sally' bit, I wasn't singing that...and he (Liam) says, "Are you singing 'So Sally can wait ?', and I said, 'No.' And he said, 'Well you should do.'" The La's were a great influence on both Gallagher brothers, with Noel Gallagher declaring days after the release of Oasis' debut single that his masterplan was to "finish what The La's started." The Oasis song, 'The Importance of Being Idle', borrows heavily from 'Clean Prophet' by The La's, and has been dedicated by the band to Lee Mavers, in concert. Unhappy at this allusion to his reclusive status and Oasis' pilfering of his work in the past, Lee Mavers responded, "Noel needs to realise the importance of being honest." (Clash Music magazine, March 2009)

   

 

 

Top left: Ian with an inflatable globe at Spike Island, 27th May 1990. The bassline intro to I Wanna Be Adored was rumbling when this photo was taken, and Ian rolled the globe out into the crowd. This prop was given to Ian by a forward-thinking Steve Adge: "'Just hold it in your hand,' I said, 'and all the journalists next week will be saying you've got the whole world in your hand. And they did.'" (Steve Adge speaking to The Guardian, 20th May 2007)
Top middle: Noel Gallagher, Definitely Maybe shoot, 1994. Noel instilled a strong work ethic in the band, rehearsing five to seven nights a week at Manchester Boardwalk in 1992 - 93, along with relentless gigging.
Top right: Here were a Manchester act with a keen eye on America, in contrast to the lethargy of The Stone Roses - a stance which they attempted to disguise as arrogance: "America doesn't deserve us yet", proclaimed the band's press release amidst the cancellation of a US tour in 1990. Speaking to the NME in July 1990, The Stone Roses seemed in no rush to get to the USA: "I'm really looking forward to going over but in our own time, not just to see someone whose daughter wants to see us", said Ian. John added, "I don't see it as any sort of rock 'n' roll conquest, step up the ladder. I'd rather go to Egypt or Goa or Bali or Thailand." It is rather perplexing then, to read Ian later claim that John Squire's decision to leave the band somehow heartlessly deprived the singer of a long-held ambition to 'crack' America. "I feel like we never actually had a shot at America. I said, 'John, give me a shot at America, and if it don't work then sack it. I waited for you, give me a chance at America. I know what I'm doing.' But no, he didn't." (Ian Brown speaking to the NME, 3rd January 1998). Gareth Evans cites the cancelled June 1990 American shows as a critical missed opportunity. Had they played Madison Square Garden in New York and the LA Forum, he proposes, a wave of American success would have followed: "That was where they went wrong. They had those two gigs and they didn't play them. The gigs were sold out. If they had played there and played the simple songs from the first album, America would have loved them. But they wouldn't play. They should have gone to America, played New York and LA, and then stayed in America. They could have flown back every weekend in their own private jet if they'd wanted to." (Gareth Evans speaking to the NME in April 1996). In August 1994, Oasis's debut LP was released, and the band set sail for America that very same year. The Stone Roses took six years following the release of their debut LP to set foot on American soil, and the void of impact is perhaps best symbolized by Squire's Do It Yourself artwork. Oasis, like The Stone Roses before them, however, would ultimately fail to crack America. On their final tour, the Gallagher brothers' behaviour mirrored that of the Roses, with Liam and Noel opting for seperate tourbuses, just as Ian and John had done on the Second Coming tour. The only act from the British Isles to gain a firm grip on the globe in this era were U2.
Middle left: At Glasgow Green, John and Ian shut the dressing room door on the world - for five years.
Middle right: Lee Mavers of The La's.
Bottom left: Pulp at Glastonbury, 1995. Pulp taking over the headline slot from The Stone Roses at Glastonbury in 1995 was arguably the point at which the torch was handed over to 'Britpop'. For Pulp, it was the culmination of fifteen years of plugging away, always out of step. Pulp continued to do what they did well, and instead of adapting to the Britpop climate - like so many others did - it galvanized them. It highlighted their strengths, rather than encouraging the band to abandon them. Jarvis wrote the bulk of 'Different Class' after the success of 'Common People', and it oozes with the confidence, ambition and relief of a man who, after years of effort, was finally in the right place at the right time.
Bottom right: Jarvis Cocker's bottom-waving stage invasion interrupts Michael Jackson's Earth Song performance at the 1996 Brit awards. Filling the Glastonbury slot vacated by The Stone Roses was one of Jarvis Cocker's two finest on-stage Britpop moments. The other was the 1996 Brit Awards, when he was not even supposed to be on-stage. Michael Jackson received an 'Artist of a generation' award and in the middle of performing 'Earth Song', Jarvis Cocker invaded the stage (expertly timing his arrival to the moment when Jackson was lifted in the air by a crane, giving himself a full minute on-stage) and used his bum to express his feelings of the performance's self-serving content. In his performance, Michael Jackson appeared to be portraying himself as a redeemer of mankind, at one point stripping to reveal an all-white garment, surrounded by adoring children, an artistic image not aided by allegations of sexual abuse of children, made against him since 1993. Ironically, Cocker was subsequently questioned by the police on suspicion of causing injury towards three of the children in Jackson's performance, but no criminal proceedings were forthcoming.

Noel and brother Liam had come far since first seeing The Stone Roses at Manchester International 2, the Anti-Clause 28 gig (30th May 1988). Noel had turned 21 the day before this gig, and brought his younger brother Liam, aged 15, along. Noel met guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral Carpets at the gig and the pair struck up friendship. When Noel heard singer Steve Holt was leaving the band, he auditioned to be the new vocalist; he was unsuccessful, but became part of their road crew for two years. Upon his return in 1991, he joined Liam's fledgling project, 'The Rain', and kickstarted them into action, quickly asserting his dominance over the group. Noel took the name Oasis from a venue in Swindon called the Oasis Leisure Centre, where Inspiral Carpets had played. It is sometimes claimed that Noel was first turned onto music at the Stone Roses gig; this was certainly true of Liam: "That was my favourite gig of all time, killed me dead, changed me fuckin' life. If I hadn't gone that night, I'd probably be sitting in some pub in Levenshulme." In Noel's case, however, it is worth noting that this gig was not the first moment that made him seriously consider becoming a musician; rather, another Mancunian band, The Smiths, were the catalyst:

Noel Gallagher (born 29th May 1967) was of The Smiths' generation, while Liam (born 21st September 1972) was more of the Roses'. The Smiths, formed in 1982, rose to prominence when Noel was in his teens, while the Roses broke through in the late 1980s, when Liam was in his teens. After the synth-heavy early 1980s, guitar bands were to enjoy a renaissance in the latter half of the decade, with Johnny Marr a key figure in rescuing the guitar pop genre. For those who grew up on punk, the 60s were not the cultural comfort blanket they have since become, as Ian Brown explained to Q magazine in February 1990: "Punk stopped you listening to stuff like Hendrix and then years later you hear Electric Ladyland and it's an excellent LP. But at the time you don't listen to it because you believe all the bollocks. I wish I'd heard Jimi Hendrix when I was 12." The Smiths were a key act in reigniting an interest in Sixties pop culture: "In the Sixties, records were actually worth something. People went out and bought a seven inch piece of plastic and they treasured it, which they don't seem to do any more. We're trying to bring back that precious element which is, I suppose, reminiscent of an earlier time, but then so what ? It's good to take a part of pop culture and bring it alive again and bring the human spirit back into it." (Johnny Marr speaking to Sounds, 19th November 1983) The Smiths were the archetypal indie group and first The Stone Roses, and then The La's, appeared to be the rightful heir to the indie crown; instead, it fell into the clutches of Oasis, who were set to radically redefine indie in the process. Speaking on the 10th Anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll reflected: "I think we stole the crown that The Stone Roses left up there for grabs as such." Spike Island's gathering of thirty thousand was dwarfed by Oasis performing to a quarter of a million over two nights at Knebworth in August 1996, as Britpop witnessed the independent music scene losing an integrity and intimacy that had once been cherished by their predecessors of the 1980s. 'Indie' became a meaningless label in a media-saturated environment, where its two leading figureheads, Blur and Oasis, seemed more than content to embellish rivalry in order to embrace a mainstream audience. A music scene which had once set its face against commercialism was now using sales figures to determine who was the superior act. The Britpop years witnessed indie music move out of the treasured domain of specialist record shops and onto the shelves at supermarkets. Indie music was no longer about being outside the mainstream - it was the mainstream. From now on, it would be a catch-all term for the sound of mainstream British rock. The indie scene ultimately lost its roots and would only begin to re-establish them in the following decade, performing in clubs and bars, with acts such as The Libertines going one step further and entertaining in front rooms.

 

Top: The NME fuel the chart battle between Blur and Oasis in August 1995. Blur's 'Country House' went head to head with Oasis' 'Roll With It' at the height of Britpop, with the former emerging victorious. The press portrayed the spat as some kind of class war, and the public were encouraged to take sides in a battle between the southern, art school Blur and northern, working class Oasis. 'The Battle of Britpop' extended beyond the music industry, regularly featuring on the national news. In September 1995, Blur's 'The Great Escape' soared to the top of the album charts and the band appeared to be generally accepted as the 'kings' of Britpop. However, the following month, Oasis' second album, '(What's the Story) Morning Glory ?', became the 3rd best selling UK album of all time, vastly outselling Blur's release; Blur won the 'battle' of Britpop but Oasis had won the war. Both factions took turns to antagonise the other and keep the rivalry in the spotlight: Blur mocked Oasis on MTV's Most Wanted with a spoof version of 'Roll With It'. This infuriated Noel Gallagher to the extent that he said he wanted Damon and bassist Alex James "to catch AIDS and die." He later retracted the comment following pressure from the media. The Gallaghers taunted Blur at the 1996 Brit Awards by singing a rendition of 'Parklife' when they collected their 'Best British Band' award, with the lyric 'Parklife' changed to "Shite-life." Noel Gallagher maintains that the rivalry was conceived by the NME magazine and members of Blur's entourage as a ploy to raise their respective profiles on the back of Oasis' success, while Albarn takes the view that the roots of the feud were much more personal.
Bottom left: Country House, by Blur.
Bottom right: Roll With It, by Oasis.

(6) This is a view shared by other figures in music. Speaking about U2 in an NME article from 17th December 1994, Noel Gallagher said:

Indeed, Bono himself has often described the album as "the sound of four men trying to chop down The Joshua Tree." U2 closed out their 1989 Lovetown Tour with a series of shows at the Point Depot in Dublin, and on the third night (30th December 1989), Bono announced, "This is just the end of something for U2. ... We've got to go away for a while and dream it all up again." This sparked rumours of a U2 break up, which was not Bono's intention. The band knew they needed a new direction but were struggling to find it - key players in the Manchester music scene pointed the way. Two years later, they released an album unlike anything they had ever created in the past. Prior to this, a break up was considered, and even became likely until 'One' came together quickly and U2 were on their way again. U2 had shown their stadium potential at 1985's Live Aid and along with Queen, were the most notable acts at the event. U2's profile was raised by Bono's venture towards and embrace of a girl from the crowd, which was to become a defining image of the occasion, an act which Ian Brown is critical of:

The reasons why The Stone Roses never really became as big as they should have are often dissected and debated by fans and journalists alike. A range of factors contributed to this, such as an unwillingness to embrace the mainstream, a reticence to 'crack' America, legal wrangles breaking their momentum, a lethargy setting in, band members being on different drugs, and the deterioration of inter-band relationships. Whereas the norm for bands aspiring to reach (or maintain) major status is to block-book a large arena over a series of nights, The Stone Roses somewhat admirably refused to follow this route, instead preferring unique, one-off events. Ian explained to the NME in July 1990, "We're not going to get stuck into all that 40-date tour shit, the main reason being that I don't believe anyone's got enough energy to make every gig as good as the last one. It'd just turn you into morons." A prime example of the band's desired irregularity in this respect can be found in their gigging activity for May and June of 1990. Within the space of a fortnight, The Stone Roses performed to 30,000 fans next to a chemical plant at Spike Island, and the gym of Belfast Maysfield Leisure Centre, on the basketball courts. Speaking to the NME in December 1989 about the Alexandra Palace gig, Ian explained: "The promoter said, 'I've never met people like this, you could sell this place out three nights and make a load of money.' But I just couldn't do that. I couldn't say to people, 'Come and see me tonight. Then come and see me tomorrow night and see what different clothes I've got on.'" On a U.S. radio interview in 1995, Ian Brown took offence to advertisements for the U.S. Airforce, asking the very first caller on the show, "What do you think of that advert... Join the U.S. Airforce, bomb some babies ?" When the presenter of the show was wrapping up the interview, Ian tersely reminded him, "Don't be playing them adverts any more." Such brutal honesty epitomized the Roses' lack of mainstream biz sensibility, and one can imagine Geffen promptly crossing the band off the 'high promotion' list when they heard it. These are some of the main factors, but one crucial factor was the character of their manager, Gareth Evans. Evans' maverick nature undoubtedly played a role in the band's ascent, but it also served to hasten their downfall. Duping the band in various business deals while, at the same time, penny-pinching on big events like Spike Island, were the hallmarks of a manager whose business acumen was less in the mould of a Brian Epstein or Paul McGuinness, and more in line with an Arthur Daley or Derek Trotter. The Stone Roses were not entirely blameless in this respect, and were seemingly all too willing at times to play the role of fall guy. As Ian Brown reflects in his sleevenotes for the 20th Anniversary release of the Roses' debut LP, "...the thing with us was, the more people that would say to us, "Don't get him (Gareth), he's a dick," the more we'd think, "No, he's the man !" Evans's performance in the BBC3 documentary Blood on the Turntables is a hilarious cartoon of managerial hyperbole in which he takes credit for the band's success, style, sound, ideas, guitarist John Squire's Pollock-inspired cover paintings - just about everything, in fact, short of actually writing and recording the songs. While The Stone Roses were to disappear from view not long after their shoddily organised Spike Island festival, U2 were soon to take touring to a whole new level. The Zoo TV Tour was an elaborately-staged, multimedia concert tour by the band from February 1992 to December 1993, designed to instill a feeling of "sensory overload" in its audience, using the video age for much of its inspiration. In 2002, Q magazine described it as"still the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band." It comprised five legs, 157 shows, was seen by approximately 5.4 million people, and was the highest-grossing tour in North America of 1992. The tour marked a shift from the band's previous achingly earnest stage performances that had typified their tours in the 1980s.

 

Bono at Live Aid, 1985 (left) and The Zoo TV Outside Broadcast stage (right). Ian Brown once declared that he wanted The Stone Roses to be the first band to play on the moon, but it was U2 who would come closest to achieving such lofty ideals. During their 2011 Glastonbury set, Bono was helped out with some of the lyrics to 'Beautiful Day' by NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, via video link-up from the International Space Station.

(7) "They heard the records and thought, 'We can do a bit of Beatles, a bit of Jimi. Add a few dance beats and away we go'. Which is what great groups do."
(8)

 

 

Despite their use of The Bible in their songwriting seemingly having identifiable parallels, the stance of The Stone Roses and Bono on the issue of religion is very different. Speaking to Melody Maker on 3rd June 1989, John Squire claimed, "You don't have to rally round the flag of some church to celebrate humanity." Questioned further on his creed, the guitarist responded, "I haven't found anything yet. Individualism, that's what I believe in. Freedom." A John Squire artwork from 2008, 'Have Faith' (Oil and oil pastel on Board, 33" x 28", top left), features a quote by British ethologist and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins. The 2006 television documentary, 'The Root of All Evil ?' (top right), contains the following text: "How do we explain the mysteries of life ? Science has steadily overturned old religious myths about how all this came to be. Yet those who adhere to Judaism, Christianity, or Islam still prefer to ignore reason and have faith in their forever unprovable, omniscient creator." In the artwork, the sentence is split, with the words "Have faith" isolated in the sky, in God's 'imagined position'. Two blocks of impasto colour, the stormy grey sky and textured brown earth, are divided by an ominous black line, with the words gouged out in pastel. Ian Brown is critical of organised religions, and is particularly fierce in his criticism of The Vatican. In an interview with The Guardian on 15th September 2007, Ian states, "Let's dig up the Vatican cellar and get the gold and the treasures and use them. They stole them. Let's steal them back." While Brown's thoughts seem closely aligned to those of Dan Brown, Bono in contrast espouses the thinking of C.S. Lewis and Philip Yancey in interviews. On the bottom left, he can be seen visiting Pope John Paul II's summer residence in Castelgandolfo, Italy, in September 1999 to seek support for debt relief. The pope is trying on Bono's Fly shades. Bono keeps a Rosary he received from the Pope in his pocket when he performs. Speaking in 2005 about religion, Bono said, "Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: 'I'm the Messiah.' I'm saying: 'I am God incarnate.'" Echoing the thoughts of C.S. Lewis, Bono concludes, "So what you're left with is either Christ was who He said He was - the Messiah - or a complete nutcase. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that's farfetched." In the 1995 animated music video for 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me', Bono is run over by a car (driven by Elvis) while reading C.S. Lewis' 'The Screwtape Letters' (bottom right).

Although U2 were using the Bible in their work prior to the release of The Stone Roses' debut LP, the influence of The Stone Roses on U2 in this respect is worthy of investigation. In a general sense, the influence of The Stone Roses on U2 is unquestionable, as evidenced by Bono's comments to Mani regarding Discotheque. Fellow musician, Shirley Manson of Garbage, echoes Brown's comments on how The Stone Roses' debut fused rock and dance, and highlights Bono's debt to Brown: "The (debut) record ran parallel with the rise of ecstasy and listening to the Roses in that context felt like some kind of movement, a rock band (who) could infiltrate dance culture....to this day I've seen everybody from Liam Gallagher to Bono ripping off his moves." (Shirley Manson quoted in Mojo magazine, January 2002). Compare Bono and U2 either side of 1990 and it's clear that the band were moving to a different beat; Bono's shift from foot to foot at 1.24 - 1.26 in 'The Fly' video, for example, would not look out of place in the One Love video. The U2 frontman's newfound insouciant swagger at the turn of the 90's was straight out of the Ian Brown indie handbook.

       

   

 

 

Top row: Ian Brown influenced a generation of frontmen. Left to right: Bono, Liam Gallagher, Tim Burgess, Mark Morriss and Alex Turner.
Second row: Liam Gallagher's look would alternate between that of Ian Brown and John Lennon, depending upon his mood. When questioned about The Stone Roses' 60's leanings in interviews, Ian Brown was often rather guarded in discussion. Speaking to Rapido TV in September 1989, he immediately went on the defensive: "The Stone Roses album hasn't been around before. It might remind people of certain records. It might remind people of the sound of the 60s, the sound of the 70s, who cares ? It's not been done before, has it ?" In conversation with Dave Simpson of Uncut magazine in February 1998, Ian claims that The Stone Roses would discard songs if they bore too close a resemblance to The Beatles: "Me and him (Squire) used to write loads of songs, but they'd be Beatles songs. We'd go, 'Oh shit, it's I Feel Fine' or 'Shit, it's Daytripper' and we'd sack it." Oasis, in contrast, had no hesitation in plundering that particular field, nor disguising it either. A performance of Live Forever at Maine Road, Manchester, in April 1996, culminated in the Oasis frontman worshipping a huge projected image of John Lennon. Chin-stroking reverence on such a scale prompted Ian Brown to dismiss Oasis as "babies pretending to be The Beatles.", when speaking to the NME on 21st March 1998.
Penultimate row: When The Stone Roses were asked by the NME in December 1989 to recreate the famous Beatles' 'Help!' cover (left), the idea was given very short shrift. Rather than a reverent semaphoric homage, the band instead opted for a celebratory 'Top of the World' projection (right).
Bottom row: Part of the Roses' insurrectional manifesto was to smash the old guard, of which U2 were the embodiment. "We started out to finish groups like U2 - that was what it was all about. And they're still the biggest band in the world, so we failed.", conceded Ian to The Guardian on 2nd February 2002. Oasis had no such combative aspirations, keenly accepting a support slot for U2 on their Zooropa tour. Ian Brown maintained this stance on U2 at The Stone Roses' reunion press conference in 2011, whilst, Reni and Mani, in contrast, were more than complimentary to the Irish rock act. (Reni: "U2 are wonderful. I quite like U2. There's nothing wrong with U2. U2 are awesome... They're good players and they're great songwriters... One's made me cry." Mani: "I like Bono, he's my mate man.")

Modal analysis (by Steve Davidson):

This one starts with A major and D major, with the emphasis or tonal centre being the A major chord. So we are in A Ionian. The notes are:

(A B C# D E F# G# A)

The verse chords are A major, C# minor, D major and E major. So everything is still in A Ionian. The chorus chords are to start with A major and D major and the melody is still in A Ionian. Then we have a D major to G major sequence. Now the Key centre still returns to the A major chord. So what we have here is a modal change to A mixolydian.

Here are the notes:

(A B C# D E F# G A)

It goes back to the A Ionian mode for the rest of the song.


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