By Dan Satherley
It might seem these days that bands never break up – they just take a break and wait for their fans to grow up and get some disposable income, and then jump on the nostalgia gravy train and ride it all the way to the bank.
But there are some bands which seem unlikely to ever get back together – like the Smiths, the original Smashing Pumpkins, the Beatles (for obvious reasons!) and until yesterday, the Stone Roses.
The announcement Manchester's finest are not only reforming, but working on new material, has thrilled fans and left youngsters wondering, who hell are the Stone Roses?
For old fans, consider this a refresher, but if you've no idea why the band's second coming is such a big deal, here's your history lesson for the day.
10. I WANNA BE ADORED
The first song from the band's classic debut album takes its time to get going, but when it does, there's nothing else quite like it. It's like Oasis' 'Rock'n'Roll Star' and 'Live Forever' in one, with more reverb than the Grand Canyon.
9. TEN STOREY LOVE SONG
Their second album, Second Coming, didn't exactly live up to its title, but it wasn't all bad. Ten Storey Love Song came closest to matching the sugary heights of their debut, once you got past its meandering 'psychedelic' intro.
8. WATERFALL
The Stone Roses' modus operandi was to combine the melodicism of the Beatles and the jangle of the Byrds with the transcendent highs of the late '80s rave scene, and the disparate influences never came together better than on 'Waterfall', from their first record.
7. MADE OF STONE
Songs don't need to be seven minutes long to classify as epic (though as we'll see later, it's no impediment), as 'Made of Stone' demonstrates. It also has the best use of phasing since the Small Faces' 'Itchycoo Park' (after the guitar solo, heading into the last chorus).
6. BEGGING YOU
The last single the band ever released was an uncharacteristic electronic blast of apocalyptic pop. Guitarist John Squire hated using the computer to make music so much, he destroyed the floppy disks used to run the software and used them as the single's cover art.
5. DON'T STOP
Some bands, when they run out of decent songs for an album, chuck on a couple of shit ones. Not the Stone Roses – they took the previous track, 'Waterfall', played it backwards, and wrote a whole new song. And it was even better.
4. LOVE SPREADS
When the Stone Roses released their second album five years after their first, no one really expected a coked-up guitar odyssey that owed more to Led Zeppelin than the Beatles. Still, with a guitarist as good as John Squire, what did it matter?
3. SHE BANGS THE DRUMS
John Squire described this track as "about those brief moments when everything comes together". The song itself is perfect – the tune, the words, the genius guitar solo… it's all so fantastic it's not hard to forgive the booming reverb on the snare.
2. FOOL'S GOLD
The Stone Roses, at their peak, were so good they could take a song without a chorus, structure or barely even a tune, stretch it out to 10 minutes and make it the greatest thing you've ever heard. (Video is the shorter, 4-minute version – click here for the full 10-minute odyssey).
1. I AM THE RESURRECTION
But when their epic songs did have a tune, chorus and structure, it was even better – 'I Am The Resurrection' closed out their debut album, and along with album Second Coming, provided journalists worldwide with an easy headline for this week's reunion.
3 News