10 Greatest Ever Stone Roses Songs

10. Elephant Stone

The Stone Roses seemed to emerge fully formed at the tail end of the Eighties but, as with so many great bands, they spent years toiling away in the wilderness, honing their sound.

In 1985 they even made an album, Garage Flower, with cult producer Martin Hannett. Mercifully it went unreleased for years and its double A side single went largely overlooked. This rough album, with Brown’s naive vocals, tinny productions and post-punk leanings, showed promise but would not have been the best first impression on the world.

Their next single, Sally Cinnamon, was sweet but third effort, Elephant Stone, saw the arrival of the full Stone Roses sound. All sparkly guitars and dance rhythms, the band sound supremely confident. The lyrics don’t kick in for nearly two minutes, The Roses happy instead to showcase their musicality.

When it does arrive, the vocal melody is so blissful and transcendent it disguises the romantic tumult of the lyric. The song’s protagonist stumbles from having, “burst into heaven,” to finding, “a hole in my dreams.”