7. “Ten Storey Love Song” – The Stone Roses
(From the album Second Coming)
1994
While The Stone Roses Second Coming did not completely eschew the dance/rock textures of the Madchester scene that the band had helped make famous (third single “Begging You” leans into these in fact) the band did pull back from them for much of the album. Lead single “Love Spreads” was more a psychedelic rock song and the follow up single “Ten Storey Love Song” was one of the most classicist songs that the band would ever record. A midtempo love song that made sense playing alongside bands like Oasis and Blur on the radio, “Ten Storey Love Song” was a solid hit in the UK, peaking at #11. However, behind the scenes The Stone Roses were beginning to fall apart. Neither singer Ian Brown or drummer Reni showed up for the first day of filming for the “Ten Storey Love Song” video. Brown would eventually turn up to film the video but Reni never did (a man wearing a mask of Reni’s face pops up in the video a few times though) and Reni would announce his exit from the band a short time later, just two weeks before the band was to go on tour in support of Second Coming. Replacement drummer Robbie Maddux was brought in just in time to have a series of UK concert dates cancelled. The band also had to cancel their planned “comeback” appearance at the famous Glastonbury Festival in June when guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone in a mountain biking accident a few weeks before the show. The Stone Roses finally were able to kick off their tour in support of Second Coming in November of 1995, almost a year after the album was released. In spite of the delay the tour sold out all of its scheduled dates in a day. However, the band continued to fray when guitarist and main songwriter John Squire announced his departure in April 1996. The remaining members recruited new guitarist Aziz Ibrahim and kept the band going for another six months before Brown and Mani agreed to end the band. The Stone Roses would not play together again until 2012 when the band played a one-off show that was only announced an hour before showtime. However, 2013 saw the band play several large festivals including the Isle of Wight, Coachella, and the Glasgow Green. 2016 finally saw The Stone Roses release their first new material since the B-side of the “Ten Storey Love Song” single had come out in 1995 when the band released the stand alone singles “All For One” and “Beautiful Thing”. The band played their last show in 2017.
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