On This Day: In 1989 The Stone Roses Released Their Self-Titled Debut Album
~ #OnThisDay ~
On this day in 1989 (30 years ago) The Stone Roses released their self-titled debut album, an influential album that would go on to change the music world.
The Stone Roses debut album is always at or close to the summit of greatest debut album polls. The album and band went on to influence the like of Oasis, The Charlatans and Blur.
Guitarist John Squire’s stunning Jackson Pollock-influenced artwork is still eye-catching 30 years later. The work is titled ‘Bye Bye Badman’ and is influenced by the May 1968 Paris Riots.
John Squire said the following about the artwork:
“Ian Brown had met this French man when he was hitching around Europe, this bloke had been in the riots, and he told Ian how lemons had been used as an antidote to tear gas. Then there was the documentary, a great shot at the start of a guy throwing stones at the police. I really liked his attitude.“
The story was also the inspiration for the lyrics to the song of the same name.
The self-titled album unbelievably only went on to peak at #19 in the UK Album Chart. The album re-issues went on to do better, in 2004 the album hit #9 and in 2009 it went on to hit #5. The album is overall 3x platinum with over 900,000 albums sold in the UK.