What Did You Expect from The Stone Roses?

Twenty-one years is a very long time. As someone who has yet to reach that magical age, I can’t even properly comprehend it.

However, in that space of time, the world has changed a great deal, and more importantly, so has the music landscape of Britain. Since we last saw The Stone Roses, their previous single, also a personal favourite of mine, was ‘Begging You’, released in 1994. We’ve seen the rise and fall of the Britpop movement which arguably muscled the Roses out of prominence. We’ve seen new bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian rise to maturity, headline festivals, and subsequently retreat to their back to their positions as key players in British music. We’ve also witnessed the reunion of the four-piece back in 2011, taking the world by storm and leaving fans itching for new material to stick their teeth into.

And it seems the stars must have aligned, because they released the new single, ‘All for One’, just six days ago, polarising fans in the process.

With a series of massive shows on the horizon, it seems that interest in The Stone Roses is as high as it ever has been. Get out your bucket hats and anything with Adidas all over it. Dust off your lemon-themed merch and your Pollock-inspired prints, because it seems that this summer will be the home of a Madchester revival, fronted by the chief figures of the movement. Some tabloids are even predicting a new album to drop soon, coinciding with their summer gigs. I mean, with streams of The Stone Roses’ material increasing by 500 percent, it seems that the sudden appearance of a new single may have very well attracted a whole new younger audience for their work, alongside older fans who were involved with the band in their earlier years.

It really is a cracking time to be a Stone Roses fan. But if there’s so much love for the Manchester band, why are people utterly divided when it comes to ‘All for One’?

The first thing that hits you in this track is the riff, and with this being The Stone Roses, I’d be a tad surprised if it was any different. You’re immediately struck by Squire’s distinctive playing, taking you swiftly back to the nineties. It reminds me of the gap between their eponymous debut album, and Second Coming, with the sound reminding you that the group have had a lot of time to practice. It certainly provides a solid foundation for a memorable Stone Roses tune, with its original and catchy riff, something which is bound to get thousands of fans jumping at the Etihad later this year. 

The one understandable quarrel that many have with the new single would be the lyrics, which have been almost universally panned. Between the repeating jingle of "me", "be", "see" and "family", along with an opening line which could've very well been scribbled down five minutes before recording, there's not a lot of lyrical love for the new track. Although, chances are you'll remember the words for how bad they are, and that definitely won't stop tens of thousands of people from singing them. Despite these judgements, the song is undeniably optimistic, and this makes it all the more potent, especially when we've been deprived of new Stone Roses material for so long. If you're longing after masterful lyrics, have a look back at their older stuff.

The format of the song makes sense, or at least by Stone Roses standards. The chorus is a simple three-chord affair, with some easy to remember lyrics; there aren't any adventurous rhymes or complex meanings behind any of the lyrics, as to be expected. The chorus repeats until a welcome stop, which then holds you in place for a blinding solo. 

If you're still not getting the gist of this article, 'All for One' is exactly what it needs to be: A simple, no-nonsense deal which brings attention back to the band, while providing us with a tune which instantly sounds like The Stone Roses with very little effort. Thankfully, Brown and friends haven't tried anything new, or at least not yet. All of their experimental bits and pieces can stick around as B-Sides or filler album tracks. That being said, 'Begging You' could be classified as a little on the experimental side, and quite a few people are fans of it. 

Ultimately, can't we all be happy that there's a new lot of Stone Roses material on the horizon? It's a miracle that the band haven't permanently tarnished their legacy with their third coming. They're not returning to be the band which pioneered a new wave of indie music, they're too far gone for that. They're returning for a giant, feel-good nostalgia trip, and so far they're doing just that. Alternatively, the four of them could be bored and skint, but let's look past that and keep an optimistic outlook. If you've got a problem with the new tune, rather than immediately going with the flow and slating it, why don't you simply ask what you expected of a band who've been stagnant for the best part of two decades?

Regardless of what you think, 'All for One' could've been worse. A lot worse. I just hope they keep this going for the summer of the Stones.