By late 1989, The Stone Roses had detonated, turning Manchester into the centre of the musical universe. As 1990 rolled in, they were unstoppable, at least in theory. Huge shows followed: Spike Island’s muddy, myth-making mayhem, Glasgow Green’s euphoric mass gathering, crowds swelling like a religious movement in bucket hats. 

“One Love”, a swirling, groove-heavy single that promised a future.......

Ian Brown - Vocals

John Squire - Fender Stratocaster/

Mani - Rickenbacker Bass
Reni - Drums

Gareth Evans - Manager

Steve Atherton aka Adge - Tour Manager.

1989 / 1990 - Fool Gold Unreleased A Guy Called Gerald Mix
Ian and John wrote a letter to Andrew Lauder and Gareth Evans, using Lanzarote Palace letter headed paper, which included "Attention of Andrew Lauder, Gareath Evans. Can we not put out the Gerald Mix of Fools Gold. We realise sales point wise good idea but song is poor and we don't want records with Stone Roses printed on that make you want to sit down and go to sleep Please sort this it's very important to us. No ?Pasarian!? You can fools some of the people some of the time etc... Ian Brown John Squire The Stone Roses X ".

1990 - What A Trip U.K. Release Date

What A Trip (4x7inch in transparent display bag. Bag reads "The Stone Roses Interview Picture Disc Collection A Rare Interview With The Stone Roses. A BAKTABAK Limited Edition BAKPAK 1024") 4 x 7inch Picture Discs.

1990 - The Stone Roses turn down the Lennon Tribute Show in Liverpool due to recording commitments.

From August 1990 - Select Magzine: They didn't play the recent Lennon tribute in Liverpool either because, as Reni puts it, "Kylie Minogue doing Lennon covers is sick".

1990 - Ian Brown features on the cover of Bop City Magazine.
From review ‘What will you be doing in five years?' asked Linda Duff of The Daily Star (again at the press conference), ‘Let me look into my crystal ball.' replies Reni in his usual sardonic tone. 'What a stupid question' finishes Ian. We all have hopes for the future, let’s hope the Roses keep originals and overthrow all those old fuckers (a'la Phil Collin & Queen) who keep returning to torment the charts with the same old crap.''

01 January 1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Japanese Rockin' On - Volume 10 Magazine
Includes photographs from the October 1989 Japanese tour by Kenji Kubo and photos by Bruno. An interview conducted by Osamu Masui.

January 1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Finland magazine 'Beat Botnia'

January 1990 - Ian Brown features on the front cover of The Face Magazine, Issue 16

The Stone Roses Interview and Happy Mondays feature in the article too. Article by Nick Kent. Interview was conducted backstage 23 November 1989 - Top Of The Pops. This article and Nick Kent was rubbished by the Roses, who said Kent made a lot of it up. Kent later admitted that he made the Wilson quote about Ian Curtis up completely. Gareth Evans later said that he whispered in Tony Wilson's ear "If you mention drugs, I will shoot you."

January 1990 - The Stone Roses feature in Record Collector Magazine

January 1990 - The Stone Roses LP is re-released.
The initial re-release entered Number 19 in the national U.K. charts, 03 February 1990. John Leckie duly arrived at Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth, on Sunday, January 28. “The intention,” he recalls, “was to go there for three weeks and commence the second album with the new songs they had.”

From 06 March 2009 - Uncut Magazine Interview (Clash Music Website) with Ian Brown: I interviewed Tommy Udo the other day, the old NME dude, and he said that he heard that one of you in the band once said you wanted to record one album and disappear and be immortal. Is that true? We probably did have that ambition at the time, yeah. We did, yeah...

28 January 1990 Saturday - John Leckie arrives at Rockfield Studios, Amberley Court, Rockfield Rd, Monmouth, NP25 5ST

From Autumn 2001 - Mojo Collections Magazine Number 4 'David Bowie' - War Of The Roses article by John Harris... “John Leckie duly arrived at Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth, on Sunday, January 28. “The intention,” he recalls, “was to go there for three weeks and commence the second album with the new songs they had....They were meant to turn up at Rockfield on the Sunday night,” says John Leckie.

30 January 1990 Monday - The Stone Roses Paint FM Revolver Record Label Offices / Home Address, Goldthorn Hill, Wolverhampton.

In retaliation to the recent unauthorised promo video for the re-release of Sally Cinnamon, the band visit FM Revolver Record Headquarters in Wolverhampton.

The band stopped of at Fads D.I.Y. centre, Northenden to stock up on paint, brushes, overalls etc. Steve Adge drove the band to FM Revolver Base, Goldthorn Hill and they then carried on to Rockfield Studios after.

They apparently entered the building started a debate with Paul Birch (aged 35) and then the band started painted the managing director, his cars, his girlfriend (later wife) Olivia Darling (aged 22), Revolver offices (furnishings, decorations and carpets) and press officer Clare Britt too.

They smashed the windows of Paul Birch's Mercedes 200 Series, poured paint over it, the Datsun Sunny and the Metro MH too. Ian was apparently the culpret for putting a brick through Birch's £25,000 car window.

There were rumours the band had agreed with the actual re-release but it was the promo video they did not agree too. Other sources say the entire re-release was unauthorised by the band, Gareth Evans had agreed for them. Ian put a brick through Paul's £25,000 Mercedes.

Paul Birch contacted the police but also contacted NME, Melody Maker and other media, faxing a statment about the event. Paul sold the story to The Sun newspaper, who published the story and photos the next day.

From May 1990 - Sky Magazine, Jon Wilde article: 

Both Birch and Roberts claim that the attack on their offices was a premeditated publicity stunt. “On the afternoon of their visit,” says Roberts, “we had a call from a journalist, a girl who claimed to be from the NME, saying, ‘Have The Stone Roses arrived yet?’ So it seems that the press were tipped off.”...

From Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Mani said: I think we told Steve Adge to stop at Fads D.I.Y. centre in Northenden. We got loads of tins of paint and some overalls and stuff like that and Steve's going 'Why??' and John's like 'I'm going to do some art.'. So we loaded up and went 'do you mind if we stop in Wolverhampton for a second?' whilst he was driving us down. He's come to the door and Reni's let him have a full five litre tin of gloss and John's let him have one over him and his mrs. Then we were just like brooke bond chimps on LSD running round.

From Melody Maker Magazine, 10 February 1990: 

''ALL four STONE ROSES members face jail if convicted on charges of criminal damage arising from a disturbance at their former record company FM Revolver last Monday [January 29]. Three members of the band entered the Wolverhampton record company offices at 6pm and poured blue and white paint over Revolver Managing Director Paul Birch and his girlfriend Olivia Darling. According to Revolver press officer Clare Britt, they then charged out of the office smashing the windows of Birch's £25,000 Mercedes and pouring paint over two cars in the car park.

The Stone Roses are angry aver Revolver's reissue of their “Sally Cinnamon" single but particularly the accompanying video Revolver made without the band’s consent. It features black and white Manchester Street images, The Hacienda, The International and record shops in the city. Birch is claiming, however, that manager Gareth Evans had already approved both single and video and had even taken on upfront royalty. Revolver also claim that Evans rang Paul Birch the following day and said words to the effect, “Hi Paul, how's your f***ing car this morning, you ain't seen nothing yet." When contacted by the Maker, Wolverhampton police confirmed that they arrested the three members of the band at Rockfield studios in Wales where they are recording their new LP and had later picked up Gareth Evans in Manchester as well as a fourth member of the band. The manager was later released without charge. All the band appeared at Wolverhampton magistrates court the following morning, charged with causing criminal damage. 

They appeared handcuffed and were charged under their full names, John Thomas Squire, Ian George Brown, Alan John Wren and Gary Michael Maurnfield. All four pleaded guilty. They were remanded on bail until March 6. Finally, the band are still officially denying that they are appearing at an all-day acid rave at Spike lsland, Widnes, during the hank holiday weekend.''

Taken from Rage magazine, issue 10 - 27 February - 12 March 1991 Mike Noon wrote: 'If the guy had somehow insulted us in the same way in a pub, we'd have done him then' claimed John Squire about the particular brand of justice they meted out to Revolver boss Paul Birch.

From Simon Spence War & Peace Unedited Interview with Dave Roberts - A&R at FM Revolver / Heavy Metal Records: Then the paint episode …On the afternoon it happened I was in the office and we got a call from the NME and they said, are The Stone Roses there yet? It got put through to me and I said, what are you talking about we haven’t seen them for two or three years, they don’t come in here. He said oh, right, I must be confused. So obviously somebody had tipped off the NME that this was going to happen. So, I left the office, we had a base in London … then I got a call from Paul, he was really upset, said you won’t believe, his voice was shaking, The Stone Roses have been and they’ve poured paint all over the offices, all over my car and they were really aggressive. At that point I said, well maybe we can make something out of that too and our press officer, who was in our London office, said Well this is obviously going to get out but maybe we should be trying to tell our side of the story before someone else does and we rang up The Sun. Just literally the reception number … they were very excited and said don’t speak to anyone else, we want to run this as an exclusive … it snowballed from there. They sent someone up to Paul to do photos and an interview … and then it appeared the next day as a major news story. Then I got some weird calls over the next couple of weeks. I tried to speak to Gareth but it was all a bit threatening. You don’t know who you’re dealing with; that kind of stuff. Then I got phone calls on my mobile with no one speaking on the other end for about a month. I left the company in about February/March 1990.

From M62 Magazine, Issue Number 02, July/Aug 1988 Debi Read wrote: And why do they come across in interviews as really aggressive? Offers Ian, 'An integral part of the human being is to have aggression, you should be angry and you should be aggressive', you should say what you think'.

From Autumn 2001 - Mojo Collections Magazine Number 4 'David Bowie' - War Of The Roses article by John Harris...“The paint business had to happen,” says Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, “‘cos this cheeky bugger kept putting this shit record out. We warned him …. but that’s the way people deal with things in Manchester. If people keep taking the piss, you go and fucking batter ’em. Only we didn’t: we thought we’d make an artistic statement.”

From 2004 - Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Paul Birch said: The story they didn't tell was that they had this paint stripper with harmful chemicals, you know the cans with the big X on the side? harmful to your skin. Mani: I think that's me that, I was gonna do his cars with it, but it all happened so quickly I didn't get a chance to anyway, we smashed the cars so there was no need for the nitrmots. We then pelted back to the car. Steve was like 'what you done?' and we were like 'drive!' and we drove down to Monmouth to Rockfield Studios. As we got there Black Sabbath wee just loading out of there with that geezer Butler and Tony Iaomi and there going 'We fucking hate that Paul Birch, nice one.'

Ian: "The video was insulting", Brown said at the time. "Blokes selling fruit, a few pigeons, some black woman holding a baby, a picture of me on the front of The Face, a few people in flares... So we went and painted him."

From 12 June 2020 15:46 - Birmingham Mail, Black Country articles, Local Democracy Reporter: Joe Sweeney:...So they decided to pay a visit to the premises and threw paint all over Mr Birch, his wife Olivia and the couple's offices and cars. Now a Wolverhampton Labour councillor for Blakenhall, Mr Birch set up the independent record firm in 1980. Throughout the forthcoming decades, he signed dozens of up and coming bands as well as the talented but unpredictable 'Madchester' indie act. Artists who have been released on Revolver over the years include Leo Sayer, Bruce Cockburn, Be-Bop Deluxe, The Plasmatics, UK Subs, The Vibrators and Rose Royce. The label also released the eponymous first album by Jane's Addiction. While the unconventional attack has entered the rock history books, the music boss, now 66, says he still remembers the day vividly.

"There was a knock at the door and my wife came up to my office and said The Stone Roses are here to see you," he said. "I didn't take it seriously at first and after about ten minutes she came back and said The Stone Roses are still waiting downstairs to see you.
"I came to the front door and then all hell broke loose. They had members of their management team with them as well and they just barged in and there was paint flying everywhere. It was absolute mayhem. "You think you know how you're going to react in a situation like this, but believe me, you don't know how you will react.

"I had several cars at the time and they attacked those as well. There was a Mercedes on the drive and it ended up costing ten grand in repairs alone for just that one afterwards.
"The story they didn't tell at the time was that they had this paint stripper and harmful chemicals - the cans with the big 'X' on the side - harmful to your skin. I didn't know if they intended to attack us with it or not."

When the attack happened the band were on their way to a recording studio in Monmouth, Wales, before deciding to make the detour to Wolverhampton. In a later TV interview, band member Gary Mounfield - known as Mani - spoke about the incident. The bass guitarist said the group asked to stop at FADS DIY store in Northenden, on the outskirts of Manchester, to get tins of paint and overalls so guitarist John Squire could 'do some art'. The band were subsequently arrested and appeared at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court charged with causing £15-20,000 worth of criminal damage. Following the incident, Mr Birch said he estimated that the media hype alone had bought the group in excess of a quarter of a million pounds in publicity. He has had no contact with any members of the band following the court case.

Mr Birch added: "The damage caused was huge. My wife had to use pumice stone for weeks afterwards to try and get the paint out of her hair. "I know people look back on it with a sense of nostalgia, but at the time it was quite frightening." The successful businessman now juggles his duties in local politics, alongside still managing Revolver Music and a separate business Revolver World, a cooperative that imports and markets Fairtrade-certified coffee and tea.

30 January 1990 Monday - Rockfield Studios, Amberley Court, Rockfield Rd, Monmouth, NP25 5ST

One Love / Something's Burning
John Leckie Recording Session. Paul Schroeder was the Assistant Engineer on the sessions, Simon Dawson was the in-house engineer. This was the first time Simon met the band, Simon would later work with the band on their return to Rockfield. The band turn up late. FM Revolver Incident approx 18:00, arrive at studio 21:00 and recorded until 04:00.

The NME state a slightly different story. The NME say the band were arrested at the studio and spent the night in the cells Monday night to Tuesday.

From Autumn 2001 - Mojo Collections Magazine Number 4 'David Bowie' War Of The Roses article by John Harris... John Leckie said:
“On the Tuesday night, there was no word from anyone. I was sitting there at Rockfield with Paul Schroeder [engineer and eventual Roses producer} , all the gear had turned up … and no one was returning the calls. The record company was saying, ‘Well, we don’t know where they are.’

And on Tuesday night, 48 hours late, at about nine o’clock, the door opens and they all fall in, covered in blue and white paint. They just fell in the door, giggling — couldn’t give a fuck, just flopped on the chair, paint over the carpet. And they told me what they’d done.”

As usual, the band was chaperoned by Steve ‘Adge’ Atherton, their tour manager and fixer. “Steve Adge said, ‘The cops are coming — any minute now, they’re going to find out where we are,'” says Leckie.

“I got them to run through One Love and Something’s Burning, and then we went to bed at four. And at about eight the next morning, the police came and took them away.”

“I was woken by the sound of tyres on gravel the next morning,” laughs Mani. “I pulled my curtains back and had a little peek, and the first thing I saw was John and Ian getting put in a police car. The coppers kept knocking on my door but I didn’t answer it. The others were banged up from 11 in the morning — and I just went and handed myself in at half four in the evening. Had a nice day in the sun.

“We were two nights in the cells: they held us one night in Monmouth, and another night in Wolverhampton. They did our fingerprints. But the weird thing was, we told the coppers what papers to get the next morning: we said, ‘It’ll be in the NME.’ And you know what was free with the NME? The poster of us covered in paint. Just the sweetest irony, man. Unreal. We signed the poster for the coppers and wrote ‘Exhibit A’ on it.”

From November 2001 - I Am Without Shoes (thestoneroses.net) John Leckie Interview: IAWS: Do you have / was there any demo material for Fools Gold, What The World Is Waiting For and One Love/Something's Burning? What did it sound like? 

JL: Yes...there was a demo for Fools Gold (originally considered as a B side) that was a drum loop played from vinyl, with a guitar playing the riff, and vocal with the same lyrics.... It was done by John and Ian at home on cassette 4-track. Same for What World Is Waiting For. There was no demo for One Love/Something's Burning.

Official Release: 2009 The Stone Roses Legacy Edition - Something's Burning *hidden track not featured on the sleeve just noted as '20 Untitled'

01 February 1990 Wednesday - The Stone Roses appear in Wolverhampton Magistrates Court and plead guilty to criminal damage.

They were released on bail until 06 March 1990.
The five were taken to Birmingham and held at Birmingham Road Police Station. Wednesfield Police Station Press Office, said: “Five men were being held in police custody in connection with a possible charge of criminal damage.” The fifth man was driver and band tour manager Steve Adge, who was later released.

In the afternoon Gareth Evans turned up at Birmingham Road Police Station. He was laden with goodies, including a bag of refreshments, a selection of Stone Roses T-shirts and a copy of the NME. The CID accepted the Lucozade and snacks but refused to pass on the t-shirts, assuring Gareth that “They’ve had a bath and they’re alright”. The officer did however agree to pass on the band’s eagerly awaited copy of the NME. Distributing the t-shirts among bemused members of the public also queueing at the desk, Gareth then left, saying “See you in court, lads!”

Normally at 13.45 Wolverhampton Magistrate’s Court hearings would finish sessions for the day but at 14:04 it was announced, that if a charge was fortcoming, the police could deliver the band, prior to 14:30, for a 'special' session. Mr Price represented the band in court.

Bail was granted on condition that the band stay away from the FM Revolver offices in Wolverhampton and London and they make no contact with either Birch or his girlfriend Olivia Darling.

15.15 the band left the dock. Outside the chamber Gareth declined to comment other than to say “everything will be contested”. On emerging they headed for a car waiting to take them back to South Wales.

From Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Gareth Evans said: If the band had gone to prison, we would have all won out of it. It would have been a nice holiday for them, they'd have got fit, done plenty of weights, and they'd had have to have write songs, what a better place to write songs?

From Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Mani said: Even on the way down to court that morning, we didn't know. Kiss your bird, see you in six months. We were working out how not to get bummed in prison.

02 February 1990 Thursday - Rockfield Studios, Amberley Court, Rockfield Rd, Monmouth, NP25 5ST
Released on bail, see 06 March 1990 for next date in court, the band return to the studio.

1990 - Rockfield Studios, Amberley Court, Rockfield Rd, Monmouth, NP25 5ST

One Love / Something’s Burning

John Leckie Recording Session.
The tracks were recorded and re-recorded upon the bands release from Police Custody. Apparently a 30 minute One Love recording exsists.

It was suggested One Love would see release before Spike Island but it took six weeks to the mix the two songs.

In that time John Leckie had travelled to Seattle to produced The Posies album and flown back to find Paul Schroeder and the band still trying to finish the mixes, Simon Dawson was the in-house Assistant Engineer for the sessions. One Love went through several versions. An alternate mix can be heard on Acetate promos, there's also a Mono mix on various promo cassettes. 

The story goes that Paul and the band finished a mix, they were happy with, but accidentally bounced it down as a mono track.
John Leckie produced the final mix, Adrian Sherwood was sent the track for mixing. The On-U sound producer's remixes would later appear on the 1992 Waterfall single.

From 14 July 1990 - NME Magazine, James Brown article: You’ve just recorded a 30-minute long single. How do you break that down to a six-minute 12”? J: “Cut out 24, ha ha ha. The first six minutes are good, then it goes on a bit.” I: “If the two tracks were good then we would put out a two-track album. Anything’s possible, anything at all.”

From May 1995 - SOS Sound On Sound website, Article By Matt Bell: ...By sheer coincidence, Simon returned to Monmouth just as Rockfield was undergoing a reorganisation, and landed a job there as House Engineer in 1988. He met the Stone Roses for the first time in 1990, when they came to Rockfield to record their 'One Love' single. He acted as Assistant Engineer on that session (along with one Paul Schroeder) to the Roses' producer John Leckie, who had produced the group's by‑then highly successful debut album....

February 1990 - The Stone Roses feature on the cover of Record Collector magazine, Issue Number 126, Priced at £1.75

February 1990 - Q Magazine, Peter Kane article was titled 'Space Invaders'.

07 February 1990 - The Stone Roses serve a writ on Revolver to stop the Sally Cinnamon video being shown.
The case is adjourned for three weeks.

10 February 1990 - Spike Island rumours
Spike Island show is unconfirmed at this time, although rumours had spread.

The Stone Roses - 19 February 1990 - Elephant Stone U.K. Re-Release Date
Produced By Peter Hook, Elephant Stone (12) & (7) Mixed by John Leckie.

Full Fathom Five is the Peter Hook produced version, it would also appear on The Complete Stone Roses compilation. Elephant Stone debuted in the U.K. charts at 25 and peaked at number 8.

A 1990 Elephant Stone & Made Of Stone re-release press sheet mentions Elephant Stone as ''...back in the shops from 19 February 1990...''

From February 1990 - NME Magazine - ELEPHANTITIS
The Stone Roses look set to crash back into the top ten with a reissue of their first Silvertone single 'Elephant Stone'.

The track, produced by New Order's Peter Hook, has been unavailable for some time, but is back in the shops this week.

Advance orders for the record are reportedly around the 75,000 mark - and if sales live up to expectations, the record seems likely to crack the top end of the chart. The Roses already have two records still in the Top 100 - the 'Sally Cinnamon' reissue and their 'What The World Is Waiting For' / 'Fools Gold' double A-side.

'Elephant Stone was originally released in October 1988. But the current interest in the Roses has prompted Silvertone into making it available again.

The reissue has the band's backing, so it's unlikely they'll be daubing Silvertone's offices with several cans of paint - as they allegedly did with their old label FM/Black, who reissued Sally Cinnamon last December.

'Elephant Stone' comes backed with original B-sides 'Full Fathom Five' and 'The Hardest Thing In The World'.
It's followed by a reissue of 'Made Of Stone' a week later. Backed by 'Going Down' and 'Guernica', it's out on February 25.
Both 45s will also be available for the first time on cassette and CD.

20 February 1990 - Ian Brown's 27th birthday

20 February 1990 - Interview, Tara Hotel, London
An interview tape with three of The Stone Roses was recorded. Neither Reni or Mani did not attend.

The interview was conducted at the last minute for US magazine Alternative Press, but was also used in May 1990 - City Life magazine.

It was recorded in the hotel they were staying in. The intention was to eventually share the audio, but it remains unreleased.
The NME also conducted an interview, on the same day at a 'West End Hotel'. The interview featured in the 17 March 1990 - NME Magazine, also see 14 July 1990 - NME Magazine, James Brown article.

Sky Magazine also conducted an interview, on the same day.  

May 1990 - The Stone Roses are photographed for Vogue Magazine (USA) in London Photos by Michel Haddi/Contour.

1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Rave On Magazine, issue one, priced at £1.75
"Blooming mental - the rebellious Roses and their artistic flares. Happy Mondays - The only good thing at the beginning of the week. Inspiral Carpets - Cool As What?" Included a fold out poster too.

1990 - What The World Is Waiting For / Fools Gold U.S.A. & Canada Release Date.

The U.S market saw a gold, amber coloured translucent vinyl release. The promo only cd was apparently seen shelved and for sale in some record stores in the U.S. The cassette was apparently released in December 1989, although unconfirmed.

1990 - What The World Is Waiting For, Japanese Release Date

Japanese only E.P. featuring unique artwork. There were at least two variations of the front cover. The lemon had a dark blue border, a light blue border or no outline border at all.

1990 - What The World Is Waiting For, Australian Release Date.

To tempt Australian buyers the release included a 7inch Fools Gold record, a t-shirt with inconic painted band photo and a promo cassette too, all bundled together. The cassette featured short excerpts of the albums tracks plus Fools Gold 4.15 & What The World Is Waiting For in full. Squire / Brown noted as (Mushroom) publishing on the 12inch vinyl label.

February 1990 - One Love Recording Sessions
One Love is mixed, edited and finished in mono.

1998 - Record Collector, December 1997 - Hotel, Park Lane, John Reed Interview/article: RC: The Stone roses seemed to be on top of the world by the end of ’89. But the you came back in summer 1990 with "One Love", which was viewed as an anti-climax by critics… 

IB: And by us. We went to master it the first time and the engineer had accidentally pressed the mono button. The guy at the mastering suite said, I’m not making a mono record. We said, no, it’s great really loud. So we re-mixed it but looking back, we tried in vain to make an anthem to cover all bases – we wanted to appeal to everyone in clubs and indie kids and whoever. 

But it was a poor chorus, I think.

From 01 March 1995 -'The Face Magazine' Issue 78, March 95: ...about why the “One Love” single hadn’t really been much cop (John Squire: “It just wasn’t ready”);

From Autumn 2001 Mojo Collections Number 04: One Love and Something’s Burning were finished upon their release from police custody (eight months later, the group were fined £3000 each for criminal damage)...Moreover, mixing the songs took six weeks: time enough for Leckie to travel to Seattle, produce an album by The Posies, and return to find the group and Paul Schroeder still embroiled in the task. Eventually, time was called and One Love and Something’s Burning were tentatively placed on Silvertone’s release schedules...

1990 - Rockfield Studios, Amberley Court, Rockfield Rd, Monmouth, NP25 5ST
Standing On Your Head (Studio Version 1990) / Mr Shy Talk
Apparently an early instrumental version exists in demo form.
Mr Shy Talk is an unconfirmed jam track recorded during the One Love sessions or it could be a Metropolis, John Squire's Porta-studio demo.

March 1990 - CATH Vol.1 Fanzine 1990 - Spring
Includes Primal Scream and The Stone Roses

05 March 1990 - Made of Stone U.K. Re-Release Date
Made Of Stone enters the U.K. charts at number 20. This re-release has a blue catalog number, rather the original black, and the Made Of Stone font on the front of the sleeve would be considerably bigger on this sleeve. The vinyl pressings look the same. One of the tell-tale signs you have a repress would be the French inner sleeve. A generic white sleeve with French disc care text 'Precautions Essentielles Pour La Bonne Conservation De Ce Disque...'.

06 March 1990 - The Stone Roses appear in Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court.

The band arrived at court at 09.30am for a 10am hearing.
FM Revolver accuse the band of criminal damage, estimated damages between £15,000 to £20,000. 

Jeff Howard, represented The Stone Roses.

The entire hearing lasts for less than ten minutes, the media exaggerated the hearing was less than 60 seconds. The case is adjourned (see 12 April 1990) when the defence and prosecution fail to agree on a figure for damages.

Richard Davis took several photographs, outside the doors of the court, for the media. Richard was in court for the hearing and made the following notes on the day: ‘The Stone Roses are charged with causing £15-20,000 worth of damage to their old record label FM Revolver Records of Wolverhampton. 

This allegedly involved the band members splattering paint over FM’s offices. The band admitted to the offence but claim their attack was justified in light of FM recently re-releasing Sally Cinnamon, without their permission’. ‘Furthermore, the band are miffed about the accompanying video of Sally Cinnamon, which FM recently made. After a brief hearing in February, today saw all four Stone Roses at Wolverhampton Civic Court charged with Criminal Damage to FM Property. 

The case started at 10.00am but within five minutes, the packed courtroom (filled with fans) heard, yet again, that the case would have to be adjourned’. ‘The band heard the charges which were made out to them in their real names, Alan John Wren, Ian George Brown, Gary Nigel Mounfield and John Thomas Squire. 

Due to the serious nature of the case, the Court decided to set a new date, April 12th at Wolverhampton Crown Court’. 

‘After posing for photos outside the court – much to the amusement of court officials and passers-by, the band drove of brandishing a banner that read ‘THE MANCHESTER FOUR ARE INNOCENT’.

From 17 March 1990 - Sounds Magazine, John Robb wrote ''Ian Brown. John Squire, Gary Mountfield and Reni appeared at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court last Tuesday charged with criminal damage. But the case was adjourned when the defence and prosecution failed to agree on a figure for the amount of damage the four allegedly did to the offices and property of FM-Revolver Records. The trial is now set to take place at Wolverhampton Crown Court on April 12.'' '"I've been up all night," explained a characteristically shagged-out Ian Brown, in between signing autographs, adding ironically 'it's a good day out'. 'See ya in hell' quipped Reni, seconds before he was ambushed by the flashbulb extravaganza on the door step. 

06 March 1990 - The Stone Roses begin recording the One Love Video.

First day of filming the promo video. Geoff Wonfor was hired for the video shoot.

10 March 1990 - The Stone Roses appear in court again
The case is adjourned to give Revolver time to prepare their defence.

NME reports that The band lose the case against the Sally Cinnamon promo video injunction.

March 1990 - She Bangs The Drums U.K Release Date

Charted in the U.K. at number 32, two places higher than the original 1989 release.

The art print version had a sticker on the sleeve. The black sticker with white writing read 'ORE Z 6 includes special limited edition colour print'. Usually the 'Sugar' I Wanna Ba Adored sleeve was included as the bonus print.

17 March 1990 - Sounds Magazine - Spike Island is confirmed.
The article noted ''...tickets, price £13, are on sale now. You can get them by post from G&M Promotions, PO Box 7, Poynton. Cheshire SK1 2 1FP— enclose an SAE and add 50p per ticket booking fee. There's a maximum of four tickets per postal application. For credit card purchases and coach trip enquiries call, 061-969 4959. And tickets are also available at the Piccadilly box office in Manchester.

17 March 1990 - The Stone Roses feature on the cover of NME
Front page headline read 'Stone Free? Stone Roses in the charts and in the dock'. 'The Stone Roses have reportedly pencilled in two shows at London's Brixton Academy in June. The shows, which have been provisionally booked, would be warm-ups for an American tour.'

31 March 1990 - NME report Ian Brown was spotted in 'nitespot' Cafe De Paris, London with members of the Liverpool Football Team.

10 April 1990 - Reni's 26th birthday.

12 April 1990 - The Stone Roses appear in Wolverhampton Magistrates Court

There is still no agreement on compenstaion costs. The court is adjourned until the 26 April 1990, and committed to Crown Court. Hundreds of fans waited outside, town centre traffic had to be diverted due to the crowds.

14 April 1990 - Sounds magazine announce summer shows.
Sounds magazine announce 'Glasgow, Manchester and London for late June and/or early July, Sounds understands'

18 April 1990 - Ian Brown is spotted in London's Charing Cross Road

Ian and his dad, Vincent Brown, went to watch the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. His team Warrington lose 36-14 to Wigan.

26 April 1990 - The Stone Roses appear in Wolverhampton Crown Court

Paul Reid defended the band "So we did what we did and he called the police and then sent press releases out." He adds, laughing, "All the publicity hasn't done us any harm, y' know what I mean."

"We did what we did" is a euphemism for an unsolicited paint job. Incensed by Birch's disregard for their requests, the band drove to the FM/Revolver building and, with the engine still running, covered him and his office in paint. It was John Squire's splatter artwork on a large scale. A stone birdbath was also pitched through the rear window of Birch's car and two cans of paint strewn over the interior upholstery. The four Stone Roses were taken to Wolverhampton Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to criminal damage. Since the damage was in excess of £5,000 and the prosecution and defence could not agree an amount (the defence said it was £8,000; FM claimed it was £22,000) the case has been referred to Crown Court for sentence.

They could end up in prison. Would this worry them? "Course it would," asserts Reni, "who wants to go to jail?"
But if they're prepared to fight for causes, and feelings obviously run high on this one…

"I can think of better things to go to jail for," says Ian, and Reni caps his sentence with typical dry humour, "…than a video."

Whatever the verdict, Brown is convinced of a moral victory.
"We always did what we thought was right and we still think what we did was right. So whatever happens to us is really irrelevent, cos we know what we did was right. If someone on the street did that kind of thing to us, we'd 'ave 'em."...

April 1990 - Hit Studio International, TV Studios, London
One Love.

The band mime the song to promote its upcoming release. The single would not see the shelves until July 1990 though. Weirdly the 2004 DVD credits the song as '1989 Fuji International Productions with special thnks to Fuji International Productions (UK) LTD.'

May 1990 - The Stone Roses Interview features in Sky Magazine Interview conducted 20 February 1990, Hotel, North London. 

May 1990 - The Stone Roses on the cover of City Life Magazine, Issue 150. Interview conducted 20 February 1990, Hotel, London. Photos taken by Matt Squire. 

04 May 1990 - One Love Video Shoot
Some more shots are filmed for the promo video.

14 May 1990 - The Daily Mirror carries a news story about a shooting at Manchester International 

 Ian Brown and James' Tim Booth were in the audience watching reggage act 'Ini Kamoze' when the venue was under gunfire. This and other similar events conied the media term 'Gunchester'.
The club was previously managed and co-owned by Matthew Cummings & Gareth Evans. The Stone Roses later appeared to show their respects to the victim, along with Tim Booth and Saul Davies from James.

The International 2 was sold to Manchester businessman and nightclub owner Paul Coombes, in the summer of 1990. Paul promoted all the shows up to the closure of the venue in the summer of 1992. The site was sold for redevelopment, the building was demolished and replaced by a gated apartment building complex. It was a similar story for The International 1 which was turned into retail stores.

Scandinavian Tour

15 May 1990 Tuesday - The Station, Norregade 1, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Doors Open: 20:00 * Ticket Price: 130,- + Gebyr *
(Intro Tape: Small Time Hustler (The Dismasters)) I Wanna Be Adored / Elephant Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Shoot You Down / One Love / Sally Cinnamon / (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister / Standing Here / Fool's Gold / Where Angels Play / Waterfall / Don't Stop / Something’s Burning / Made Of Stone / Elizabeth My Dear / I Am The Resurrection

What The World Is Wating For was on the setlist after Fools Gold but was not played, it was written as 'What The World'. Cressa joins the band as effects technician.

The band make a few setlist changes and debut Elizabeth My Dear & Don't Stop. They also debut new songs One Love & Something’s Burning.

According to the ABS (ABS, Nationwal Wesminister (aka NatWest) Bank) contractual agreement written / signed 02 April 1990 between Thomas Seifert, PP Infrarouge and Gareth Evans PP Starscreen Ltd. the band agreed to one show of 60 minutes for a fee of £2000 (23,000DK) + 80% nett ticket price after 658 admissions.

From 26 May 1990 - Melody Maker Magazine Review: According to Reni, the opener in Copenhagen was "f***ing average, really average"

16 May 1990 Wednesday - Mejeriet, Stoba Soder Garten 64, 22354, Lund, Sweden. Doors: On Stage: 22:20 

The band return to Sweden after five years, alot's changed since 1985. 700 people attended the show. Cressa joins the band as effects technician. The band were late on stage, several fans were angry and heckled the band before they come on. The band had a 10 hour journey ahead of them after the show.

Peter J Walsh took several photographs for the Manchester’s City Life Magazine.

From July 1990 - Q Magazine, Article by Adrian Deevoy...

TWENTY minutes after The Stone Roses are due on stage in Lund, they locate a suitable “soup shop” in the old town, a 10-minute walk from the concert venue. It’s an amusing sight as the band - without a watch or indeed a care between them – shamble into the upwardly mobile, mildly pretentious Swedish beanerie. In a country where everybody seems blond, tanned, preposterously well-preserved and turned out, The Stone Roses make a pale and interesting contrast. In fact, the piano player all but stops. Sauted herrings remain unmasticated in open mouths and gravadlax perch unattended on wooden forks, dripping dill mustard on to the pastel pink tablecloths.

“Smart gaff, this,” says Ian, beaming at the slack-jawed customers, his over-long waterproof trousers noisily buffing the stripped pine floor. John studies the restaurant’s paintings in which all the daubed women appear to be exposing sections of their chests. “I detect something of a breast theme,” he says. “Yeah, tits everywhere, man,” Mani concurs intellectually. 

A waiter of pugilistic aspect eyes the band uneasily as Ian romantically flambes a sugarcube over a candle and presents it to John who, in turn, tucks into the burnt offering with knife and fork. The waiter shifts his bulk awkwardly, flexing his leg-like arms as, for reasons unknown, Ian deliberately misses his mouth and pours his coffee over the table. He finally snaps as Brown saunters into the kitchen area and steals a piece of lettuce. He rushes over and strikes a macho pose over the foursome. “This is a restaurant,” he booms, twitching with anger. “Behave yourself!”
“I were just off anyway, mate,” Ian smirks, munching contentedly. “Relax.” The band fall silent. Hands deep in pockets, nodding farewells to the bemused clientele, Ian shuffles out.

By the time the band return to the Lund concert hall, the 700 paying customers have been standing on the dancefloor – there is no bar as this would mean age restrictions – waiting for their underground English heroes’ set to commence for over two hours. As the band scuttle in through a rear entrance a muffled chant can be heard permeating through the building. Although filtered through the randomly melodic Swedish accent, it us just decipherable to the trained ear: FUK-IN BAS-TUDS! FUK-IN BAS-TUDS!

“The punters,” explains the group’s agent a trifle unnecessarily, “are not happy.”

Ian’s suggestion that they leave it for another hour before taking the stage is met with the uncomfortable thing that is “a severe bollocking”. The agent later apologises to each member. “My problem was, I was getting it in the ear from the promoter and all I could say was, I know that they should be on stage but they’ve buggered off for a bleeding bowl of soup.”

The band shrug off the knuckle-rapping with their characteristic combination of charm, cheek and curmudgeonly muttering. “The boss shouts at the husband,” says Mani, “the husband beats the wife, the wife screams at the kids, the kids kick the dog, the dog bites the postman, the postman doesn’t deliver your giro….” “Exactly,” says the agent, looking deeply puzzled.

In the dressing room, the band engage in the time-honoured last-minute preparations that pop groups have made since the champagne bottle first cracked across the bows of the good ship rock ‘n’ roll. Cresser tries to limbo dance under a chair, Ian stuffs his pockets full of cherries, John busies himself with an elaborate hay fever cure and Mani has a wee in the sink.

IT is 10.20 when the band eventually appear on stage as silhouettes in a cloud of dry ice that would make any Swedish steam room proud. Sadly, the concert calls for liberal use of the word “rusty”. The band have not played live since their Alexandra Palace extravaganza seven months ago and it shows: intros require jump-starting, backing vocals slip into the realms of pain, the foldback well, doesn’t, and nothing quite seems to gel.

John Squire, standing head down at the corner of the stage like a guilty schoolboy, coaxes the regular Hendrix-derived selection of sounds from his guitar. Mani reliably pumps out his rubbery Beatles bass lines and drummer Reni clatters about his kit like a three-armed Keith Moon but somehow the three elements refuse to hang together.

To top it all Ian Brown is in a near-psychotic state of mind. Loping rhythmically about the stage like a monkey at a discotheque, he stares into space, mouthing incomprehensible thoughts which are clearly being express-delivered from another dimension. He occasionally rolls his eyes back into his head in a frustrated attempt to lose himself in the music. When this fails, as it invariably does, he crouches and mischievously surveys the audience in the predatory style of John Lydon.

The previous evening in Copenhagen he had repeatedly asked the confused crowd, “What’re y’doin’?” some 20 times, until even the roadies – all long time acquaintances of the 26-year-old singer – were exchanging concerned glances and the telephone numbers of bespoke straight-jacket tailors. Tonight, though, more than anything, Brown appears professionally bored.

Tomorrow is Stockholm, a larger more prestigious show with an estimated audience of 3,000. Wide-eyed and restless, none of the band sleeps on the 10-hour journey, preferring instead to watch – for the sixth time – the almost uncomfortably gritty Northern drama Rita, Sue And Bob Too and re-runs of ‘70s

Ali-Frazier fights. “There was something about Ali when he was young,” says Brown, who, it has been said, shares a lot of the young fighter’s sassy arrogance. “He just… shone. Really sad, though, the way he just… went. Shame that, ‘cos he was so strong. I like to read about strong people like Ali and Malcolm X, used to really like Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King and Pete, although I’ve never hero-worshipped anyone like musicians or anything. I’ve had a lot of respect for people but I’ve never idolised them.”

17 May 1990 Thursday - Exit (The Fryhuset) Langholmsgaten 38, Stockholm, Sweden * Doors: (on stage) 22:30 *

I Wanna Be Adored / Elephant Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Shoot You Down / One Love (attempt) / Sally Cinnamon / Standing Here / Fool's Gold / Where Angels Play / Waterfall / Don't Stop / Something’s Burning / Made Of Stone / Elizabeth My Dear / I Am The Resurrection

The band arrived at 10am in the morning, after a tour bus drive through the night. Cressa joins the band as effects technician. 

The Fryhuset held 1,500 people and was a former meat warehouse turned Youth Centre 'YMCA-style' building in an industrial area. Peter J Walsh took several photographs for the Manchester’s City Life Magazine. Pennie Smith was at the show.

After the show the band went into town to party, starting at Melody's club and ending with a ghetto blaster in the back of someone's car, see the article below for details of the 'Warehouse rave at the docks' which never happened.

19 May 1990 Saturday - Voice, "Slamdal..3" Oslo, Norway

25 May 1990 Saturday - One Love requested release date
Apparently the band wanted the release to be pushed for a weekend release, so everyone could hear the record before the Spike Island show and so the record could be sold at the gig. Due to a change in the sleeve artwork and Silvertones decision to push the record back, the single would not see release until 02 July 1990.

May 1990 - Citadel, St. Helens

From June 1998 - United We Stand Interview, Mani said: ...Another time, we played a gig just before Spike Island in St Helens under an assumed name. There were about five people there and we just sat down and played another blinding gig. I enjoyed moments like that as much as I enjoyed Spike Island where there was 25,000."

26 May 1990 Saturday - Spike Island, Widnes, Cheshire
Soundcheck: I Am The Resurrection

The band did a soundcheck on Saturday afternoon. The stage and show set up had started two weeks previously. Apparently the P.A. system involved speakers from Gareth's International Club, unsuitable for such a large outdoor event.

26 May 1990 Saturday - Spike Island Press Conference, Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester * Doors: 20:00

The band said they did not want to play second fiddle by supporting The Rolling Stones on their European tour.

‘What will you be doing in five years?" asks the Daily Star. “What a stupid question," retorts Ian Brown.

According to the Silvertone press sheet, Silvertone officials were staying at Lord Daresbury Hotel, Warrington.
The Third Coming, The Definitive Exibithion Catalgoue shows photos taken by Paul Slattery.

27 May 1990 Sunday - Spike Island, Widnes, Cheshire * Doors Open: 14:00 Curfew: 22:30 * Ticket Price: £13 / £14.00 * 

Support Act(s): 14:00 - DJ Dave Haslam, 15:00 - Ruff & Ready, 16:00 - DJ Frankie "Frankie Knuckles" Bones, 16:40 - Thomas Mapfumo (Zimbabwean Drum Orchestra) 17:30 - The Jam MCs, 18:30 - Jah Wobble (Live) with DJ Gary Clail & Doug Wimbish, 19:30 DJ Paul Oakenfold, 21:00 The Stone Roses .

I Wanna Be Adored / Elephant Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Shoot You Down / One Love / Sally Cinnamon / (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister / Standing Here / Fools Gold / Where Angels Play / Waterfall / Don't Stop / Something’s Burning / Made Of Stone / Elizabeth My Dear / I Am The Resurrection

Sold Out Show, apparently sold out from just one small press article published in the NME magazine. Officially 27,000 tickets were sold but approx 30,000 attended the gig.

The show took place on a Bank Holiday Weekend on the man-made Spike Island nestled along the River Mersey. The nearby roads were very busy with show traffic.

Initial tickets were priced, and printed, at £13 but some tickets were adjusted, by biro pen, to £14 to cover any selling fees.

 From 08 October 2004 Friday 00:00 - The Independent, Andy Gill Interview: "At Spike Island [the Roses' big 1990 gig], we made sure tickets were £13, which meant we were only breaking even - we did so many things like that, where we weren't chasing the dollars..."

Coach & Concert Ticket Prices Varied but departed from all over the Country, From Aberdeen (£49.00) to Taunton (£42.00) and everywhere in-between. Cressa joins the band as effects technician. This would be the first time many fans would hear the new single live, both One Love & Something's Burning would be played.

The sound was not very good by all accounts, open air show with windy conditions and the P.A. system could not suffice to a crowd of 30,000. The weather was sunny though.

The organisers did not order enough beer, the ques were long and it took hours to get served. Cigarettes were unavailable and the kiosks apparently stopped serving beer at 18:00 as they had run out. There was 8 arrests at the show, mainly due to drunk and disorderly behaviour. The ticket stub entry terms indicated 'Number 2 : If anyone near you has problems, please help.'

The bands stage lights for the show were organised by 'Close Encounters'.

Ian McCullouch, A Guy Called Gerald, Peter Hook, Marc Riley, Bez and Shaun Ryder were backstage at the show. Members of Lush, 808 State, Primal Scream, Nigel Pivaro, Pete Wylie, Revenge (Peter Hook's band), The Christians, The Bodines, Yargo, The Fall, Inspiral Carpets, Joe Satriani, Andrew Berry, Sonic Boom and The Charlatans were seen backstage at the show too.

Ian had the term V.I.P. scrubbed off all the security passes, saying ''Everyone's equal. There are no V.I.Ps in this world''. Backstage guests are surprised to learn that the only free drink on offer is Coca Cola. The Silvertone hospitality marquee, supplying a buffet and a pay-bar service was intended for media and guests. Several guests had sold or donated there tickets and passes to die hard fans.

Noel Gallagher and Arthur 'Bonehead' were both in the crowd. Bonehead was photographed with his mates and his van. His van had been pollock styled like the roses artwork.

What The World Is Wating For was on the setlist after Fools Gold but was not played, it was written as 'What The World'.

Andy Phillips & Andre Csillag took several photographs for the media. Reporters/Photographers Juergen Teller was there for i-D, Patrick Harrison was there for The Face and Dave Swindells was there for The Observer. 

As the band came on stage Ian can heard proclaiming 'The time is now, do it now!'. The show ended with a firework display.

Cressa and Ian sold audience recordings from the show to local record stores. Afflecks Palace in Manchester was supplied with regular bootleg cassettes from Cressa and his mate, Lee Daly. Ian and Cressa also give away several tapes for free to friends and fans too.

From Simon Spence's Book 'War & Peace': 

Briefly Evans had arranged a £100,000 deal with Central TV to film the event. The company had set up an 8-camera shoot and outside broadcast vehicle on site. On the day of the gig the Roses refused to be filmed. Only the quick thinking of promoter Phil Jones resulted in footage existing of this seminal moment [it has been found]. 

A random kid had been hanging out with his little camera during the stage build, and when the Central TV deal collapsed, Jones told the kid he could film the show.

From 06 March 2009 - Uncut Magazine Interview with Ian Brown: Because again, Peter Hook was saying again the other day that Reni came storming over at Spike Island and was like, to Gareth: “Gareth, get all these fucking Reni hat salesmen off the site.” And it turned out it was Gareth… That’s right. He did have a beef with that because Gareth was trying to make money off it. Yeah, he had a load of Reni hats up on the merch stall that we didn’t know about. But him and Gareth were always fisticuffin’.

From Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Mani said: The words piss up in a brewery spring to mind on that one....

From NME Magazine article, June 1990: '...Meanwhile, big money negotiations to televise The Stone Roses' gig at Spike Island fell through last week. Central Music had led the race to record the gig for screening by BSB and Central TV in a deal rumoured to be worth £100,000 for the band. However, talks between TV officials and the Roses broke down.'

From August 1990 - Select Magzine: 

Bridges had to be built to allow access from the banks of the Mersey and Manchester Airport flight paths were suspended to allow for the firework finale. On top of which, local residents and councils caused ructions.

"Oh yeah, non-stop," sighs Ian. "On the morning of the day there were people in barges and boats trying to knock our bridges down. They (the local residents) had a petition of, I think it was 80, to try and stop it. Two days before, the council tried to take the drinks licence off us and the Chief Constable said, No, let them have it. "We had loads of problems, we had to have about 20 meetings with them - some councillors trying to make their names, y' know, saying it was a drugs party and all that kind of stuff." After all that people whinged about the lack of beer tents and The Stone Roses were reputedly £400,000 lighter of pocket.

29 May 1990 - Melody Maker Magazine, Live Review

June 1990 - NME Magazine: Witness For The Prosecution.

June 1990 - NME Magazine: Stone Roses' 'island of sanity'.

June 1990 - Sounds Magazine, Island of Lost Souls.

June 1990 Sunday - The Independent Newspaper

June 1990 - Melody Maker Magazine, Live Feature

June 1990 - RM Record Mirror Magazine, Live Review

July 1990 - Bop City (Manchester Fanzine)

January 1997 - Q Magazine: Look Back At Spike Island.
After triumphant gigs in London and Blackpool,30,000 baggy trousered fans converged on a toxic dump called Spike Island in the Mersey Estuary to witness The Stone Roses' crowning moment and the apogee of indie dance.

Phil Jones Promoter: The money had been put up by The Roses" managers, Gareth Evans and Matthew Cummings. The band felt it was big enough to headline its own festival, and the main stipulation was that it should be somewhere there had never been a rock gig before, When we heard about Spike Island in the Mersey Estuary. where the Halton Annual Fair was always held, we thought it sounded perfect.

We had no idea how many people to expect, because the group was getting So big so fast. We put one advert in the NME, and from that we sold all the tickets. We started to hit problems early On. It was very hot and sunny when we were preparing the site. and the roadies started to complain about sunburn, but they weren't getting brown. It got so bad that some of them went to see a local doctor and it turned out that there was a chemical factory not far from the site and, after several days' exposure to whatever it was pumping out, they were getting chemical burns.

Come the day, we had sold 29,500 tickets, and reckon at least another 3,500 must have got in one way or another but, according to the licence, the island only had a capacity of 32,000.
Pennie Smith Photographer: From 10am until about eight that evening, when the band went on, there was nothing to do and yet the crowd stayed calm and peaceful, which can only have been down to massive drug consumption.

John Robb Journalist/musician: The significance of Spike Island wasn't so much in the event itself, but that it was the zeitgeist. It was the first time in years that fans were out in force dressed the same way as the band, with the Reni hats and the flared trousers, like a streetsy, harder version of the American West Coast hippy thing.

Bob Stanley Member of St Etienne: Spike Island came in the wake of two brilliant gigs, one at Alexandra Palace in London, and one at the empress Ballroom in Blackpool, so the anticipation was enormous. I'd driven up from London and it was a bit depressing to find yourself in a horrible field, surrounded by huge electric pylons, factories and chemical plants.

Phil Jones: Things got a bit scary in the afternoon. It wasn't just that we were two thousand over-capacity, but the Mersey was in full flow and rising rapidly, so the island was getting smaller. I was worried that we might have to evacuate.

Andy Fyfe Journalist: We got to the site at three in the afternoon, by which time the backstage beer had all been drunk. The treatment of the fans was pretty despicable - just a couple of burger vans and one beer tent for 30,000 people.

Paul Slattery Photographer: The beer drought was largely overcome backstage by the use of dope. There was loads of spliff around, literally clouds of marijuana smoke drifting from every direction.

Phil Jones: There was a drama while Thomas Mapfumo was on stage with his African drum group. We'd leamed that some bloke was Ferrying people across in a boat to get them in for free. I went down to the waterside with the security guys and we had a shouting match with him across the water. It was just a tiny rowing boat but every time we went off to deal with other stuff, he'd start again and we'd have to go back. In the end we put a brick through the bottom of his boat.

Dave Haslam DJ: I went on at about six thirty, to do some DI-ing and, although the other DJs were fine. they'd been playing the wrong stuff and the crowd wasn't really responding. For me, though, it was a hometown gig, so played all the things I knew went down well at The Hacienda - The Charlatans, 808 State. Primal Scream. St Etienne and Sympathy For The Devil.

Pennie Smith: The Roses arrived about an hour before they went on, I had expected them to be nervous, but there was no sense that it was anything other than just another gig to them.

Ian Brown: I was one hundred per cent relaxed. If all these people had come to see us, they wanted it. So why should I have been nervous?

John Robb: There were loads of people backstage, like Shaun Ryder, Ian McCulloch, Nigel Pivaro from Coronation Street, Peter Hook, 808 State. I got to the front just as the whole place exploded, the entire crowd just bouncing up and down to I Wanna Be Adored.

Phil Jones: About five minutes after they went on, I was in the bar trying to have a relaxing drink when an ambulance guy came up to me and whispered in my ear that a kid had just died in front of the stage. When something like that happens, it totally destroys you. Here was this thing we'd all worked months to put together as a great, joyful celebration and some poor kid loses his life right in the middle of it.

Roger Barrett Site manager: What had happened was that, because there had been no rain, the ground was dry and dusty so, when the crowd leapt up as one for the Roses, it kicked up a huge dust cloud. To make matters worse, having formerly been a chemical plant, the dust was toxically polluted. Several kids
immediately had asthma attacks, and this one lad in the thick of the crush actually stopped breathing and had a heart attack.

Phil Jones: On stage. the band knew nothing about it, but we were all in shock for about ten minutes until word came back by radio that in fact the boy hadn't died. He was on his way to Whiston Hospital in Widnes in an ambulance. As a result of that incident, the Health and Safety Executive now routinely check for dust evels before any outdoor gigs.

Paul Slattery: I saw the gig From the Side Of the stage, where I was photographing them. There was a huge lighting tower, like a giant robot, out beyond the crowd, and the rig on stage was one of the most astonishing I'dever seen, with lights that rotated and raised and lowered. As it started to get darker, of course, the effect of the lights really kicked in.

Bob Stanley: I was disappointed because I'd thought Blackpool was absolutely brilliant. This didn't seem to me like a great Roses performance, more like they were on auto-pilot. It should have been brilliant but, in retrospect, the best thing about It was being able to say you were there. In some ways, it was actually the beginning of the end.

Sarah Champion Journalist: It "happened" right at the end of the Roses set, just as we'd all given up hope. The haunting acoustics of Elizabeth My Dear, followed by an awesome version of I Am The Resurrection. Spacey guitar riffs, a pink Floyd-scale lighting rig, beams criss crossing the sky like Berlin border lights.

Bob Stanley: By the end. your hair felt very Odd and greasy, like it was totally coated with chemicals from the factories.

Phil Jones: We all stood in the production Office afterwards, swigging champagne, and distinctly remember Ian Brown saying to Shaun Ryder. "So Shaun William Ryder, what did you think of that?" and Shaun says "Well. it was alright, man."

Pennie Smith: As a festival, it was a bit of a non-event, but the significant thing was that the tribes had come out for the first time, and for a huge number Of people it was their first exposure to this sort of community.

John Robb: Spike Island was where the '90s started. The Roses provided the dream and set the template for every British guitar band of the '90s.

Noel Gallagher: Spike Island? A cultural watershed, great bands, great setting, great vibe, shit sound. A pity no-one other than the Fab Five got anything from it.

From 20 February 1993 - NME Magazine article by Iestyn George, Martin Talbot with additional context by John Harris and Fred Dellar: Pete Smith said “They’re all really decent blokes. I remember when Ian had a fight with one of the park guards at Spike Island, helping out this kid. There were loads of kids hanging about and Ian was just talking to them. Then this one young guy came running across the field and a park security guard jumped on him and hit him. Ian saw what happened and it all kicked off. It was quite funny watching these blokes having a go at Ian, they didn’t know who he was and they didn’t know he did karate – he could have split them in half, he’s really tough, but like I say, he’s a good bloke. “He was handing out free tickets to the kids outside before the gig, so they didn’t have to buy them off the touts.”

From June 1998 - United We Stand Interview, Mani said: What was Spike Island like? "It was a weird one because I'd sorted our kid out with about three hundred tickets for his mates but on the day of the concert I just paced around the flat all day giffin for a spliff until I was picked up about half eight at night. Spike Island was probably the first truly straight gig that we'd done but it was good to see that many people there because we'd taken a real chance putting the gig on and it cost a lot of money. It wasn't a particularly great gig but it was a good coming together of people."

From Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Noel Gallagher said: I just remember being there all fucking day. Thank god it wasn't raining and I know the support bands were all fucking atrocious, whoever put that bill together had no sense of the event. The sound was shit, they played a fucking blinder but y'know you coudn't hear nothing because the wind was coming in off the, whatever the fucking river it is off the, mersey.

From 20 May 2007 Sunday - The Observer (the memories may have come from Steve Adge): A lot has been said about Spike Island, but I only have fond memories of the event. I picked the band up late afternoon in Manchester and drove them across to the venue. It was really hot, and most of the fans had been there since the morning. We used to bring ice pops to gigs and hand them out to everyone to cool them down, and they went down well that day. As we arrived there was a little bridge you had to drive over. Supposedly, there were frogmen in the water in case any ravers fell in. There were masses of kids hanging outside the backstage area without tickets and when the band saw them, they gave me all their guest tickets and I handed them out to the kids saying, 'That's a present from the band. Enjoy yourself.' Then I went to the front of Spike Island, where kids without tickets were trying to scale the fence, and sorted as many of them out as I could in true Rose’s fashion. My other favourite memory of the day is the huge inflatable globe I bought for Ian Brown. I blew it up, gave it him and he said: 'What's that?' 'Just hold it in your hand,' I said, 'and all the journalists next week will be saying you've got the whole world in your hand.' And they did. The band came on just as the sun was setting, and they were amazing. I know some people have said there was a problem with chemicals in the air because the gig was next to a chemical plant, but I only know of a couple of people who were there who now have six fingers."'

From February 1998 - Uncut magazine Ian Brown interview: The Spike Island “mega-gig” the month before had also been a bit of fiasco… “We had a wanker [Evans] running it. We trusted him. We’re not the kind of people that put on a show where people have their sandwiches taken off them at the gate. That reflects on you, cos the kids think ‘Oh, they’re doing that’. The way people were treated on that day was despicable. The sound wasn’t good enough cos he didn’t spend enough money on the PA…” “Another thing, we never helicoptered into Spike Island. There was a chopper, but it wasn’t us. We got a bus!” Were you very naïve, business wise? “It wasn’t that, we just weren’t going for the dough. I used to say ‘If we all end up in a mansion with a pool each, we’ve achieved nothing. So what? So, another four kids got rich. It doesn’t mean nothing. We’ve got to change the music business, we’ve gotta change the world.”

From 04 March 2011 - Clash Magazine/Website article "The Life And Times Of The Stone Roses Peter Hook said: I was stood with Gareth and his partner and Reni comes steaming over and he was going fucking MAD! He says, “I fucking told you to go out there and take off all the bootleg hats! They are all out there selling those hats; will you go and sort it out?” And Gareth says, “Believe you me Reni, we will go and do that immediately and get those bastards thrown off the site.” And as Reni steams off, Gareth turned to his partner and said, “I told you it was a bad idea. We’d better get those hats off the stall!” He was a rip-off genius.

From 04 March 2011 - Clash Magazine/Website article "The Life And Times Of The Stone Roses Kevin Cummins said: We were at the height of Eighties excess at Spike Island with the NME. We felt we could do anything we wanted, so at Spike Island we arrived in a helicopter so we could do an aerial shot of the place. Because it was a manmade island we thought it would make a great shot as a backdrop for the live pictures. So we flew there in a helicopter, and when we landed backstage these two goons came over to ask if we had backstage passes. We just kind of asked, ‘Do you really think we’re trying to sneak in like this?’...They had a really cheap PA system, which was hidden behind the screens at the side of the stage, and the sound was blowing around all over the place because the place was so exposed. But on stage it sounded great. When we came off they were really buzzing because they thought they’d played a really great gig, and everybody was saying, ‘Fucking hell, that was a bit shit, wasn’t it?’, and I was thinking, ‘No it wasn’t, it was fantastic!’ The only place you could hear it properly was on stage. It was the kind of PA you’d put in a youth club or something, it was terrible.

''Sunset Sunday'' shirts went on sale at the show. As did the unique Squire artwork used on the promo posters. The Roses, via their tour manager – Steve Adge, had asked the Donnelly brothers to take control of the merchandise for Spike Island. “Steve had been coming to see us and we got an official approach to say, right Gareth [Evans, Roses manager] wants to meet you and wants to discuss you doing the merchandise for Spike Island,” said Anthony. ‘’We get Securicor to come to the office because we’d got delusions of grandeur and we said, right we want De La Rue machines. What for? We’re doing this gig and it’s going to take hundreds of thousands of pounds on merchandise. We were putting a plan in place." ". It was Tim Mulryan who put us together with Gareth. He was the manager of Steve Coogan; Tim was another one of our happy ecstasy friends who’d drop in. Then it gets a bit nearer the gig, and it’s not happening. Tim’s fuming. Gareth’s gone really weird. In the end, at Spike Island, we just went to watch the gig. We would have made a good job of it [the merchandising] – we were notorious at the time, yes, but our integrity was never in question. If we said we were going to do something we would deliver.” Evans kept control of the Spike Island merchandising, using New Line Promotions to make the T-shirts. It was estimated close to 30,000 were sold at Spike Island, plus thousands of ‘Reni hats’. Even though the hats and the Roses ‘lemon’ T-shirt became chief signifiers of the era, how much money the band made from such items was negligible.

Paul Oakenfold remembers Spike Island fondly, from his vantage point in a DJ booth up on a tower: “It was electric, a sea of people. It came right in the middle of something that was changing music - and we knew it. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m part of this!’

From https://freaksceneblog.wordpress.com/ June 23, 2017 by Robbo72 The Stone Roses – A Live Crucifixion....Spike Island. May 27th, 1990 was the day that changed everything. ‘Sunset Sunday’ it proclaimed from the t-shirts at the merch stalls. I bought an official t-shirt plus a snide one for good measure outside from some scouser flogging hats, scarves, flags, and somewhat ambitiously for such a scorcher, umbrellas from the back of a paint-splattered van. Spike Island. It sounded so exotic. Legendary. Still does. Like Woodstock. To those that weren’t there, despite the subsequent reports, it still sounds like a trip. And it was a trip. Quite literally for me, as it was the first time, I’d driven a car on a motorway. Hull to Widnes. Easy. I’d been to Widnes loads of times, following Hull F.C. However, there were no satnavs in those days. Only three squabbling teenagers hunched over an Ordnance Survey map, taking wrong turn after wrong turn. It should’ve been easy. At every service station on the M62, there were young lads and lasses making the same pilgrimage. We should’ve just followed them. Anxious stuff for a first-time motorway driver. When we finally arrived, the mythical island was a lump of land bordered by foreboding chemical factories. I’m telling you this with the benefit of hindsight. We didn’t give a fuck. We were home. We were here to see The Stone Roses. And it felt like a mini-revolution. For me, there was no mini about it; I entered a boy and came out the other side a completely different person. It was that seismic. My band had arrived. I can only liken it to the first time you take ecstasy or acid. After you come down, you look at the world differently. You can never get back home again. Your perception is altered forever. Only that day, I took nothing. No drugs. Not even a beer. I was Stone-cold sober. The queues for the bar were fucking ridiculous, so we just camped down near the front, in the sweltering heat, with a packet of Embassy each and a bottle of water between four of us. To me, despite my awkward transition from shy, tie-dyed indie-kid to be-flared, Wallabeed scally, The Roses were still really, an indie band. White boys with guitars. There was a lot of shit on that long day, but there was something I’d never equated indie music with at a gig, despite Fools Gold, and actively resisted until that day. A young DJ called Paul Oakenfold was banging out dance music. That was what the townies were into. Not me, the baggy indie-kid with no interest in electronic music. Everyone in the 28,000-strong crowd moved as one, entranced to the hypnotic groove being pumped through the sound system. Rave music at a rock gig? Fuck that! But it pulled me in. It was like being on drugs. Not that I knew what the fuck an E was like yet. But some magical force loosened me up and I went with it. Maybe those rollies grinning ravers were passing us had been something else. Or maybe it was just that fucking infectious. As the sun came down, everyone was proper raving, and every single fucking person in that field was smiling...

31 May 1990 - The Stone Roses appear in The Rolling Stone Magazine

June 1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Japanese Crossbeat Magazine

June 1990 - The Stone Roses Supplement is included, free, with Melody Maker Magazine. The magazine was sealed in a plastic bag with the supplement inside.

June 1990 - Ian Brown appears in Number One Magazine

03 June 1990 - Feria De Nimes Festival, France *Cancelled*
The Stone Roses refuse to appear because of its bullfighting connections.

From 05 May 1990 - NME Magazine: ROSES BUTT OUT OF FRENCH BULLRING GIG.

The Stone Roses have refused to take part in next month's massive French festival in Nimes, because it forms part of the local bullfighting season.

The group were negotiating with the promoters of the 30,000 capacity festival on June 3, which is due to take place in huge public gardens near to the town's bullring. But the band, who are opposed to all bloodsports, pulled out when they discovered they would be playing just a couple of hours after the night's bullfights. A spokesman for the band said: "We don't want a ritual slaughter as a support act."

The group were also asked to take part in this weekend's John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool but declined because of recording commitments. Meanwhile, the group's latest court appearance in Wolverhampton attracted nearly 100 fans and well-wishers outside the town's magistrates building last Thursday. All four members have now been committed to Dudley Crown Court to face trial on criminal damage charges, following the paint-daubing spree at the Wolverhampton offices of their former record company FM Revolver. A date for the trial has yet to be finalised.

03 June 1990 - Provinssirock Festival (Seinajoki's Provinssi Music Festival), Seinajoki, Finland * Doors: (On-Stage) 12:30am * Support Act(s): The Mission, De La Soul, The Cramps and The Oyster Band.

I Wanna Be Adored / Elephant Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Shoot You Down / One Love / Sally Cinnamon / Standing Here / Fool's Gold / Waterfall / Don't Stop / Something’s Burning / Made Of Stone / Elizabeth My Dear / I Am The Resurrection.

Cressa joins the band as effects technician. The band were interviewed at the show for Select Magazine. They only come on stage at dusk 12:30am due to the sunset in the country to a sold out crowd of 25,000 people although reports say only approx 10,000 people were sober and actually listening/watching the band.

From August 1990 - Select Magzine: One event of note concerns the bearer of a Confederate flag. "Oi, Nazi, take Confederate flag down. We don't want it," Ian shouts, coming dangerously close to paranoia about all things Nazi. Either the bloke doesn't understand English, or he's in the confrontation game, as he merely edges nearer the stage. Brown tries four more times, even mock-shooting him twice with his hand before 'Shoot You Down'. Eventually, an unidentified assailant snaps the flagpole into irreparable little pieces. 

Nazi? Nah. The poor guy's a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan..."25,000 people pissed. Yeah's' alright," quips The Stone Roses' singer, Ian Brown; if you can quip in monotone, that is. He's talking about the state of the crowd at Seinajoki's Provinssi Music Festival, the most popular event in Finland's open-air calendar...

06 June 1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Volume 03 Number 06 of Japanese Magazine 'Crossbeat 'A New Vision Into Tour Rock Life''

07 June 1990 Thursday - One Love test pressing is completed
One Love was ready but the release was delayed. 

07 June 1990 Thursday - Maysfield Leisure Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £9

I Wanna Be Adored / Elephant Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Shoot You Down / One Love / Sally Cinnamon / (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister / Standing Here / Fool's Gold / Where Angels Play / Waterfall / Don't Stop / Something’s Burning / Made Of Stone / Elizabeth My Dear / I Am The Resurrection

Cressa joins the band as effects technician. This gig was played on the basketball courts inside the gym of leisure centre. At least 500 attended the show.

From 06 March 2009 - Uncut Magazine Interview (Clash Music Website) with Ian Brown: There was another great one we did in Belfast, at the Mayfield Leisure Centre. And I always remember there was a little kid, about five or six, on someone’s shoulders, and we were loving that. He was a little toddler kid on someone’s shoulders, singing along. Well, bigger than a toddler, but he was only little. But he knew the words? Yeah he knew all the words, aged about five or six. We loved that...

The Stone Roses (attempt to) attend The Charlatans - 08 June 1990 - Mayfair, Glasgow, Scotland - but they got mobbed and left.

09 June 1990 Saturday - The Big Top, Glasgow Green, Glasgow * Doors Open: 18:30 On Stage: 22:00 * Price: £14.00 * Support: The Slam DJs

I Wanna Be Adored / Elephant Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Shoot You Down / One Love / Sally Cinnamon / (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister / Standing Here / Fool's Gold / Where Angels Play / Waterfall / Don't Stop / Something’s Burning / Made Of Stone / Elizabeth My Dear / I Am The Resurrection

Sold out show in a 8000 capacity big top tent. The bands last show for 5 years. Reni would not perform again with the band until 2012, a whopping 22 years later. Cressa joins the band as effects technician

James 'Harri' Harrigan and Stuart McMillan from the Slam DJs opened the show. Steve Adge filmed the show with a handheld camcorder, only an short excerpt of footage has been seen in the Shane Meadows 'Made Of Stone' Film. The after show was at the Sub Club, where the party went on until 07:30.
The Third Coming, The Definitive Exibithion Catalgoue shows photos taken by Paul Slattery.

From 27 June 1990 Smash Hits Magazine, Ian says: 

"I've been deaf since the Glasgow gig on Saturday. I think I'm shoutin' and no one can hear me." "I got these trousers from Umbros in Glasgow...Only a fiver and they're hipsters too."

16 February 2000 Wednesday - music365.com Ian Brown Q & A Session: From Daniel Mushing: What is your favourite gig you have ever played? Ian: Glasgow Green, 1990, or Budokan, Japan, 1995, or Brixton Academy, 1999.

From Mani interview for I Am Without Shoes fan site: 

IAWS: Favourite gig in the Scream Team? Favourite gig in the Roses? With the Roses it would have to be Glasgow Green. 

IAWS: I didn’t go, but I’ve got the bootleg, and even on that you can sense the atmosphere. Mani: Yeah, top gig. My other favourite Roses gig would have to be Feile Festival in ’95. It’s the thing about the Celts you see, they really know how to enjoy themselves. IAWS: The English do tend to be a bit more passive. Mani: Yeah, they go for the old chin-stroking, but the Celts are just mad for it and know how to party.

From 06 March 2009 - Uncut Magazine Interview (Clash Music Website) with Ian Brown: Out of all those big gigs then - like Blackpool, Ally Pally, Glasgow Green and Spike Island - which one resonated with you as your best performance?

Glasgow Green in ’90, yeah. It was so hot inside; I think all the crowd were on ecstasy. It was just going off with sweat and it was just coming down like rain. It was like rain inside the tent, dripping off the ceiling. We played great that night, and Glasgow is the best place in the UK to play. Best show we ever did, I think....

From Steve Adj interview with Louder Than War (15 March 2017): What are your top 3 Roses gigs? Northampton Road members club. First Glasgow Green gig. Saturday night at Heaton Park. 

07 January 2018 - thestoneroses.co.uk published an interview with Matt Mead We interview Matt Mead, who is currently writing the book Flowered Up and who recently was able to share a short clip from The Stone Roses Elephant Stone recording sessions. what’s the holy grail for you in respect of the stone roses? What do you know/believe is still out their Roses wise? Holy grail has to be one of the following: The soundboard audio of Glasgow Green 1990.

Marc, 2023, said: I was at the Glasgow Green show in June 1990, I still have a ticket for it somewhere. The door people took your ticket off you at the door of the tent but a mate of mine managed to grab a few at the end...

11 June 1990 Monday - The Stone Roses cancel there appearance on The Terry Wogan BBC TV Show

The band cancelled the appearance as the BBC did not want to include an interview in the broadcast. 

NME Magazine, 14 June 1990: ''They were booked to do it but blew it out because Terry wouldn't be chatting to them on the show.''

June 1990 - Ian Brown attends Moss Side Carnival.

2000 - Manchester Uni Paper, Ian Brown Interview: When did you notice that things were starting to go wrong? "Things changed when the guns came in. As the drugs get dirtier in come the guns. From '89-'90 things changed really fast. I was up at Moss Side Carnival and I watched the Cheetham Hill gang walk through in army formation, eight strong in rows, each man with a holster. 

June 1990 - Beirut Show Rumours

Sounds magazine reported plans of a show in Beirut but, apparently, the show does not go ahead due to initial funding.

June 1990 - Alan Wren's son is born.

21 June 1990 - Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. (Cancelled)
22 June 1990 - New York City, New York, U.S.A. (Cancelled)
29 June 1990 - Hollywood High School Gymnasium, California, U.S.A. (Cancelled)
30 June 1990 - San Francisco, California, U.S.A. (Cancelled)

All the U.S. dates were cancelled. A combination of Reni's son being born and the band wanting to be free of their contract with Silvertone. One Love had been delayed and there was even talk of the band wanting to take several mixes of song to another record label. A press release on this date read: “America doesn't deserve us yet,".

From July 1990 - Q Magazine, Article by Adrian Deevoy: 

Next month The Stone Roses make their maiden voyage to the Americas. How do they expect the country to react to them? “Hard to tell, isn’t it?” shrugs Ian. “Never been there. Heard there’s a lot of major league bullshitters there. But we’ve run into that already. America isn’t that big a deal to us. It’s as important to us to be big in Halifax, Moscow, Stockholm as it is in New York. As long as people appreciate what we’re doing. Turn on, tune in and don’t drop out.”

From 04 March 2011 - Clash Magazine/Website article "The Life And Times Of The Stone Roses Peter Hook said 

"New Order’s manager Tom Atencio had got them a ten-day club tour of America. And one day Gareth phoned them up and said, “Listen, when we arrive at the airport, how many people will be there? Because I want it to be like The Beatles.” Tom explained that they were just a club act doing 600-capacity venues and that wasn’t going to happen. Gareth’s response? “Well we ain’t fucking coming then!” Crazy."

27 June 1990 - 10 July 1990 The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Smash Hits Magazine, 0.55p

Stone Roses are on the cover saying ''we're the best band on the planet (but which planet?)''. The article is very interesting and well worth a read.

Steve Adge, The Stone Roses Tour Manager, explains to Smash Hits that the band will be late two hours for the interview. Apparently the band we're still in bed and they needed to edit the One Love video later.

According to Smash Hits the band turned up two and a half hours late, Ian and Reni had cut themselves shaving before the photo shoot too.

The interview must have taken place the week after Glasgow Green 09 June 1990. John reveals he was two cats called William and Ruby and owns five guitars. See Media for article by Miranda Sawyer.

 30 June 1990 - The Stone Roses Book is given away with Melody Maker Magazine The Stone Roses booklet, often found loose and sold solo was originally included (in a cellophane bag) with the above music newspaper. The weekly newspaper only cost 55p, even with the extra booklet.

July 1990 - Hawaii (Cancelled)
July 1990 - Hawaii (Cancelled)

From 23-30 December 1989 - Sounds Magazine Interview: 

“It looks like we’ll be going to the States at Easter,” says Ian. “They asked us to go before, but so far we’ve resisted.”

Taken from Melody Maker magazine, June 1990: 

''MANCS OVER AMERICA THE STONE ROSES will playing a short series of shows around the USA in the weeks ahead - and the first date has been confirmed as Hollywood High School Gymnasium, on June 29. Precise venues for the other gigs have yet to be confirmed, but it is known that the band will be playing in Chicago on June 21, New York (22), and San Francisco (30), after which they will have two dates in Hawaii early in July. 

Their debut album has been in the Billboard Top 100 for four months.''

From NME Magazine article, June 1990: '...

The band have also confirmed that they will be playing their first dates in America next month, where their album has continually hovered around the bottom of the Billboard Top 100. The band then set off to Hawaii to play a couple of small shows at the beginning of July.''

July 1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Q Magazine

July 1990 - The Stone Roses appear on the cover of Japanese Buzz Magazine, Volume 15

The Stone Roses - 02 July 1990 - One Love U.K. Release Date

Silvertone were hoping for the record to be finished and released before Spike Island, but due to court cases, delayed recording sessions and a six week mixing torment the records release was delayed twice.

04 June 1990 - One Love scheduled Release Date, postponed until the 'Nazi' artwork was revised.

Official Silvertone Records promo posters started appearing thoughout June and dated the release 'July 2nd'.
An alternate mix appears on the, very rare, One Love Acetate pressing. Apparently the Spanish pressing of One Love includes the Schroeder mix, not sure what the difference is though?

The single was released in the UK, U.S., Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Spain, and France. The single peaked at Number 04 in the U.K. Charts. Compact Disc was priced at £3.79 & the Cassette Single £1.99.

A 1990 Elephant Stone & Made Of Stone re-release press sheet mentions 'The Roses brand new single is set for release at the beginning of April, 1990' & another mentions the new follow up to Fool's Gold would be released 09 April 1990. The band had already prepared the song and a mix for release by March, and had even recorded the promo video too. The song went through various mixes and remixes until it was completed by John Leckie in June.

Promo Video featured the band playing surrounded by fire, apparently the fire was made by using t-shirts with the initial One Love 'swatstika' sleeve on.

From NME Magazine article, May 1990: I WANNA BE ADOLFED! 'The Stone Roses have scrapped the cover artwork for their new single 'One Love' after spotting ''the suggestion of a swastika'' in John Squire's sleeve illustration. The unintentional 'swastika' formed part of an abstract painting by guitarist Squire. But the effect was only noticed when the proofs came back from the printers - the band discovering to their horror that people could misconstrue the design as being the Nazi emblem. ''If you looked at it in a certain way you could see the suggestion of a swastika in the painting,'' a Stone Roses spokesman told NME ''When he realised, John just tore up the proofs.'' As well as proofs of the sleeve, a number of T-Shirts featuring Squire's original painting were also made up, but will now be withdrawn. The single itself has again been remixed by Adrian Sherwood - but it's the original John Leckie produced version that'll appear first on Silvertone. The band have also confirmed that they will be playing their first dates in America next month, where their album has continually hovered around the bottom of the Billboard Top 100. The band then set off to Hawaii to play a couple of small shows at the beginning of July. Meanwhile, big money negotiations to televise The Stone Roses' gig at Spike Island fell through last week. Central Music had led the race to record the gig for screening by BSB and Central TV in a deal rumoured to be worth £100,000 for the band. However, talks between TV officials and the Roses broke down.'

From August 1990 - Select Magzine: The design chosen was a series of horizontal and vertical rectangular blocks in dark and light colours. T-shirts had already been printed, though not released to the public, and Chris, the drum roadie, wore one to Manchester's Hacienda Club. The bouncer refused to let him in on the grounds that the shirt design resembled a swastika (other bouncers might like to add this unusual number to their repertoire). The interpretation was news to the band, but when the garment was turned inside-out the dark blocks were found to be in the shape of the Nazi emblem.

The T-shirts were burned and John tore up his artwork and rearranged it. But why, if the resemblance was so tenuous, take such drastic measures? It's a question of responsibility, as Ian explains. "What if someone's in Barcelona… We know we're not Nazis, anyone who knows us knows we're not Nazis, but if some kid in Barcelona goes into a bar with a T-shirt on - Stone Roses, looking a bit like a swastika - ends up getting stabbed. How would we feel then, y' know? We didn't want it to get out of control, so we nipped it in the bud."

30 June 1990 - NME Magazine, Single of the Week.

30 June 1990 - Melody Maker Magazine, Single Review.

June 1990 - Smash Hits Magazine, Single Review.

From February 1996 - Q Magazine, Article by John Harris: 

"I thought we needed to take a bit of time out," Squire recalls. "I thought we’d rushed into that song. We didn’t like the chorus; we were hacking it over that same drumbeat…it wasn’t what we should have been delivering. And I was getting sick of the whole ‘Madchester’ thing. I felt like we were flogging something for somebody, but I didn’t know what it was or who they were. A lifestyle, I suppose. An attitude."

One Love Video

Simon Spence War & Peace noted: The band had wanted the video to be directed by The Bailey Brothers but the idea had been derailed by Tony Wilson’s objections to the Mondays’ famed video team working with Roses. Geoff Wonfor aided the band with the promo video.

“The Roses ended up doing the [One Love] video in Vector Television in Stockport [Heaton Mersey, a massive studio where they made ads and programmes, and where Take That’s first video was made in 1991],” says Keith Jobling of The Bailey Brothers.
“The guy there didn’t have a clue what he was doing. They super-imposed on the fire back drop and it was amateur, awful, rubbish. On a technical level you play at the highest level you can afford.”
For One Love we had about three ideas with them and we kind of got stuck on one to do it on the top of a building with a helicopter,” said Jobling.

“And we were genuinely disappointed when Wilson came along and threw his toys out of his pram and said there’s fucking no way you’re doing it. He turned up once when they were there and typically, he put this really brave smile on and was really nice to them. The Roses said, okay guys we’ll talk to you and we’ll get the label to get in touch and Wilson would be going no, no you’re not fucking doing it. You can’t fucking do it. Well, why? He said, Think about it, it’s not right for the story. And we’d be like what story are you talking about? He’d be like the story about the war of the bands [between the Mondays and Roses] … and we’d be like oh yeah, I forgot – because there wasn’t one. Wilson was a genuine mate, we spent huge amounts of time with him. It would have been like a family feud if we’d turned round and said we’re doing it. We’d talk to him and say look there’s nothing wrong with it and it’s a really good song. He’d say give it to someone else I don’t want the Bailey Brothers touching it…

“Part of the reason we never did anything was we were warned that you’ll never get paid, you’ll get fucked over, don’t trust him Gareth,” reflected Jobling. “I very rarely heard anybody say a good word about Gareth… if he’d had leprosy people would have been kinder about him.”

From February 1998 - Uncut magazine Ian Brown interview: The ‘One Love’ single was a mistake, wasn’t it? “I agree. The chorus wasn’t strong enough. We tried for an anthem. We wanted to cover all bases and ended up covering none.”

04-17 July 1990 - Ian Brown appears on the cover of Popshop Magazine

14 July 1990 - Ian Brown appears on the cover of Number One Magazine

14 July 1990 - The Stone Roses Interview appears in NME Magazine.

28 July 1990 - Reni appears at the opening of Central Station Design's Exhibition in the Manchester Art Gallery
Reni appears wearing a sou’wester and wading boots. Reports that he was armed with a chainsaw are never confirmed.

August 1990 - The Stone Roses feature in Select Magazine.
Interview conducted 03 June 1990 - Provinssirock Festival, Seinajoki, Finland.

August 1990 - Reni is arrested for causing an obstruction on the highway and for disorderly conduct.
Reni was parked on Barton Road, West Didsbury, Manchester. The arrest would lead to Reni claiming 'Police Brutality', as he was attacked in the Police Station.

The case would only appear in court November 1991.

From Melody Maker Magazine, 23 November 1991.

Reni claimed in Manchester City Magistrates' Court last week that he was beaten up by police after being arrested on a charge of causing an obstruction last August. Reni claimed in court that he was attacked in the police station after the arrest, was "raced" along a corridor with his hands in cuffs behind his back, and that he had blood "all over his face" after the alleged assault. Reni has already lodged a formal complaint against the police, and insisted last week that he would take the complaint ''all the way''. The prosecution alleged that Reni had acted in a "totally unreasonable manner" after being asked to move his car from Barton Road, West Didsbury. Prosecutor Mrs Karen Brooks said that Reni had sworn at a police sergeant, who had been "forced" to grip the drummer in a headlock and have a colleague handcuff him. Replying to the charges, Reni told the court that his then three-month old baby son had been in the car, and that he had "panicked" when told he was being arrested. He claimed that he was dragged out of the car before he had chance to comply with the police's request to move the vehicle. Reni, charged under his full name Alan Wren, was acquitted by the magistrates on a charge of disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty to parking in a no parking area and causing an obstruction, and was fined £50."

August 1990 - Silvertone were granted an injunction on the band.
This prevented the band from recording for anyone else. Apparently the band had signed a 'deal' with another label on 22 August 1990. Silvertone did not want to lose the band. Andrew Laudier, Silvertone boss, tried to help the band and tried to convince them to stay, but sadly he could not release them from their contractual obligations.

From August 1990 - Select Magzine: Andrew Lauder, Silvertone Records: "It was generally felt that they were the sort of group that were suited to what Silvertone was going to be," explains Lauder. "They were heading for Rough Trade at that point. I was confronted with, basically, a yes or no situation. Luckily, I said yes. I mean, it was on a plate really." They were signed under a potentially constricting eight-record contract. Could they opt out of it at any time? "Um, not really," says Lauder, "and I hope they wouldn't want to. We give them a lot of freedom to do what they want." "Well, they can look after themselves, basically, and they're gonna do what they want to do," he says. "Knowing them, it's a very tight group. It's a bit of a John-Paul-George-and-Ringo, y' know? Rather than a group like The House Of Love where it's, uh, right, Guy - he's the singer - who's the bass player and the drummer? "So it's very much a group and they're very strong with each other. They've got a strength which a lot of bands don't have."

From Blood On The Turntable BBC TV Documentary, Shaun Ryder said: Y'know when you're a musician and writer where all you want to do is get your music out, y'know I've not been allowed to record for seven years. I know what that feels like...feels shit.

1990 - Paul Wren (Reni's brother) appeared in Manchester Crown court on three charges of false representation.
Unconfirmed date. Could be June 1992. Over a three-week period, he had taken £1400 from Reni's account claiming to be Alan Wren. Reni's bank branch reportedly authorised payment when told that the man at the counter is ‘a drummer who's a bit vague.’

14 September 1990 - Run DMC release 'What's It All About' featuring a sample from Fools Gold

From May 1995 - The Spin Magazine: "I've got 500 CD's, ten are by white artists," says Brown. "I'm not interested in what [whites] have got to say, they can't tell me nothing." He says he was "double 'umbled" when Run DMC sampled 'Fool's Gold' on their track "What's It All About"; entering the sampler's gene-pool of breakbeats and licks, alongside JB, was the ultimate accolade.'

From 05 December 1994 - The Big Issue Magazine: ...Ian doesn’t even enjoy listening to his own voice on record. “I don’t get a kick out of it,” he says. “The best thing I’ve heard it on is that Run DMC song What’s It All About which samples Fools Gold.”

15 September 1990 - The Stone Roses appear in Sounds Magazine. The band discuss their label dispute. 

09 October 1990 Friday - The Stone Roses appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court. Alistair McCreath was prosecuting whilst Paul Reid QC was defending.

The band are, finally, charged with criminal damages and are fined £3,000 each, plus £95 prosecution costs each, for the Revolver paint-throwing incident. Damages are deferred, Judge Michael Mott QC decided any compensation claims should be heard in the civil, rather than criminal court.

The judge said that if the £3,000 fines were not paid, each member of the group would face three months in jail. The defence asked for a period of 12 months in which to pay the fines, but Judge Mott QC set the limit at six. "I'm not inclined to allow 12 months for payment. Judging by the defendants' finances, these fines represent just the small tip of a very large iceberg."

FM Revolver claimed that the damages totaled to £23,000. After the hearing, Birch threatened to sue The Stone Roses for breach of contract if they didn't pay the full amount for the damage they caused. He claimed that the band did not fulfill the terms of their deal with FM/Revolver.

The band are described by their defence as “four young men with an obsessive regard for music."

November 1990 - The Stone Roses are headhunted by major labels The news sparked anger by both the label and the band. The label did not want to lose the band plus they still had a contract to fulfil. The band were not happy that their manager had leaked the news to the popular music news magazine.

16 November 1990 - Mani's 28th birthday

23 November 1990 Friday - Children In Need Charity Auction, Dry Bar * Doors Open: 18:00-20:00 *

Auction of items donated by local bands, Factory and The Hacienda in aid of Children In Need. New Order's Stephen Morris and Peter Hook were comperes for the night. The items were donated by Steve Adge and the band.

Lot 28 was a selection of signed Stone Roses memorabilia.
Lot 31 was a selection of albums, singles, signed t-shirt, Take Your Time 12inch single and proof of the album cover from Andy Couzen's band The High. Lot 33 was The Stone Roses debut album framed silver disc. The silver disc was previously owned by John Squire and sold for approx. £200.00.

24 November 1990 - John Squire's 28th birthday

15 December 1990 - The media report the band are involved in a food fight Apprently the band attended a festival in Spain where they were involved in a food fight with The Mock Turtles. The Stone Roses threw squid at the band members.