In 1989, The Stone Roses would finally start to bloom. By February, the Roses had finished recording all of the songs for their debut album which would be released that June. In March, they released the album’s lead single: “Made of Stone”. Though it wasn’t a massive hit, “Made of Stone” was the Roses’ first single to enter the national charts, peaking at number 90 on the UK Singles Chart.
“Made of Stone” opens with a few seconds of just John Squire playing an arpeggiated riff on guitar before the rest of the band jumps in. The contrast between the rhythm section and the lead guitar parts on this song is mesmerizing. If one were to take apart the different elements of the song and listen to just one at a time, they would have widely different guesses as to what genre of music they were listening to. Squire’s guitar work is straight jangle pop, while Reni’s drums and Mani’s bass could fool one into thinking they were grooving to an EDM backing track.
With “Made of Stone”, we’re starting to get into the territory of Roses’ songs with lyrics that I can’t figure out the overall meaning of. The verses of the song seem like they are detailing a car crash. The lines, “Your knuckles whiten on the wheel, the last thing that your hands will feel, your final flight can’t be delayed,” could describe the crash itself, and later verses such as, “I fall as far as I can see, ten twisted ghouls grin back at me, bad money dies I love the scene,” talk about the crash victim entering hell. This interpretation goes out the window during the choruses though. There is still crash-like imagery in the line, “The cars they burn below me,” but the main refrain, “Sometimes I fantasize, when the streets are cold and lonely,” throws me off. John Squire once said that the song is about having a wish come true. I really don’t see how that relates to the lyrics, but it’s the best explanation that’s been given.
A funny story came from one of the Roses’ performances of the song. For their first national television appearance, the Roses’ played “Made of Stone” on BBC’s The Late Show in late 1989. The song started out fantastic until the first chorus, when all the band’s amplifiers suddenly went dead in the middle of the show. As the presenter tried to transition to the next segment, Ian Brown started ranting in the background about how the show was wasting the band’s time. He loudly shouted “amateurs” several times on live television before the broadcast cut away. The incident amused viewers across the country and helped increase the band’s national profile.
“Made of Stone” isn’t one of my favorite Roses’ songs, but it’s still a classic. I have had a lot of fun picking out the introductory riff on guitar from time to time. Next week I will be discussing the Roses’ first top 40 hit: “She Bangs the Drums”.
I don’t know anything about this group but I like the way you are going into detail about their songs. I don’t know if you discussed this yet but what got you into this kind of music? Was it something your parents always played? Also I love the title of your blog!
This really does feel like I’m reading a Rolling Stone article. Your writing style is very fluent and easy to read. You are able to tell the story behind songs in a very interesting way.
It’s sometimes said to be a description of the death of the painter Jackson Pollock in a car crash, though I have seen it said that it’s about Manchester.
The Roses arose from the Manchester music scene, but don’t ever seem to have been keen on it, or particularly on Manchester. One remark about the song allegedly being about Manchester was: you either get it or you don’t. Make of that what you will