With hopeful rumours of a reunion this year promptly snuffed out, Stone Roses fans will have to comfort themselves with Sony’s recent endeavours to re-release their seminal material, culminating in a multi-format release of their epoch-making self-titled LP on August 10, to mark its 20th anniversary.
There’s nothing to say about “She Bangs the Drums” that hasn’t been said already many, many times. The opening notes of that gorgeous bassline are still enough to fill dancefloors at indie discos the country over, it still sounds, well, pretty great. You know how it goes, everybody does. B-side “Standing Here” is pretty great too, the Roses never ripped anybody off with shoddy filler material: if anyone tries to deny Brown and co’s massive influence on Oasis, play them this and they’ll retreat swiftly. It’s all there: the effortless vocal delivery, the swaggering rhythm, the pleasantly benign loved-up lyricism. It’s a masterclass in inventing Britpop.
It’s up for debate to what extent Sony’s re-releasing spree is a shameless cash cow milking, but it won’t do anybody any harm to take a few minutes to re-appreciate this stone-cold classic, or for a new generation to discover a band that left an indelible mark on the face of British music.
