The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses 1989 debut self-titled album entered the UK album charts at a mere Number 32. But over the next two years The Stone Roses established themselves as harbingers of a new era.

Leaving behind a decade of celibate, be-quiffed rock stars and musical introspection, the world to come was founded around cool, strident ambition and pharmaceuticals. In that sense, The Stone Roses' debut was the first Britpop album.

These were the days of Acid House and, though their sound often came close to Byrds-esque rock & roll, The Stone Roses managed to tap into the prevailing youth-cultural mood of E-induced euphoria.

The lyrics were the crucial factor: When Ian Brown sang "kiss me where the sun don't shine/The past was your but the future's mine" (from She Bangs The Drum), he was 1989 incarnate. There was also the small matter of I Am The Resurrection - an unstoppable, brazenly narcissistic song that became the year's anthem.

Both the group and producer John Leckie were well aware of what they'd created. "When we'd finished," Brown recalled, "Leckie says, 'This is really good. You're going to make it'. And I remember thinking 'I know'."

They took five years trying to make a worthy follow-up and didn't come close. But then, neither did anyone else.