The British rock scene has a long and hallowed history. But what was the state of that scene in the late 1980’s? According to the London music mags anyway, not too good. There were reasons for hope, however, and those reasons mainly resided in Manchester.

To grossly oversimplify, you basically had two big camps heading into the end of the decade: you had your anthemic, making-a-statement rockers like U2 and Simple Minds, and you had your synth-rockers like New Order and Depeche Mode. All four could fill stadiums and three were riding #1 albums, but the first camp seemed on a different plane, music for grown ups, and the second camp could sound a tad robotic, with a little bit of rock but not enough roll. Where could the young ones turn for a down to earth, guitar-centric, loose-booty groove?

North.

Up in Manchester, an underground dance scene revolving around a club called The Hacienda started influencing the up and coming rock bands in the area, who combined 60’s melodies and light psychedelia with the current acid house sound. Out of the half a dozen or so successful bands to emerge from what the press dubbed “Madchester,” The Stone Roses were arguably the least dancey — with one notable exception.

The group formed in the mid-80’s and steadily gained attention over the next few years with their catchy, indie-rock meets Merseybeat-inspired pop songs. Unfortunately, despite the press taking notice, none of their singles bothered the charts. And that’s where things stood when The Stone Roses began recording “Fools Gold” shortly after the release of their debut album in 1989, intending for it to serve as the B-side of their next single. To them it was a groovy throwaway that sounded nothing like the rest of their catalog, based on funky riffs and rhythms nicked from other songs, but when their record company heard the track they got all tingly and insisted it should be the A-side.

The band still wasn’t too sure about it, but when the single dropped in the fall of 1989, “Fools Gold” became the group’s first Top 10 hit in the UK, a cornerstone of British rock, presaging the retro 70’s funkiness which would arise in the following decade while also helping to lay the foundation for the Britpop to come. (And, of course, it then took the band five long years to record their second album — which, if you’ve seen Shaun Of The Dead, is the record some people would gladly choose to risk breaking by throwing it at a zombie, while other people reluctantly admit they actually kind of like it.)

So wind on through the hills for 15 days … with The Stone Roses.