well, what can i say - that, look you see, went ever so well. as it write this i am super cautious that the day today has not yet drawn to a close, but oddly all the same i am pretty confident that there is nothing to see here. where is here? one generation under a groove, it's not where you're from it's where you're at; the curse of #SR04032016.
just where is it that one starts with all of this, the day today that seems to have ended in nothing yet i am very reluctant to let the day today go? i suppose at the beginning, or if you like start. this would be exceptionally beneficial, i suppose, to those all confused by this blog so far, yet who are for some reason still reading.
actually no, the start was wednesday. let's start with today, friday, in the morning instead.
yeah, that's HMV announcing what the kids should be buying Mum / Gran for Mother's Day this sunday. surprise, surprise, Adele is front row centre. for HMV it is very much the case that Adele should be bought as a gift for any occasion - birthday, Christmas, New Year, Easter, school starting, being there, etc.
for the less discerning Mum or Gran there's Ronan, apparently. or Coldplay. or Dusty. or any one of two "this will do" compilations. what there is not, and what would be perfect for any Mum or any Gran, is a new release off of seminal Manchester band The Stone Roses.
why would there be? the world wasn't led to believe that there would be one, but the world elected to interpret a slight moment as a sign that there would be anyway. here, here is the Google Pay card what my (considerably) better half bought on the off chance that there was a release and that for some reason it would be digital only, which would mark the true end of the era of physical music.
to the start, then. it was on wednesday. a journalist, or someone who at least writes for The Guardian as the claims went, took to that "twerker" thing that the kids like and Stephen Fry used to like until he discovered that people can say what they like on it, not just what he wants to see, to post or if you like "twerk" the statement SR04032016. the writer, or if you like twerker, promptly deleted it.
the people saw it, however, and the people decided to believe that it was a clear indication that The Stone Roses were going to at least make a statement on 4th March (today) or at best release some new music. the first new music that the band as a band would have released for 22 years.
it got rather widely reported on, and built up what you might call a substantial amount of interest and excitement. hence my £15 Google Play voucher just in case i had no choice but to get whatever they released in a digital form.
the above is what happens on the Google if you type in "Stone Roses". we move towards the end of the day and still these are the top search results. nothing, so far, Stone Roses related has happened during the day today except the widespread news reports, "twerks" and other such posts.
there are reports that the journalist completely recanted what he twerked, and said he is very sorry for what's happened and knows he is going to get flak. someone who claims that they are in the privileged position of knowing Mani has said that they asked Mani and that Mani said it is "bollocks". that is about the most Mani statement anyone could make.
and yet, still, the people want to believe something is coming. i know, i understand, i do. i remember back in 2011, and the blog posts here that i have not retrospectively deleted, when i could scarcely believe that it was true, that The Stone Roses were going to be as one again.
i took the earlier pic of HMV first thing this morning. despite no news reports and no evidence, and despite my left knee not working, at lunch off of verk i speed-hobbled back to HMV on the off chance that there was indeed a new release and it would be on the shelf. this is what greeted me.
yep, more Bowie to buy, more Adele and more suggestions for Mother's Day. and no Stone Roses.
a particular highlight of the passion and the enthusiasm for the day today was when someone went on that "twerker" thing to say that The Stone Roses announcement would be on something called Absolute Radio (no, me neither) at 2pm. by all accounts listenership of whatever Absolute Radio rocketed beyond all known records at this time. no announcement was made, and instead people are now irrationally yet quite understandably angry with Blur and the Stereo MC's, for music by them was the only thing heard at that time.
as mentioned above, someone claims to have spoken to Mani about it. i say claims, but please note i have no reason to doubt them. i myself do not, alas, know any members of The Stone Roses, but i do know the address for their website thing. i paid it a visit to see if there was any announcement.
nope, not at all. posters for their gigs later this year, and a link to the shop of The Stone Roses where you can buy smart threads and that but no music, new or old.
every dream has a price. when The Stone Roses formed, Ian Brown announced that as a consequence his solo career "was parked". Mani left Primal Scream, and Bobby stated that he was "gone for good". there is no going back. for the dream of seeing The Stone Roses reunited the price has been no new music from the four members of the band. in fairness only two were actively making music, but man do i miss what they were doing.
was this a price worth paying? with a heavy heart, yes. i will consider it a major loss if we don't hear new bass off of Mani or new songs off of Ian Brown ever again. but then i think of all i sensed and all i felt at Heaton Park, man. euphoria, love, amazement, wonder, peace. i get goosebumps and tears in my eyes at the memory, nearly four years ago, of all human existence defying gravity, logic, of it discarding everything bad and being elevated to a pure state of universal love, when Ian Brown shouted the payoff of I Am The Resurrection into the mic and Mani kicked in with the bassline that he channelled from the sounds that gods somewhere heard and were inspired to form life by, just so that life, if only ever once, may sense that beauty as they did.
i might have got a bit carried away there. but, you know, going on the anticipation, the excitement, the hope and the sheer desperation that they were going to deliver new music today, i am not alone. i think that's actually the key to my love of the band; they make me feel not alone in the universe.
for the sake of clarity, let it not be said that HMV is bereft of all things to do with The Stone Roses. here, look, you see you can get the most splendid The Very Best Of The Stone Roses as part of their most splendid 2 for £10 offer. yes, i nearly did buy yet another copy, just because.
is it disappointing that nothing came of #SR04032016 in the form of a release or an announcement from the band? not really, he writes as he flicks through Google and the NME site, furiously pressing refresh in the hope that a story or statement from The Stone Roses will appear.
new music would have been awesome. an announcement that they were to headline Glastonbury would have been unexpected and at serious odds with the nature of their return - no way can i see The Stone Roses bowing to the corporate and commercial pressure of Glasto, which for starters would see them have to sign away worldwide broadcast rights to the BBC. some suggested that the band were announcing gigs at Wembley, but that struck me as unlikely - you can still buy tickets for their gigs in Manchester later this year.
no, we're not going. it would be awesome to see them again, but ultimately nothing they did would recreate or capture what we experienced at Heaton Park, which you might have noticed still resonates with me rather deeply.
with nothing ever officially suggested or hinted at, it's hard to be disappointed that Ian, John and Reni had nothing to say, but beautiful that Mani had a very Mani thing to apparently say.
it has been, however, absolutely beautiful to bask in the glory of a legion of people, and then some, being all excited, optimistic and hopeful of hearing something - anything - from a band that created something which means so very, very much to us.
if nothing else, it's nice to have the assurance that music can still, and indeed does, matter. the music and the people who made it, of course. and, indeed, all the people who made it mean something.
now, in an ideal world, i will click "publish" and all of a sudden, at 7:20pm, the announcement will come on. i suspect not, but still, if it does, boss.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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