The band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Mani, and drummer Reni.

Following much media speculation, the Stone Roses announced their reunion on 18 October 2011 and embarked on a world tour in 2012, including three homecoming shows in Heaton Park, Manchester.

[10] Ian Brown (initially the bassist) and guitarist John Squire, who knew each other from Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, formed a short-lived Clash-inspired band, The Patrol, in 1980 along with singer/guitarist Andy Couzens and drummer Simon Wolstencroft.

Brown sold his bass guitar to buy a scooter, and Wolstencroft joined Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke's pre-The Smiths band Freak Party.

[14] Squire continued to practice guitar[12] while working as an animator for Cosgrove Hall during the day, while Brown ran a Northern soul night in a Salford club.

Squire and Couzens started a new band, the Fireside Chaps, with bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, later recruiting a singer named David "Kaiser" Carty and drummer Chris Goodwin.

[23] After rehearsing and writing songs over the summer, they recorded their first demo in late August, making 100 cassettes with artwork by Squire, and set about trying to get gigs.

Howard (Ginger) Jones, who had recently left his job as director and general manager of the Haçienda, producer Martin Hannett and Tim Chambers agreed to work with the band on an album, setting up Thin Line Records to release it.

Their first gig in the North of England, at Clouds in Preston, attracted a large audience and descended into a riot after technical problems and friction between the bands on the bill.

[34] A performance at a warehouse party on 20 July helped to build interest in the band, and in August they returned to the studio to record their debut album.

In 1986, they began working on new material, including "Sally Cinnamon", and the planned follow-up singles to "So Young" ("I Wanna Be Adored" and "This Is the One") were shelved.

By the time of the release of the single "Sally Cinnamon", the group's sound had changed considerably, with chiming guitar hooks and a strong melody, alienating some of their old fans but attracting many new ones.

[51] In May, the band played a high-profile concert at Manchester's International 2 with James, organized by Dave Haslam to raise funds for a campaign against Clause 28.

[61] "Made of Stone" received more press attention and was picked up for airplay by DJ Richard Skinner on his late night Radio One show, but peaked at number ninety on the UK Singles Chart.

[68][69] The band gained widespread notoriety when, one minute into a live 1989 TV performance on the BBC's The Late Show, the power failed, prompting Ian Brown to repeatedly squeal "Amateurs!"

[71] Originally intended as a B-side, "Fools Gold" quickly became the Roses' most famous song and a performance of it on Top of the Pops cemented their national fame.

To express their frustration, they decided to take matters into their own hands by visiting the label's office and throwing paint at the staff and property, including Paul Birch, (the founder and owner of Revolver Record)'s wife.

But to counteract, following the incident, Mr Birch said he estimated that the media hype alone had bought the group in excess of a quarter of a million pounds in publicity.

It was to be the Roses' last original release for four years as they entered a protracted legal battle to terminate their five-year contract with Silvertone, unhappy with how they had been paid by the label.

[87] Following the court case the Stone Roses separated themselves from Manchester's club culture and spent much of 1992 and 1993 travelling in Europe before starting work on their second album in mid-1993.

Afterwards the Stone Roses assumed production duties with engineer Simon Dawson at Rockfield Studios in Wales, where they spent 347 ten-hour days working on the album.

[71] Second Coming received a mixed reception from the British press, which music journalist Simon Reynolds attributed to "the resentment that the Roses, divorced from the cultural moment that gave them meaning, were now just another band".

[89] Also recruited around this time for the live shows was session-keyboardist/programmer Nigel Ippinson, who had previously played with the band on the "Chic Remix" re-working of "Begging You" for its release as a single.

John Squire announced his departure on 1 April 1996, releasing a statement saying it was: "the inevitable conclusion to the gradual social and musical separation that we have undergone in the past few years".

[89] Simply Red's 1987/88 tour guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, a former classmate of Pete Garner's at Burnage High School, was recruited as a replacement.

[96] After the newspaper The Sun published a story on 14 October 2011 citing that the Roses had signed for a series of gigs across the UK, rumours again began to circulate.

[102][103] The first leg of the tour would consist of two warm-up gigs in Barcelona in early June and then shows in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Germany and France.

[118] The Stone Roses' influences included garage rock, electronic dance music, krautrock, northern soul, punk rock, reggae, soul and artists such as the Beatles,[119][120] the Rolling Stones, Simon and Garfunkel,[121] the Smiths,[122] the Byrds,[121] Jimi Hendrix,[121] Led Zeppelin,[123] the Jesus and Mary Chain, Sex Pistols and the Clash.

The band went on to influence other artists, most notably Oasis and the Verve,[126] of which Noel Gallagher was quoted in an interview saying "when I heard 'Sally Cinnamon' for the first time, I knew what my destiny was".

With shy guffaws, muttered asides, dispassionate staring, foot-shuffling silences and complete mind-numbing gaps, punctuated by the odd piece of incisive home-spun philosophy from Brown, who occasionally hinted at a well-read mind.