NME 18th June 1988 Issue THAT PETAL EMOTION ALL GREAT bands stimulate extreme reactions; if that's true then THE STONE ROSES are well on their way. In Manchester, The Roses are both well loved and well hated. The latter stems from their dodgy early days - semi-Goth music, crowd fights at gigs, an unauthorized spray-paint campaign throughout the city etc. The former is true love - a remarkably large following, in and around Manchester that is. Outside Rainsville, they're unknown. Enter Zomba music publishers and Jive Records. Current rumour has the signing-on fee reaching Ian Rush proportions. So how does a band with a reputation almost as ugly as the Welsh International himself, get a deal like that? Easy - even The Stone Roses are allowed to change. "We want to be the first band to play on the moon - we want to be bigger than The Beatles." Is this hipspeak? Singer Ian really couldn't give a flying one whether it is or not. After being written off for so long as a 'lad's band', The Roses are a desirable property, purveyors of a surprisingly melodic pop, and not without a little power. The frontman Ian is indeed in the classic mould - a more youthful Morrissey with a generous smattering of J Rotten menace. But mention of their 'murky past' to either Ian or John and their young fringed faced take on that haunted look. "There have been all kinds of undesirable things happen to us that we've had nothing to do with. Obviously people get preconceived ideas about us because of those things." And for that reason it seems, the local pop hierarchy had given them little hope, let alone time. A new single 'Elephant Stone' is due out shortly, unashamedly '60s but nevertheless superbly crafted. At the very least, The Stone Roses will get up your nose. Craig Ferguson A pointer to the future