This Is The One by Dennis Morris – A Photo Essay on the Rise of The Stone Roses

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‘I’ve returned to these pictures of the band many times over the years, and when I’ve done so they take me right back to the time. I still listen to their debut album now and it doesn’t sound dated. In a similar way, these images, though very much of their era, haven’t aged at all. Which reflects how timeless the Stone Roses were.’ –  Dennis Morris

 

This is The One, published by Who Said It Publishing, offers an exclusive glimpse into the world of The Stone Roses. Internationally recognised photographer Dennis Morris visually records both behind-the scenes material and classic stage footage alongside intimate studio portraits and documents two iconic events in the history of music with never-before-seen images.

Through an introduction to the band via legendary music producer, Martin Hannett, at a rehearsal in Manchester in 1985, Dennis Morris witnessed the raw beginnings of a group that would eventually become pioneering musicians behind the Madchester and Indie movements of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Having invited The Stone Roses to play at his club night in London, Morris envisaged a hugely successful future for the band, before any critical success or the start of a fan base.

Continuing to admire and respect The Stone Roses’ ‘irrefutable charisma’ and undeniable ‘positive swagger’, Morris remained in touch with Ian Brown and the band, resulting in late night sessions jamming at Morris’s Marylebone studio and a unique portfolio of studio portraits.

Morris didn’t photograph The Stone Roses for a long period after they met, he says, ‘If I’m really into a band, I like to watch them as a fan first, to try and see how they click. To watch them on stage and see what they’re about.’ On 27 May 1990 the Spike Island gig was announced, attended by 27,000 people, steering The Stone Roses into the media spotlight and marking the beginning of the 1990s. The seminal gig sparked the festival boom that continued to flourish over the next couple of decades.

Morris’ images capture the visceral hysteria of the fans and unforgettable fashions of the time at Spike Island and Glasgow Green, both pivotal moments in the band’s history. Both concerts made epic impacts on future movements by crafting mass gatherings of youths and the return of a 1960s hallucinogenic type of crowd. Spike Island, although considered to be a failure at the time due to sound quality, is now perceived as ‘Woodstock for a baggy generation’.

Limited to an edition of 1000 with over 250 unseen images and a signed silver gelatin print by Dennis Morris, This Is The One, priced at £295, provides both an extraordinary view into the intoxicating world of The Stone Roses as well as a chapter of history charting fashions and trends of the 1990s for passionate fans and intrigued onlookers alike.

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