The band Liam Gallagher thought sounded like Jimi Hendrix: “Blew my head off”
Behind the steely veneer of Liam Gallagher‘s intimidating gaze sits a musician who understands the true sensitivity of art, because how else could he deliver the vocal performance on ‘Slide Away’ if he wasn’t acutely aware of his own emotions and how they can be translated through music… despite all the odds, Liam Gallagher is the original soft lad.
The beginning of that journey to greatness was designed by a fellow Manchester band. Of course, his older brother introduced him to the world of The Beatles, where the idea of expression would begin to make sense to Gallagher, and esoterica was no longer a thing to make fun of, but something to aspire to. But after that, Liam needed a band of his own, one that could make sense of the world he lived in right there and then.
In 1989, The Stone Roses became that band, releasing their triumphant debut album that combined the kaleidoscopic joy of acid house via Manchester’s Hacienda, with the songwriting grit of the indie greats. On top of the otherworldly guitar playing of both John Squire and bassist Mani, Ian Brown would tell stories that related to Manchester, in which a youthful Gallagher lived right there and then. It was the soundtrack of his times.
“I remember around that time, in 1989 or whatever, just sitting in the park, long hot summers, and even though it was shit at home, that music was like another dimension,” Gallagher explained.
He added, “Maybe it was the drugs, but I think it was the music as well. I remember seeing them at Blackpool, Spike Island, and it was just, it’s youth, innit – you look back, and nothing will ever compare to it: you’re young, you’ve got no kids, if you’ve got a job, who gives a fuck?”
Adding, “You’ve got no bills to pay, you’re going back home to your mam, she’s cooking you breakfast, fucking life is free and easy, you know what I mean? And when you hear it, you go back to them times.”
The Stone Roses’ self-titled debut was iconic for how it stood up as an entire piece. Back to front, it was a masterful listen that embodied the spirit of recording a full-length LP, which is why, when Gallagher was pressed to pick his favourite song from the band, he stepped outside the world of that record and chose something that stood on its own two feet.
Responding to a fan on X, he said, “I love them all, but I remember hearing ‘Standing Here’ for the first time, and that blew my head off, very Hendrix.”
Released three years after their debut, it’s one of the band’s most overtly obvious love songs, led forward by the delicate brilliance of Ian Brown’s vocals. Throughout the track, they bathe in the luscious textures of John Squire’s guitar playing and are backed up even further by the unrelenting funk of Mani’s bass lines, in a track far more melodic than Hendrix’s psychedelic style.
