THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

979-The Stone Roses-She Bangs the Drums.

1989-Number 34 single. When it was re-released in 1990, it peaked at Number 32.

Best Bit-At 1.11. When she bangs the drums, it’s the fantasy of every red blooded male.

The Stone Roses (see also best songs 253) were formed in Manchester, England, in 1993, and remained active through until 1996, they reformed in 2011, recording and touring together, until parting again in 2017. In total there have been 12 different members of The Stone Roses, but the four who are considered the classic line up, and who also played on this song are John Squire, (guitar) Ian Brown, (lead vocals) Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, (bass) and Alan ‘Reni’ Wren (drums.) It was John Squire who chose the bands name, as Ian Brown has explained,’John thought up the name ‘Stone Roses,’ something with a contrast, two words that went against each other.’ The Stone Roses discography includes two studio Albums released in 1989, and 1994, and 15 singles issued between 1985-2016, there are also six official compilation Albums available. In the UK they have achieved 13 top 40 singles, (15, if you include the 1995, and 1999 remixes of ‘Fools Gold’) with only their first two releases failing to chart, with ‘Love Spreads’ from 1994 charting the highest at Number 2. In America they have never made the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, though they have reached the ‘Alternative Airplay’ top 20 on five occasions.

‘She Bangs the Drums’ was the third of seven singles released from The Stone Roses self titled debut Album from May 1989. All of the 11 tracks were co-written by Ian Brown, and John Squire, with the production by John Leckie. Leckie who would also go on to work on The Stone Roses second and final Album ‘Second Coming’ in 1994, was born on October 23rd, 1949, in Paddington, London, England. Leckie started out as a tape operator at ‘Abbey Road Studios’ in 1970, before graduating to an engineer, and then a producer. His first production work was with ‘Be-Bop Deluxe in 1975 (‘Sunburst Finish’) and among the many other high profile acts he has produced, include ‘Radiohead,’ ‘Simple Minds,’ and XTC.’

After the split of the Stone Roses in 1996, Ian Brown launched his solo career, and has to date released seven solo studio Albums between 1998-2019, and 19 singles between 1998-2018. In the UK 15 of those singles have made the top 40, with ‘My Star,’ (1998) and ‘Dolphins Were Monkeys,’ (2000) both peaking the highest at Number 5. John Squire went on to form ‘The Seahorses’ in 1996, releasing one Album, ‘Do It Yourself’ in 1997, and four singles which all made the UK top 40, with ‘Love Is the Law’ (1997) charting the highest at Number 3.Squire has also released two solo Albums in 2002, and 2004, and two singles in the same time period.

The Stone Roses self titled debut Album is one of the most critically acclaimed Albums in Pop Music history, In 2000 it received the ‘Greatest Album Ever’ award at the ‘NME Premier Awards’ show, and in 2006 the Album topped that magazine’s ‘100 Greatest Albums Ever’ list. In 2012 the American ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine placed the Album at Number 498 in their best of list, saying that the Album ‘Single-handedly launched Nineties Brit pop.’

‘She Bangs the Drums’ is a love song, probably about falling in love for the very first time. It’s about being totally infatuated by another person, the drums could well be the narrators heartbeat. The songs verses were written by Ian Brown, and the chorus by John Squire.

On a slightly different note, since first hearing this song in 1990, I had always been under the impression that is was called ‘She Bangs the Drum,’ and I have always introduced it that way when playing it. Recently when posting my write up of the track on social media someone pointed out to me that it is actually called ‘She Bangs the Drums,’ which stunned me, having not noticed that in over 30 years. I was wondering if a similar thing had ever happened to you?

‘Have you seen her, have you heard, the way she plays, there are no words to describe the way I feel. How could it ever come to pass, she’ll be the first, she’ll be the last, to describe the way I feel.’