I Wanna Be Adored

"I Wanna Be Adored"
Single by The Stone Roses
from the album The Stone Roses
Released	Late 1989 (US)
Format	12" vinyl, Cassette, CD
Genre	Indie rock[1]
Length	3:28 (edit) 4:53 (LP version)
Label	Silvertone
Writer(s)	Ian Brown, John Squire
Producer(s)	John Leckie
The Stone Roses singles chronology
"She Bangs The Drums" (1989) "I Wanna Be Adored" (1989) "Fools Gold/What The World Is Waiting For" (1989)

"I Wanna Be Adored" is a song by the British rock band The Stone Roses. It was released as a single from the band's first album, The Stone Roses, in the United States in 1989.^[2] The US edition charted at number 18 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in 1990.^[3]

In 1991, the single was released in the UK, Germany and Japan featuring previously unreleased B-sides.^[4]

"I Wanna Be Adored" was the atmospheric opener to The Stone Roses' first album. The song is propelled by Mani's recognisable bass guitar line, John Squire's droning guitars and Reni keeping the beat of the song, with Ian Brown's hushed ominous vocals repeating only a few lines of lyrics throughout the entire song.

Composition

"I Wanna Be Adored" begins with a collage of sounds. The first instrument to enter is the bass guitar, which appears 40 seconds in. This is followed by two guitars, one of which plays a pentatonic scale riff. The bass drum enters at 1:13, and the main portion of the song begins at 1:30.^[5]

The song is performed in the key of G. The song features two main sections: a four bar G-D-G-D-Em chord progression, followed by an eight-bar bridge that shifts from D to C repeatedly. The song's lyrics are minimalist, mainly consisting of the lines "I don't need to sell my soul/He's already in me" and the song's title repeated throughout the entire song.^[5]

Reception

Ian Brown later performed the B-side, "Where Angels Play", live from 2004, and a new version was included on the B-side of his single, "Time Is My Everything". In 2006, the music magazine Q voted it 32nd in its list of 100 greatest songs of all time. In May 2007, NME magazine placed "I Wanna Be Adored" at number 17 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever. VH2 placed the song at #2 on the Indie 500, a countdown of their top 500 indie songs of all time. Though "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths was at number one, on a condensed version showing just the top 50, the songs had swapped places with "I Wanna Be Adored" at number one.

Oasis refer to The Stone Roses by quoting the song in "Magic Pie": "They are sleeping while they dream/and they who wanna be adored".

The song appears on the soundtrack of the Michael Winterbottom film Welcome to Sarajevo^[6] and on the soundtrack of the 2005 film Green Street, directed by Lexi Alexander and starring Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam and Marc Warren.^[7]

Track listing

1989 US release

12" vinyl (Silvertone 1301-1-JD)
Cassette (Silvertone 1301-4-JS)
CD (Silvertone 1301-2-JD)

1. I Wanna Be Adored (edit) (3:28)
2. I Wanna Be Adored (4:52)
3. Going Down (2:46)
4. Simone (4:24)

1991 UK release

7" vinyl (Silvertone ORE 31)
Cassette (Silvertone ORE C 31)

1. I Wanna Be Adored (3:28)
2. Where Angels Play (4:15)

12" vinyl (Silvertone ORE T 31)

1. I Wanna Be Adored (4:52)
2. Where Angels Play (4:15)
3. Sally Cinnamon (Live at the Hacienda) (3:52)

CD (Silvertone ORE CD 31)

1. I Wanna Be Adored (7" version) (3:28)
2. Where Angels Play (4:15)
3. I Wanna Be Adored (12" version) (4:53)
4. Sally Cinnamon (Live at the Hacienda) (3:52)

1991 Japanese release

CD (Silvertone/Alfa ALCB-392)

1. I Wanna Be Adored (12" version) (4:53)
2. Where Angels Play (4:15)
3. Sally Cinnamon (Live at the Hacienda) (3:52)
4. Fools Gold (Extended version) (9:53)

Music video

The music video for I Wanna Be Adored was made concurrently with Fools Gold for the American release of the single in 1989. Hence the videos share similar visual effects and scenery.

Cover versions

Cover versions of "I Wanna Be Adored" have been recorded by the following musical groups or artists:

• Teron Beal – Liquor Store (2010)
• Year of the Rabbit – Hunted EP (2003)
• Lana Mir – Goodbye Girl EP (2010)
• Monsters Are Waiting – Ones And Zeros EP (2008)
• The Raveonettes – as part of Dr Martens 50th anniversary (2010)^[8]
• Badly Drawn Boy – live
• Eagulls – as part of The A.V. Club‍‍ '​‍s A.V. Undercover series (2014)^[9]

References

• Rooksby, Rikki. Inside Classic Rock Tracks. Backbeat, 2001. ISBN 0-87930-654-8

Notes