To turn to the other stone, The Stone Roses are part of the proud Brit-rock tradition of hugely popular bands in merry olde England that don't quite hit the stratosphere in the former colonies (see: Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Oasis, James, et cetera). Their 1989 debut disc is still considered one of Brit-rock's finest moments, with soaring anthems like "She Bangs the Drum," "Elephant Stone" and "I Am The Resurrection."

But a combination of arrogance, legal squabbles and hype laid the Stones low; their next album, which didn't arrive until 1994, stiffed, and the band split up. It didn't help that frontman Ian Brown was given to pronouncements like this quote, to NME: "We're the most important group in the world because we've got the best songs and we haven't begun to show our potential yet."

Author Green is a big, unabashed fan of the Roses' swirling psychedelic rock, ever since he first heard it: "Time has proven rather impotent at chipping away at my love for this album," he admits. Frankly, I like the band but think they're a bit overhyped, yet Green is never too overbearing in his affection for them here. If anything, he increased my fondness of the band with his passionate, insightful description of their place in British rock.

I like the format The Stone Rosestakes, as Green goes song-by-song through the album, using each chapter to digress on related topics such as '80s Thatcherism, Ecstasy, Manchester rock, Parisian riots and more. Green maintains an affable style that rarely lapses into academic meandering. Even if you're not a fan of the Roses, it's worth reading as a crisp example of music journalism.

Ultimately, neither The Stone Roses nor There's A Riot Going On can quite answer the question of, what happened to these fine musicians? It's something unknowable. If anything, both these books show that success in the music biz is sometimes as big of a curse as failure. Lovers of good music writing should check 'em out.