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I Wanna Be Adored

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"I Wanna Be Adored"
Single by the Stone Roses
from the album The Stone Roses
B-side"Going Down"
  • "Simone"
Released1989 (US)
RecordedJune 1988 – February 1989
Genre
Length
  • 4:52 (LP and 12-inch version)
  • 3:28 (edit and 7-inch version)
LabelSilvertone
Songwriters
ProducerJohn Leckie
The Stone Roses singles chronology
"Fools Gold/What The World Is Waiting For"
(1989) 		"I Wanna Be Adored"
(1989) 		"One Love"
(1990)

"I Wanna Be Adored" is a song by the British rock band the Stone Roses. It was the first track on their debut album, The Stone Roses, and was released as a single in the US in 1989.[5] The single charted at number 18 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in 1990.[6] In 1991, the single was released in other parts of the world featuring previously unreleased B-sides.[7]

Physical copies of the single are no longer pressed and have become extremely difficult to obtain.

Recording

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"I Wanna Be Adored" had been performed live by the band as early as March 1985, in a live session on Piccadilly Radio.[8] The band had originally planned to release it as the follow-up to their 1985 debut single, "So Young", even having a sleeve designed for the single by guitarist John Squire, but ultimately shelved it alongside plans for the album they were recording at the time; [9] this recording, which biographer John Robb described as a "slightly faster heavier version" compared to the 1989 album version, [10] was later released on the 1996 compilation Garage Flower, whose album cover is the sleeve of the shelved "I Wanna Be Adored" single. [9]

Composition

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"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.[11]

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 have/need to sell my soul; he's already in me" and the song's title repeated throughout the entire song.[11]

Reception

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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 number two 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 two songs had swapped places, with "Adored" at number one. Stylus Magazine also included the song's bassline at number 17 in their 2005 list of the Top 50 Basslines of All Time.[12]

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The song features in the 2005 film Green Street, as well as 2011 film I Melt with You and 2021 film Tick, Tick... Boom![13][14][15] The song also features in season five of American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Hotel, in the 11th episode Battle Royale. It also features in the 2019 series Chambers as a reccurent song.

Oasis refer to the Stone Roses by quoting "I Wanna Be Adored" in their 1997 song "Magic Pie": "They are sleeping while they dream/ but then they wanna be adored".

Celtic fans incorporated the song into a chant for former player Odsonne Edouard chanting, "I wanna be Edouard".

Music video

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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. The videos were both filmed near the A57 Snake Pass between Sheffield and Manchester, in the same location that Inspiral Carpets used for the video of their song "This Is How It Feels."

Track listing

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1989 US release

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12-inch 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

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7-inch vinyl (Silvertone ORE 31)
Cassette (Silvertone ORE C 31)

  1. "I Wanna Be Adored" – 3:28
  2. "Where Angels Play" – 4:15

12-inch 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

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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

Charts

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Chart (1990–1991) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[16] 141
Ireland (IRMA)[17] 21
Luxembourg (Radio Luxembourg)[18] 14
UK Singles (OCC)[19] 20
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[20] 18

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[21] Gold 15,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[22] 2× Platinum 1,200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  • Rooksby, Rikki. Inside Classic Rock Tracks. Backbeat, 2001. ISBN 0-87930-654-8
  • Robb, John. The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop. Random House, 2001. ISBN 0-09-187887-X

Notes

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  1. ^ Dalton, Stephen (9 August 2009). "So much to answer for". The National. Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  2. ^ "where have all the flowers gone?". Spin. Vol. 9, no. 2. SPIN Media LLC. May 1993. p. 47. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  3. ^ Pitchfork Staff (24 August 2015). "The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 11 February 2023. ...a marvellously engineered slice of psychedelic rock...
  4. ^ Timmons, John (20 February 2024). "Today's ear X-tacy: The Stone Roses 'I Wanna Be Adored'". Louisville Public Media. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Stone Roses, The – I Wanna Be Adored". Discogs. 19 August 1989.
  6. ^ "Billboard > Chart History > The Stone Roses > Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Stone Roses, The – I Wanna Be Adored (Master Release)". Discogs. 19 August 1989.
  8. ^ Robb 2001, p. 113.
  9. ^ a b Robb 2001, p. 143.
  10. ^ Robb 2001, p. 129.
  11. ^ a b Rooksby, p. 126
  12. ^ "Stylus Magazine's Top 50 Basslines Of All Time". Stylus Magazine. 12 September 2005. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  13. ^ tick, tick... BOOM! (2021) - Soundtracks. Retrieved 4 November 2024 – via IMDb.
  14. ^ "Green Street (2005): Cast, soundtrack & all you need to know about the football hooligan drama | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  15. ^ I Melt with You (2011) - Soundtracks. Retrieved 4 November 2024 – via IMDb.
  16. ^ "The Stone Roses ARIA chart history, received 20 May 2020". ARIA. Retrieved 23 May 2020 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column indicates the release's peak on the national chart.
  17. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography The Stone Roses". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  18. ^ Radio Luxembourg Singles. 22 September 1991.
  19. ^ "Official Singles Chart on 8/9/1991 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  20. ^ "The Stone Roses Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  21. ^ "New Zealand single certifications – The Stone Roses – I Wanna Be Adored". Radioscope. Retrieved 24 December 2025. Type I Wanna Be Adored in the "Search:" field and press Enter.
  22. ^ "British single certifications – Stone Roses – I Wanna Be Adored". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
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