GOODBYE KISS FROM THE ROSES

The Stone Roses’ disastrous headlining performance at the Reading Festival in August will now stand as the band’s off-key swan song. With the recent departure of bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield to join the band Primal Scream, singer Ian Brown--now the lone remaining original Rose--has decided to bring the band to an end.

Brown, whose wayward performance at Reading was the focus of the critical abuse that greeted the Roses’ set, announced the decision with a brief, bitter statement.

“Having spent the last 10 years in the filthiest business in the universe, it’s a pleasure to announce the end of the Stone Roses,” Brown wrote. “May God bless all those who gave us their love and supported us throughout this time. Special thanks to the people of Manchester, who seen us on our way. Peace be upon you.”

That caps a decade marked by a meteoric rise and then a slow fizzle of lawsuits, personal problems and member defections--notably the departure earlier this year of guitarist and primary songwriter John Squire--with just two albums to show for it. Brown intends to form a new group with the three latter-day Roses: guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, drummer Robin Maddix and keyboardist Nigel Ipinson. Most Roses fans’ anticipation, though, is focused on the work-in-progress of Squire with his new outfit, the Seahorses.