Small Faces

Between 1965 and 1969, the Small Faces were one of the most inventive rock acts on the planet. These quintessential London Mods boasted a pair of songwriters in guitarist Steve Marriott and bassist Ronnie Lane, whose marriage of scorching intensity and pop genius would resonate throughout hard rock, punk and Britpop. Success arrived immediately thanks to R&B-inspired hits like “What’cha Gonna Do About It” and “All or Nothing” built around Marriott, one of the most impassioned vocalists of his generation. Trading tailored suits for paisley silks in 1967, they achieved further success with the hippie anthem “Itchycoo Park”. Moreover, they released two classic psychedelic records: 1967’s Small Faces and 1968’s brilliantly whimsical Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. After creative conflicts torpedoed them at the end of 1968, Marriott formed the supergroup Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, while the trio of Lane, drummer Kenney Jones and keyboardist Ian McLagan teamed up with a young Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood to continue as the Faces. After a short-lived Small Faces reunion in the late ’70s produced two more full-lengths, Jones went on to succeed the late Keith Moon in The Who.