John Squire

As the guitarist and songwriter for the Stone Roses, John Squire shaped the sound of British indie rock by bridging the gap between the chime of 1960s guitar pop and the modern psychedelia of acid house. Squire's post-modernist aesthetic, showcased on the Stone Roses's eponymous 1989 debut, set the stage for the Britpop renaissance of the '90s, yet the group didn't survive the explosion of Cool Brittania: they split not long after belatedly delivering their sophomore album Second Coming in 1994. Squire rallied with the Seahorses, an unabashed trad-rock outfit that carried him through the late '90s, but he bowed out of a musical career after releasing a pair of solo albums in the 2000s. Devoting himself to fine art, Squire occasionally reconnected with the Stone Roses but he didn't prioritize new music until he teamed with former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher on a collaborative album in 2024.