Recommendations of the Editorial team
The Rolling Stones are my life. If it weren’t for them, I would have actually become a “Soprano.” The first time I saw her was on TV. That was 1964. The Beatles were perfect back then. The hair, the harmonies, the suits. They bowed in sync. Their music was incredibly sophisticated. The whole thing was exciting and strange, but also very far away in its perfection. The Stones were also strange and exciting. But for them the message was: “Maybe you can do it too.”
The hair was sloppier. The harmonies are a bit off. And the Rolling Stones didn’t smile at all, I don’t think. They acted like R&B traditionalists: “We’re not in show business. We don’t make pop music.”
The Rolling Stones – “Heart Of Stone”:
And the sex in Mick Jagger’s voice was adult. This wasn’t pop sex. Hold hands, play spin the bottle. That was the real thing. Jagger had that casual I-tell-you-something that characterizes R&B singers and bluesmen, half-singing, half-talking, not quite holding the notes.
When pop radio began to accept Jagger’s voice, it was a turning point in rock ‘n’ roll. He opened the door for everyone else. Suddenly people like Eric Burdon and Van Morrison not so strange anymore. Not even Bob Dylan.
A white man who acted like a black man on stage
That was something completely new. A white man who acted like a black man on stage. What we associate with black performers goes back to the church. Surrender to the spirit and let it move you. To throw all socially dictated inhibitions and embarrassments overboard. Allowing yourself to no longer be in control. That’s what Mick Jagger brought across.
Of course there were a few dance moves from James Brown and Tina Turner here and there. But James Brown was extremely choreographed. Those strange contortions that Mick Jagger did, that was the spirit. Iggy Pop and Jim Morrison took it a step further, but it originally came from Jagger.
In the beginning it was Brian Jones’ band. He gave the Rolling Stones their name. He managed her. Organized concerts and complained to the newspapers when they wrote something bad. The cool image and the aggressiveness – that also came from him. And the tradition. He used the blues pseudonym Elmo Lewis and played bottleneck guitar. On albums like “December’s Children” and “Aftermath” he played a lot of other instruments: lute, harpsichord, sitar. He was incredibly creative and influential.
The eternal rhythm slave
But Keith Richards is also taken for granted. The eternal rhythm slave. He plays great solos: “Heart Of Stone”, “It’s All Over Now”. And then the reefs. “Satisfaction,” of course, and “The Last Time,” which the Stones themselves considered their first really good song. “Honky Tonk Women” is just a single chord. Then he started tuning his guitar differently. For example with the G-Tuning and the five-string version of it. There are chord progressions that fit these moods – let’s call it the “gimme shelter” effect – where you add a single note. And everything becomes more melodic and rhythmic at the same time. In the E Street Band I play Richards-style rhythm guitar all the time. Anyone who plays rock guitar does that.
Today there are entire generations of young people who only know the Stones as icons
Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts knew how to swing better than any other bass/drum team in rock ‘n’ roll. It’s not cool these days, but back then rock’n’roll was something you danced to. You can imagine what fun it must have been, in London, at the Station Hotel, in 1962 or 63. The audience was really excited, the Stones ditto, everything was like in a blues club on the Southside in Chicago. You hear that in the music.
Today there are entire generations of young people who only know the Stones as icons and no longer have any connection to their music. I would send them the first four albums, the American version. “England’s Newest Hitmakers,” “12×5,” “Now!” and “Out Of Our Heads.”
The next lesson would then be the second major phase. “Beggars Banquet,” “Let It Bleed,” “Sticky Fingers,” and “Exile On Main Street.” Taken together, this is, to me, the most insane series of rock albums in history. Created in three and a half years.
In some ways the Rolling Stones play better today than they did in the ’60s. They were pretty sloppy back then, which I personally like. Technically speaking, they are better than ever. The problem is, their power comes from the first twelve albums. Since 1972 there have only been a handful of good songs. But if they made great albums and played live like they do today – my God, would that even be bearable?