The Rolling Stones are an institution. A bunch of middle class guys who love art, jazz and Blues and kick ass playing some of the meanest Rock ‘n’ Roll invented.
They started out as the archetypal rebels – now Mick hangs out with aristocracy but Keith is still Keith. It’s an act he’s good at.
I’ve seen them live a few times and they really ROCK.
If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.
Authority and the establishment need a good kicking to shake them up. Their response seems to be to absorb you into hierarchy. The rebels end up in museums and being studied in university courses.
I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the police.
One has to laugh. But it does bring into question the whole attitude of society to drugs.
If you don’t know the blues… there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.
It all came out of that Blues mess and that is the music I always go back to. I never get bored with it.
It’s great to be here. It’s great to be anywhere.
Isn’t it just? Who’d have thought? When I was eighteen I wanted to burn like the sun. I never dreamt that I would still be around nearly fifty years later! What a universe to be born into! Ain’t life grand?
The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.
But they sure do have a chemistry!
I can actually remember as a child, first hearing the Stones on the radio – The Last Time. I loved that funny sound that at the time couldn’t have understood as being made by Brian Jones’ guitar.
Today, my Stones collection is quite extensive – every single 7″, 12″, CD, many import singles that weren’t released in UK, eg Heartbreaker, as US release.
Every album and every film video and DVD.
Then there’s the bootlegs with a mountain of studio outtakes from 1963-94 and around 50 live concerts through the years and a stack of bootleg videos.
And of course all their solo albums – except Bill & Charlie’s stuff that I’m not so keen on.
Although I did buy Bill’s “hit” single, just for a laugh.
I first saw them at the Glasgow Apollo in 1973 on their Goats Head Soup tour. They were really something else during that period – the boot concert tapes from that tour are superb, particularly those from Newcastle, London and Brussels.
Their new blues style album comes out first week December. Can’t wait.
I first saw them live at Hyde Park. I can’t think why I never saw them before. They never seemed to be around and in the early days I think I thought it was impossible (like with the Beatles) – it was a mindset.
Greatly regret that now.
I thought they were disappointing in the park but saw them later and they were red hot.
That new album sounds as if it is going to be special. About time they did something like that. It’s their forte.
My favorite Keith quote: After he and Mick were busted for drugs in 1967, saying to the magistrates, “We are not old men. We are not worried about petty morals. ” Ha!
That’s a great one. It’s the hypocrisy that is the real problem with drugs and morality.
Love love love the Stones!
Me too. I just wonder how good the Beatles would have been if they had survived their rough patch?
You know, that is an interesting question. I am of the belief that the Beatles had enough and they actually broke up at a good time. All of them went on to have amazing solo careers! The Stones had a great ‘on the road’ presence which endures to this day. Different personalities and different sensibilities… Two superbly genius bands!
I think they had reached that point. They desperately needed a break. I’m sure the psychological pressure of having to match or outdo their last album/single was enormous. They needed a break from it.
I also think that the live scene had changed. There wouldn’t have been the teeny-bopper screaming. They certainly proved on the rooftop that they could have put together a blistering set and carried it off.
They probably should have stopped a year before, taken a long break and got back together again refreshed. They might have had a new impetus in the 70s with some great live performances. The chemistry was brilliant.
I think the pressure of expectation proved too much – plus a dollop or two of ego.
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
Some thoughts from Keith.
“If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.” This is one quote I am not going to forget any time soon!
He certainly did that didn’t he? Unlike Mick who dived in to the melee of the aristocracy with both feet.