 |
|
|
 |
|
What's your reaction to this column? Share your thoughts on the MESSAGE BOARD
Also From Modern Humorist: Colin Powell's Pop Pals Dear Dick: A Letter From George W. Boredom in the Court Behind the Music Napsteropoly Macdonna's Wedding Box Set of the Year Rock 'n' Roll Factory Worker Phish Fan Resume |
|
Rolling Stones: Through the Past Brightly by Bob Lefsetz The Stones didn't break till '71. Wait. Wait you say. What about all those hits? From "Satisfaction" to "Jumpin' Jack Flash"? Well, let me redefine "break." You see, the Stones were seen as a SINGLES band. People bought the early Beatles albums as souvenirs. As part of the mania. And when they found out they were GOOD, that the single wasn't the only playable track, they spun them again and again. But the Stones... There wasn't quite the mania. The Stones weren't cute. They weren't beautiful. They were dark and dangerous. And their albums... Oh, today, all the bluesmeisters rewriting history tell us they're gems. But really, they're not. They're primitive. The Stones had a dearth of material. The songs were hits surrounded by blues riffs. When the Beatles turned the world upside-down with Rubber Soul, the Stones had nothing to counter them. Aftermath came out the same summer as Revolver, but as vast an improvement as it was, it wasn't the limit tester the Beatles album was. And while "Yellow Submarine" and "Eleanor Rigby" were ubiquitous, screaming from transistors everywhere, Aftermath's signature track, "Under My Thumb," made no dent on the singles chart, was unheard by anybody but the most die-hard fans familiar with the album. Oh, there are people who say that Between the Buttons is classic. But they were the only ones who heard it. It had so little impact that its best track, "Ruby Tuesday," was released on the follow-up record, Flowers, six months later. Then the Stones stepped off the cliff. Like Coke with Pepsi, they blinked. Floored by Sgt. Pepper, they answered with Their Satanic Majesties Request. A killer cover. Try finding the four Beatles in the 3-D painting. But the tunes... Hit and miss is kind of charitable. "2000 Light Years From Home" was the record's "Under My Thumb." Something far eclipsing the rest of the tunes. It got spun late at night on FM underground radio. You lived for it. Nothing sounded quite like it. So spacey, kind of dangerous. The real music for the following year's 2001: A Space Odyssey. And there was this cool track, "Citadel," that I'm sure you've never heard. And one of the best songs was written and sung by Bill Wyman, "In Another Land." All these years later, Satanic Majesties is kind of quaint, kind of interesting. But back then, it was seen as a pale imitation of Sgt. Pepper. It wasn't quite a stiff, but relative to expectations. And then the Stones woke up. They decided to be their own men. They decided to go off on their own journey. Maybe Beggars Banquet was influenced by Dylan's John Wesley Harding, still it felt original and fresh, without sacrificing the Stones' underpinnings of danger and seaminess. But the tunes you consider as hits. "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man." They got a FRACTION of the airplay of the previous summer's "Jumpin' Jack Flash." FM radio embraced "Gimme Shelter." And then "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Midnight Rambler." But you must remember, FM radio was still UNDERGROUND! It wasn't until '71 that there was a solid cadre of FM rock stations across the country that most kids were LISTENING to. Cars still came with AM radios. You had to live within 40 or 50 miles to get the FM signal. Most people were still unaware. Even if they could GET FM, they weren't hip enough to KNOW about it. Let It Bleed was a smash. Beggars Banquet had made a quieter noise. Still, neither of these Stones classics sold or had the cultural impact CLOSE to The White Album or Abbey Road. But then the Stones decided to go on the road. Yup, the biggest band in the world, the Beatles, they'd given up touring years before. And the Stones hadn't been out much, either. But now they decided to caravan across America as the world's greatest rock and roll band. Like Michael Jackson, they came up with their own moniker. But it was HIPPER! I ask you, what's hip about "pop"? And just like some people had said Clapton was God, there were a couple of people who had anointed the Stones as such. Every date of this tour did not sell out. But tales of debauchery spread from the rock press to readers to people THEY talked to. Yup, if you were hip, you were talking about what the Stones were doing. Word was starting to spread. And then Altamont bookended Woodstock. But you must realize. Even though it was on the front page of the newspaper, Altamont was not a huge story. But those who were aware. The mental movies... What the f*ck had HAPPENED there? People DIED? Some guy was beat to death by the Hell's Angels? This ENHANCED the Stones' reputation. Oh, not amongst insiders, but with the people not converted yet. Who were INTRIGUED! At the end of the following summer, there was a movie. EVERYBODY saw Woodstock. That's what hipped America, that movie. Almost nobody saw Gimme Shelter. If they had, they would have seen that the Stones looked like middle-class pretty boys. They were clueless. They had no idea the Hell's Angels were DANGEROUS! But nobody saw it. They just READ about it, and HEARD about it. And this word-of-mouth. It enhanced the Stones' reputation. A really rough recorded document of the tour was released in September, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! Only hardcore fans bought it. It got no airplay. And casual listeners or fans who hadn't ever seen the band who heard it were stunned at how ROUGH it was. You see, it wasn't until '75 that the Stones could play a complete set together. They weren't as untogether as the Dead. But only about a third of each show coalesced. What was going on up onstage. It was the boys, but the sound was alternately dense and incomprehensible, or five people playing alone, each instrument standing out, not coming together. Ya-Ya's was great in feel. But raw in sound. God, it was a SURPRISE! A surprise that most people never heard though. Then, suddenly, it's 1971. Discuss this story on the Rolling Stones message board. For news, pictures, and songs, visit the Rolling Stones Fan Club. |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
