By ETHAN
HERZINGER
Staff Writer
On Dec. 1, The Rolling Stones will be releasing rarities of live recordings/performances at the BBC titled On Air. With this being the second new release of material from the legendary band, the 1st being their release of “Blue and Lonesome;” an all blues cover album released on Dec. 2 of last year, The world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band won’t be stopping anytime soon and are currently touring Europe on their “No Filter” tour. Why don’t we dust off those old turntables and take a look back on this band’s legendary career?
The birth of The Rolling Stones came to be in 1962. Growing up, lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards were childhood friends growing up, but later drifted. At the time, Keith wasn’t in school, and Mick was going to school for economics. It was one ordinary train ride that would change their lives forever and the birth of the Stones. Mick and Keith bumped into each other, and instantly reconnected over their love for American Delta blues like Robert Johnson and Chicago blues legends like Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters.
They recruited rhythm guitarist Brian Jones , who is credited for coming up with the now famous name that they bear. Taken from the Muddy Waters song “Rollin Stone”, Jones added a “g” and “s” to the end of the two words and the rest is history. They were able to get Bill Wyman on bass and Charlie Watts on drums by the skin of their teeth.
Most early Stones songs were blues covers including Howlin Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” and even popular pop songs like Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade away.”
The Stones finally hit their stride that would shoot them to stardom with their album “Out of Our Heads” released in 1965 which spawned two singles “Play With Fire” and immortal “Satisfaction.”
When rhythm guitarist Brian Jones died of a horrible drowning incident, The Stones days as a band seemed numbered. Luckily, they were able to hold auditions and recruited guitarist Mick Taylor and from 1969-1973 is when The Rolling Stones were at the top of their game and made their best material considered by most die hards, including myself.
From “Let It Bleed,” with the politically charged “Gimme Shelter,” to “Sticky Fingers” classics like “Brown Sugar” and deep cuts like “Sister Morphine,” and from “Loving Cup” and “All Down The Line from Exile On Main Street,” the Stones put hit after hit.
When Mick Taylor left the band in 1974 to pursue a solo career, The Rolling Stones once again held auditions and ended up with ex-Faces guitarists Ronnie Wood, and it’s been that lineup ever since.
The most well known album made from the Ronnie Wood era is “Some Girls.” People have surprisingly given it mixed reviews, but I love how the band experimented with different genres. From the punk driven “Respectable” to the country ballad “Far Away Eyes,” and the radio FM staple and soulful “Beast Of Burden” the album showed how diverse the band could be.
Fans are eager to await the new rarities collection of “On Air” and we can’t wait to see what it holds in store for us die hards. The Rolling Stones: legendary, iconic, and rock ‘n’ roll in its purist form.
Ethan!!!
Get your facts straight. It was Brian Jones who recruited Mick and Keith into the band HE formed!!!
Do your research and homework you are adding to the myth that has been put forth for years. If you really care about what is true read Paul Trynka’s book. “Sympathy for the Devil… the birth of The Rolling Stones and the death of Brian Jones. It will teach you a lot.
Since you decided to write an article on the band, you owe your readers a proper reaserch background. As Janis Baranski already said, there are many ideas you declare as facts that are actually completely wrong.
With this kind of Jagger – Richards blind praise, all you’re doing is contribute to the child’s tale that’s been passed on, ignoring true history and it’s main character, Brian Jones.
I bursted out laughing while reading how Richards and Jagger connected over Robert Johnson, as Richards himself has stated that he first met Johnson’s music thanks to Brian Jones, who made him listen to a record.
Also, when you say they ‘recruited rhythm guitarist Brian Jones’ you’re not only ignoring the fact that it was Brian who recruited all of them, as even former bassist Bill Wyman said many times; but it was Brian who first introduced slide guitar in the UK, that making him much more than just a rhythm guitarist. He was a multi instrumentalist too, who among other things, taught how to play harmonica to Mick Jagger.
If your favourite period of the band is the Mick Taylor era, that shouldn’t be enough of a reason for you to ignore the whole history of the group, and how the iconic sound of the band was created, at it’s begining.
Sorry, not anyone can write a music review.