Kevin McGeogh
April 03, 2003
Com 290-01
The Rolling
Stones: A Biography
By the time the
Rolling Stones began calling themselves the World’s Greatest Rock Band in the
late ’60’s, they already had an impressive claim on the title. As an alternative to the bouncy
Mersey beat of the Beatles in the British invasion, the
Stones pioneered the gritty, hard-driving, blues-based rock and roll that came
to define hard rock. Mick Jagger
became the prototypical rock front man while Keith Richards and Brian Jones
wrote the blueprint for interlocking rhythm guitars. Backed by the strong rhythm section of
bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts, the Stones became the breakout
blues band of the British blues scene.
Over the course of their career the Stones never really abandoned blues,
but as soon as they reached popularity in the U.K. began experimenting
musically, incorporating the British pop of the Beatles, the Kinks, and the
Who. After a short experimental
stint with psychedelic drugs, the Stones re-emerged in the late ’60’s as a
blues-soaked hard rock quintet, exposing a new rock culture. It wasn’t without difficulty
though. Shortly after Jones was
fired from the group he was found dead in a swimming pool, and in 1969 a
concertgoer was brutally killed during the Stones show at
Altamont.
Regardless of all of this, the Stones never stopped going. For the next thirty years they continued
to record and perform, and while their records weren’t always blockbusters, they
were always the most visible band of that era. No band since has proven to have such a
broad fan base or far-reaching popularity.
Throughout their career Mick Jagger and Keith Richards remained at the
core of the Rolling Stones. They
initially met as children in primary school, drifted apart for ten years, and
then were reacquainted in 1960 by a mutual friend named Dick Taylor. At the time Jagger was studying at the
London School of Economics and playing with
Taylor in a blues band Little Boy
Blue and the Blue Boys. Shortly
afterward, Richards joined the band and within a year had met guitarist Brian
Jones. They added drummer Charlie
Watts and recorded a demo. After
the demo was rejected by EMI Records,
Taylor left the band to attend the
Royal College of Art. Before his
departure, the group named themselves the Rolling Stones after a famous Muddy
Waters song. The Rolling Stones
gave their first performance at the Marquee Club in
London on July 12, 1962. The group now consisted of Jagger,
Richards, Jones, Watts, pianist Ian Stewart, and Bill
Wyman who replaced Dick Taylor.
Once their lineup was set, they began an eight-month stint at the
Crawdaddy Club and attracted the attention of Andrew Loog Oldham who became
their manager. He came up with the
idea of promoting the Stones as the bad boy opposition to the clean-cut
Beatles. With
Oldham’s help the Stones signed with Decca Records and
released their first single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On”. The highest it reached was #21. At the end of the year they released a
cover of the Beatles “I Wanna Be Your Man” which reached #15, and Buddy Holly’s
“Not Fade Away” which shot to #3.
By then the Stones were notorious in
England and were
portrayed as the sexual rival of the Beatles. In 1964 they released their first album
followed by their first #1 “It’s All Over Now”. Although they were massively popular,
Oldham pushed Jagger and Richards to compose their own
songs. In 1965 the group released
“Satisfaction” which stayed #1 for four weeks and began a string of Top Ten hits
that lasted two years. A year later
they responded to the Beatles complex albums by releasing,
Aftermath. In 1967 they
performed “Let’s Spend the Night Together” on the Ed Sullivan Show, which forced
Jagger to mumble the title or face being banned. Jagger, Richards, and Jones were all
arrested the same year for drug possession. After backing away from this heavy drug
use, they fired Andrew Oldham and hired Allen Klein as manager. They released their next album
Beggar’s Banquet after a five month delay over a controversial cover of a
dirty restroom. In 1969, Jones left
the band and was found dead in his swimming pool one month later. They replaced Jones with Mick Taylor and
at the advice of the Grateful Dead hired Hell’s Angels for security. The plan back-fired though when the
Angels killed a young black man at the Stones show. During the ’70’s the Stones split into
two. Jagger into celebrity and
Richards into drug addiction. They
released albums such as Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, Sticky Fingers,
Exile on Main
St., Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only
Rock and Roll, and Tattoo You.
Although the group continued to sell out concert stadiums everywhere,
their albums suffered in the ’80’s and ’90’s due to Jagger and Richards’s
feud. In the ’80’s they released
Undercover, Dirty Work, and Steel Wheels. Steel Wheels was the only one well
received, but was overshadowed by its tour that grossed over $140 million. In 1994 they released their last #1
album Voodoo Lounge that won them their first Grammy for Best Album. The Stones have been and continue to
portray the forefront of true rock and roll, and though they have had their
troubles are a symbol of true longevity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Carter,
David, The Rolling Stones, J.G. Press, North Dighton, MA, 1994.
- Dalton,
David, The Rolling Stones: the first twenty
years, A.A. Knopf, New
York, NewYork, 1981.
- Wyman,
Bill, Stone Alone: the story of a rock n’ roll band, Viking Publishing,
New York, New
York, 1990.
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