I was born in 1960. I was well into my 20's before I started to appreciate the Stones, and I think it was Paint it Black that started my appreciation. My favorite thing to do to troll Beatles fans is to compare the lyrics of She Loves Me to Satisfaction. But I digress.
I was headed out of town a couple of weekends ago, and forgot the bring any cd's, so I stopped and bought Hackney Diamonds. What a good album. It's like a greatest hits collection, but all new. There is straight up Stones rock and roll. There is the original simple blues. There are tunes reminiscent of their dance club adjacent era. There is stuff with their near country twang.
And, while I have no idea how many electronic aids were involved, you would absolutely never presume Micks voice was coming from an 82 year old dude. Keith can still lay down a guitar riff, and I'm pretty sure he sings one song. It's sure not Mick, anyway, but they don't have it in the liner notes. That I saw, anyway.
They are still kicking ass and taking names.
The Stones aren't my favorite band, but they are right up there. Hard to argue with the title "Greatest band in the world". Era to era, through different members, but always with Mick and Keith, they continue to put out amazing music.
My Stones story:
1967 (just after the Ice Age) ... A Humanites-101 night class at FSU. Ladies on campus had to wear dresses. Some of us guys were in bell-bottoms and buffalo hide sandals. It was 1967.
Instructor comes into classroom and introduces himself. At the front of the room were three chalk boards that slid back and forth covering each other. All the boards that were visible were blank. Then the instructor asks the class to take out a piece of paper and write down what musical group will still be around in 10 years. So the class of about 35 write down their ideas. Then instructor asks each one to present their choice and why they thought it was good. There were a lot of Elvis, Beach Boys, Denver, 4 seasons, etc. (Remember it was still before Magical Mystery Tour)
When every student was done presenting the instructor says, "You all are wrong." And he then proceeds to slide two of the chalk boards to the side... and on the third board that was hidden, written in multiple bright chalk colors was "The Rolling Stones".
He proceeded to explain why they would survive for decades.
One of my most memorable college memories. Thought of Mr. Julian Compton many times since, and every time I went to a Stones concert. RIP
With a title like that I thought they lynard Skynard'd in an airplane crash together.
What's next for Jeff Spicoli?
Heading over to the Australian and Hawaiian internationals, and then me and Mick are going to wing on over to London and jam with the Stones!
