III. Artists ↑

9. The Rolling Stones

In general, The Rolling Stones were the antithesis to The Beatles. Where The Beatles avoided controversy and any reference to class distinctions, the Rolling Stones reveled in them. Where The Beatles’ group name was inspired by the rock’n roll of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Rolling Stones took their name from a blues song by Muddy Waters. (In terms of musical influences, their point of intersection was Chuck Berry.) Where The Beatles sang “Let It Be,” The Rolling Stones sang “Let It Bleed.”

The Stones often played the role of the bad boys in rock. They were willing to sing about subjects otherwise considered taboo: drugs, sex, dominance/submission in sexual relationships, and violence, to name a few. Yet one must be careful in interpreting their work, for they often played this role with differing (and sometimes overlapping) intentions. At times, they simply wanted to honestly explore a subject not otherwise discussed. In other songs, they wanted to draw attention to society’s confusion between evil imagined and real, between arbitrary social conventions and real ethical principles. In many cases, they wanted to use the energy of such subjects to inspire their music. And in some cases, they simply seemed to be living up (or down) to people’s expectations of them.

At their best, the role of the Stones was to test the boundaries of the liberation so freely promised by rock. Were drugs OK? They not only sang about drug use but paid the price for such use very publicly with the loss of Brian Jones, and the near-loss of Keith Richards. Was flirting with violence OK? They sang about it until a public killing took place right in front of the stage where they were singing, at the Altamont Speedway in California.

Musically, the best material from the early Stones resulted from the sweet and sour combination of Brian Jones’ eclectic musical touches and the raw blues of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. A cut like “Under My Thumb” is a perfect example, with Brian Jones playing marimbas and acting as a perfect foil for Jagger’s vocals and Richards’ guitar.

After Jones’ untimely death, the role he once played more or less single-handedly, adding color and variety to the group’s musical palette, was filled by a variety of session musicians. The group’s search for another guitarist led them to use young player Mick Taylor on a few albums. When Taylor decided to leave, the group replaced him with Ron Wood, a seasoned British guitarist more of the same vintage and musical disposition as the rest of the band.