The Rolling Stones Are Still Young

When normal people want to punch someone, they just go up to that person and do it. In 1984, Charlie Watts wanted to punch Mick Jagger for drunk dialling him at 5 a.m., and asking ‘Is that my drummer?’ Watts shaved, put on his Savile Row suit and freshly-shined shoes, made sure that the knot in his tie was crisp, went down to Jagger’s room and, in the words of Keith Richards, ‘dished him out a great f*****g right hook.’ Jagger fell on the salmon on a table behind him and Richards had to grab him by the leg so that he didn’t slide right off the table, through an open window, and down to the street 20 floors below! That’s The Rolling Stones for you.  

It’s been 50 years of bickering, messing with each other’s and other people’s heads, and living the rock and roll dream. July 12, 1962 was when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Dick Taylor and Mick Avory took the stage at London’s Marquee Club as ‘The Rollin’ Stones’. Jones died, Taylor and Avory left, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood came in, Ian Stewart was forced out of the band in 1963 (but was part of the squad as road manager until he died in 1985).

If the Beatles were the cute angels the teeny boppers swooned over, the Stones played Lucifer; quite literally: Their Satanic Majesties Request, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, and ‘Dancing with Mr. D.’

The Stones played straight-up rock, injecting into it a variety of influences, notably the blues, and the rock ’n’ roll of their contemporaries (their first releases included covers of Lennon-McCartney and Buddy Holly hits, and they have never stopped playing covers). Whatever they played, they did it loud. The only band that could possibly come close to giving The Stones a run for their money when it came to raising hell would be The Doors. But Jim Morrison gave up the ghost and, without him, The Doors didn’t stand a chance.

The Stones have gone on and on and on and on! Jagger once said, “I’d rather be dead than still singing ‘Satisfaction’ when I’m forty-five.” The band just turned 50, Jagger will be 69 on July 26, Richards is 68, Watts is 71, and Wood is all of 65. And they’re still singing ‘Satisfaction’ all the way to the bank and back.

Heck, they tour, when men of their age are nursing their arthritic joints and quaffing ginseng, and they’re still seducing new audiences into their crazy circus.

Like me. By the time I began to listen to their music, they were already elderly men, long past their glory days. But there was something about them that made me listen to their records over and over again. And of course, by records, I mean CDs and later MP3 files. I devoured any books on them I could find, including most recently, Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life, as well Salman Ahmad’s Rock and Roll Jihad. (Ahmad is the guitarist for Pakistani rock band Junoon and the book is quite interesting, but the only reason I wanted to read it was that I knew there was a part in it about Mick Jagger showing off his moves to the dancing girls of Lahore.)

When ‘The eBook People’ came out with a two-volume series, 50 Years: The Rolling Stones, I knew I had to read it. It’s a compilation of some of the best writings on The Stones. You can read an exclusive excerpt here , and listen to a bunch of really rare quotes from Mick Jagger on audio on the site as well.

The book came in just a few days before these pages had to go to press, so I’m not through yet. But if the first chapters are anything to go by, this should be on the reading list of every Stones fan. Look out for a full review on our blogs.