8 Rock Around The World • November 1 977 |
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Hand on hip Mick hits mark ...
Stones Dance On Waves
by Don Snowden
Sit back and try to imagine the world of rock and roll over the past ten or 15 years without thinking of the Rolling Stones. Just try–and be sure to slip a version of "The Impossible Dream" on the turntable as appropriate background music for your musings. Elvis may have been the catalyst, the Beatles may have brought rock into the cultural mainstream, the Who may have more realistically expressed the hopes and fears of their generation in song, Led Zeppelin may release reams of financial statistics to prove they sell more records and concert tickets; but face it, the Stones remain the essential image of rock and roll. Ian Hunter once said that a picture of Keith Richard at his most wasted was what rock and roll was about, and that's been a difficult proposition to argue with for a long time.
Most importantly, the Stones popularized on a wide scale the idea of the rocker as outlaw, the rebel answering to his own set of rules outside of the confining regulations governing conventional society. While the Beatles were basking in the limelight as the acceptably clean-cut, nice-guy side of rock and accepted their MBEs (or whatever that award they got from the Queen was), the Stones were the scoundrels, the ruffian
fringe getting busted for everything from drugs to pissing on a gas station wall and providing the rock world with one of the first drug casualties-martyrs in Brian Jones' swimming pool death by misadventure. With their overt sexuality, undeniable charisma and pure rock and roll power opposed to the Fab Four's emphasis on romantic love and pop craftsmanship, the Stones were the main inspiration behind the launching of hundreds of lesser imitators.
And the title of "the world's greatest rock and roll band" which was bestowed on them was well earned by the succession of albums starting with Beggars Banquet and concluding with Exil- On Main Street. Only the Who–with TOIL Live At Leeds and Who's Next–were even remotely in the same class during that run. By that time, the Stones had melded their roots influences–Chuck Berry, Chicago blues and soul–into a definitive rock style with a menacing, often apocalyptic vision that stood in stark contrast to the acid-drenched idealism and optimism of the times. The list of classic songs that came out of that period is too long and well-known to bear repeating and to boot they came up with probably the best-ever live rock and roll album in Get Your Ya-Ya's Out.
But as a glance at the calendar or a listen to the Clash will inform you, it is 1977 and times have changed. The Stones' track record over the past five years hasn't come close to sustaining the creative peaks they attained up to Exile. Both Goat's Head Soup and It's Only Rock 'N' Roll, the latter Mick Taylor's swansong with the band, boasted only a few noteworthy songs and Black and Blue –although it was their first No. 1 album chart-wise if memory serves–was a forgettable affair that found the Stones following disco and reggae trends rather than initiating new ones. Likewise, their stage presentation featured more and more elaborate theatrical props–unfolding stages and 15 foot inflatable phalluses were a far cry from the backroom bars where they began their career.
Meanwhile, rock had been transformed from being the bastard son of the entertainment world to a multi-billion dollar industry concerned with churning out product, and the life-style the Stones had pioneered had become an established part of the scene. And a whole new generation of kids had grown up in love with rock and roll and felt increasingly alienated from the show-biz trappings and jet-set socializing of big name rock stars. Suddenly, last year, they took matters into
their own hands and formed a succession of bands dedicated to returning rock and roll to its basic components of energy, commitment and having a good time. Like the original members of the British invasion who rebelled against the stagnant pop music of that era, the new wave bands have set themselves up as an alternative to the existing rock heirarchy. As the most visible symbols of the old order, the Stones were particularly subject to criticism and found themselves outflanked on the outlaw front as well. Where Jagger as Lucifer had introduced himself as a man of wealth and taste in "Sympathy For The Devil" ten years ago, now it was Johnny Rotten singing "I am the Anti-Christ" in "Anarchy In the U.K." and Joe Strummer of the Clash claiming
"I don't want to know about what the rich are doing" in "Garageland." And while the Stones were welcomed with open arms at concert halls in England, the new wave bands were encountering official repression that made the Stones' escapades with authorities seem like child's play.
So, in the face of the most serious challenge to their credibility they've faced in their career, the Stones return
to the fray with Love You Live. The most intriguing thing surrounding the release of the album to date is the speed with which