dec 29, 1961 - The Rolling Stones formed
Description:
The Rolling Stones of the two-thousands rs not a rhythm and blues band, but the Rolling Stones of the early sixties was one of Britain's best. Their bohemian lifestyle was shocking to most conventional Britons, but then they never cared to appeal to the conventional. They played an expressive, like-it-or-go-to-hell brand of rhythm and blues, and because both the music and their rebellious image appealed especially to young audiences, they attracted untold numbers of blues fans. They be came one of the longest-lived groups in the history of rock music. In the course of their career, they veered away from rhythm and blues in most of their original compositions, but their concerts contin ually revived their roots.Two members of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger (born in 1943) and Keith Richard (born in 1943), had attended the same primary school. (Keith's name had been mistak enly spelled "Richards" enough times that he eventually adopted the final "s" himself) Although they lost contact with each other for ten years, they had both become blues fans after hearing Muddy Waters perform in England in 1958. When they ran into each other again in 1960 they began to work together, joining various blues groups in London. In 1962, they formed the Rolling Stones, naming their group after the "rolling stone" that represented a tough and independent man in blues songs like "Rollin' Srone" and "Mannish Boy" (both recorded by Muddy Waters).
The original Rolling Stones included singer/harpist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, guitarist Brian Jones (1942- 1969), pianist Ian Stewart, and other musi cians who played with them off and on during their first year. In December 1962, Bill Wyman (William Perks, born in 1936) was added on bass, and in January 1963, Charlie Watts (born in 1941) joined as drummer. When Andrew Oldham was signed as their manager, he chose to remove Stewart from the official group roster, although Stewart did continue to do occasional work with the band throughout their career until his death in 1985.
Although they started out playing rhythm and blues, most of the Stones' more popular early recordings were covers of songs by other rock artists. Their first hit in Eng land (1963) was a cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On"; their second was "I Wanna Be Your Man" ( 1963), by Lennon and McCartney; and their third was a 1964 cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." As the listening guide for "Not Fade Away" shows, the Stones' recording did not follow Holly's style at all. They turned the pop-rockabilly song into rhythm and blues. The listening guide on page 114 is a comparison of the two recordings. The Stones' version was a number three hit on the British pop charts and number forty-eight on the American charts.
By 1964, the Beatles had become well known interna tionally, and the Stones followed along, gaining a reputation as the Beatles' nasty opposites. American teens preferred the Beatles at first, but the Stones soon won a large following. After all, rebellion had long been part of the history of rock and roll music. The music that most closely influenced the style of the group's first three American -released albums was that of rhythm and blues and blues-rock artists Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, and Muddy Waters, some of whose songs they covered. The Stones also covered "Route 66," which had been a hit for Nat "King" Cole in the forties and was recorded by Chuck Berry in 1961, but instead of imitating Cole's or Berry's vocal style they roughened the sound to be closer to that of their old favorite, Muddy Waters.
Of the blues revival groups, the Rolling Stones became the most popular in America. In addition to blues record ings by Muddy Waters and others, the Rolling Stones covered American soul and Motown songs on their early albums. When they appeared in the concert movie The TA.M I. Show (1964), they followed soul artist James Brown; to anyone watching the movie, it becomes clear that the types of dance routines that later became a regu lar part of Mick Jagger's stage performances can be traced to Brown's influence. The influences of soul music were apparent in Jagger's and Keith Richards's own songs, an early example of which was "Satisfaction" (1965).
Andrew Oldham knew that groups who depended on outside songwriters would not remain popular as long as those who wrote their own songs, so he pushed the group to improve their songwriting skills. Their earliest efforts included ideas contributed by all group members, and rather than credit all of them, they made up the name "Nanker-Phelge" to use for that purpose. Jagger and Richards developed writing skills as a team, and their songs gained much more commercial success than the group's cover records had.
An obvious change in the Rolling Stones' musical style came about when Jagger and Richards began to write more of their own songs. Aftermath (1966) was the group's first all-original album. Rhythm and blues and soul roots were still evident, but cultures other than those of African Americans were also being explored. The Indian sitar, played by the group's most versatile musician, Brian Jones, added a new timbre on "Paint It Black." The sitar, also used by the Beatles during the same time period, was in vogue for many rock groups, both American and British. In addition to the sitar, other nonstandard (for the Stones) instruments used on Aftermath were the dul cimer (played by Jones on "Lady Jane"), harpsichord, and marimba (played by Jones on "Under My Thumb"). Reflecting the macho image they had maintained since early in their career, both "Stupid Girl" and "Under My Thumb" enraged anyone sensitive to women's issues.
The album Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) was musically experimental, particularly on the part of Brian Jones, who had become intrigued with the possibilities afforded by the use of electronic instruments. He played a
mellotron ( me!Ody + electronics) on "2000 Light Years - from Home." The influence of drugs can be heard in some of the Stones' wandering, unfocused instrumentals, which conveyed a feeling of time expanding. The psychedelic art work on the cover of Their Satanic Majesties Request was reminiscent of other drug-influenced albums that were be ing put out in San Francisco during the same period. Both the cover and the musical experimentation on the album were also reminiscent of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album, which was released earlier the same year. The Stones had experienced problems with the authorities because of their use of drugs. In England the group's fans believed the title of the album was inspired by the fact that the drug arrests of various group members had kept thm from touring freely-British passports contained a line that began "Her Britannic Majesties . . . Request ."
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