sm, I guess it's just you and me on this thread.
I have about five years on you in age, which doesn't qualify me to say that I know more than you do. Just that I saw some things at an earlier time than you or some other folks.
The Stones have tried to do over a period of some forty+ years what a few white singers were only able to do in just one or two songs: fuse the music of the classic black blues artists into a sound that appealed to a largely white audience.
On their earliest albums, they were able to do this because white-bread kids like me hadn't ever listened to Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, or others.
When the old blues material ran out, the Stones were forced to write their own songs. And, for a few years, they did so with remarkable ability.
After "Exile on Main Street," though, it seemed like Mick Jagger was desperately trying to become black. (Too bad he couldn't have just traded places with Michael Jackson).
After "Exile," it seemed that the albums were hit-or-miss. There might be one good song from an entire album, and the rest was destined to that rock 'n roll junkyard.
When I saw the video for "Angie," with Jagger wearing that silly Tom Sawyer hat, I knew things were headed downhill.
Still, there were some bright spots.
Mick Jagger, for all that has been said--good or bad--about him, is a person of very strong self-control. He did the drugs, but he never allowed himself to reach the abyss that Brian Jones did. He's also a very astute businessman. And he laughs easily, a quality I've always admired in a person.
Keith Richards. Don't know. He was my hero for many years. Maybe just because he started out looking more geeky than I did.
Charlie Watts. Looking back, he was the coolest of the group. He was the most comfortable within himself of any of them. His shyness was more reticence than shy; if he had something to say, he said it. And he seems to be the one who has aged with the most grace and acceptance. When the Stones come to Milwaukee, he heads off to our great art museum.
Bill Wyman. Definitely the most desperate for attention and adulation. He was the consumate outsider, always seeking approval. He was also the one who slept with the most groupies. Or, as better-known public speakers have said before, "I repeat myself."
Ron Wood. If I were to rate him as a guitarist, he'd probably rank somewhere around a 7 or an 8, along with Keith Richards. His absolute blasting guitar intro in Rod Stewart's "Stay With Me" shook me to my bones, though.
But it's 2006, and the shag haircuts are gone. Lose it, Ron.
One of my all-time favorite movies is "Goodfellas." And one reason that it's a favorite is that Scorsese and his crew did a fabulous job of pegging the music to the year the scene was meant to portray.
I know I've been doing a lot of reminiscing the last month or two, and maybe it irritates some APS members. Don't know why I'm doing it, just that I need to, for reasons that are my own.
But, the thing with music is that I can remember where I was. The Cuban Missile Crisis. The assasination of JFK, MLK, or Bobby Kennedy. The Manson murders.
Whatever the event, there was a song that went with it. Sometimes the song was the wrong song for the time, but that's how I remember things.
It's also how I remember particularly significant times in my own life. When my then-girlfriend (and now wife) left me for another guy. The Stones played a big part in my attitude then.
My wife's sister and her husband embarked last year on their own business. And they're going like gangbusters. He'll be a millionaire--or better--by the time he hits 55.
But he doesn't like music. He doesn't know music.
The only thing I can think of worse than not loving music is to be blind.
