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Though starting out in much the same mold as the Beatles (e.g., their 2nd British
Hit was Lennon & McCartney's "I Wanna Be Your Man"), the Stones
eventually formed a counterimage:
- "Bad Boy" image takes shape, though their earliest public television performances revealed a marked similarity with the Beatles' image
- stage act became more sexually agressive
- hair longer; scruffy, unkempt look
- also evident early on in song choice
- Beatles: "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Love Me Do"
- Stones: "I Just Wanna Make Love to You"
"I Just Wanna Make Love to You" (1964) 
- Jagger started a band named Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, revealing the early influence went back deeper into the roots of rock & roll (R&B) and covers of early mainstream rock pioneers (esp. Chuck Berry)
- the Blue Boys often attended sessions at the Ealing Club, an R&B joint opened by Alexis Korner who had his own R&B-oriented group named Korner (drummer Charlie Watt, a fairly accomplished jazz percussionist, played with them at times)
- Brian Jones, a young blues enthusiast also hung out at the club; he had dropped out of school at age 14 and began playing sax in jazz and R&B groups
- what can be considered the first performance of the Rolling Stones (named after a song by Muddy Waters) occurred as an intermission band at the Marqee club on July 12, 1962: Jagger, Richards, Jones, Ian Stewart (piano), Dick Taylor (bass), and Mike Avory (drums)
- the jazz-oriented audience at the Marquee thought the Stones sounded too close to rock & roll ... "pseudo-intellectual snobbery" that irritated Brian Jones
- the Stones formed in 1962 (London), eventually solidfying into the core founding personnel:
- Mick Jagger, vocals
- Keith Richards, guitar & vocals
- Brian Jones, guitar (as leader of the group, Jones negotiated a higher salary for himself)
- Bill Wyman, bass
- Charlie Watts, drums
- also, included Andrew Loog Oldham as manager
Early recordings:
- George Harrison recommended the Stones to Dick Rowe at Decca Records
- Rowe had become known as the man who turned down the Beatles in favor of Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, so jumped at the chance
- June, 1963 - released their first single ... Chuck Berry's "Come On" (reached #26 on the British charts) with the B-side an R&B song entitled "I Want to Be Loved"
- to promote the single, they appeared on the TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars, dressed in coordinated sutes, Beatles style
- as they struggled to make a name through a rugged performance schedule, they were irked by the British Beatlemania that confronted them at every turn
- December, 1963 - their 2nd single was a cover of Lennon/McCartney's "I
Wanna Be Your Man" (reached #3 on the British chart)
- January, 1964 - released a version of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away"
which made it to #3 in the UK as they toured Britain with the Ronettes
- this song also hit #48 on the US charts
- it was in early 1964, when they began to form their own counterimage to the Beatles
- "Around and Around" (mention of playing to "empty stadiums")
Stones' 1st US tour (6/64) was hardly like the Beatles initial trek
- greeted by hundreds at airport, not thousands
- appeared on Les Crane (obscure late-night talk show) and on Dean Martin's Hollywood Palace, not Ed Sullivan
- adding insult to injury, Dean Martin paid them little attention except to make fun of them
- in Omaha, 600 hundred showed up in an auditorium with seating for 15,000
- in San Antonio - due to low ticket sales, performed to a few hundred in a 20,000
seat auditorium
- their final concerts, however, were sold out performances at Carnegie Hall in NYC
- according to Jagger, "we were loved in L.A. and New York, but everywhere in between ..."
- also during this tour, they stopped at Chess Records in Chicago and met some of their idols: Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, & Willie Dixon
- they also recorded "It's All Over Now," a Bobby Womack/Valentinos song
- success was theirs in the UK, but continued to elude them in the US
- their cover of "It's All
Over Now" hit #1 in the UK
- their cover of "Little Red Rooster" (a blues standard) hit #1
in the UK, but was banned in the US because of "objectionable" lyrics
- the remainder of 1964 was spent touring Europe and a second, more successful tour of the US
- it was on the 2nd US tour that Jagger saw James Brown perform and set out to imitate this soul icon's dancing and stage moves into his own act
Brian Jones (previously, an avid bebop alto
sax/clarinet player) was the early leader of the band
; Jagger/Richards eventually dominated
Success comes to the Stones
Following a couple of minor hits in the summer of 1964 - "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" (#24) and "It's All Over Now" (#26) - the Stones had a series of Top 10 hits:
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (#1, 6/65)
"Get Off of My Cloud" (#1, 10/65)
"19th Nervous Breakdown" (#2, 3/66)
Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus (December 1968)
- intended to be a TV show, but was not released
- incredible array of performers:
- Jethro Tull - "Song for Jeffrey"
- Dirty Mac (w/John Lennon & Eric Clapton) - "Yer Blues" with intro by John Lennon & Mick Jagger
- The Who - "A Quick One While He's Away"
- Rolling Stones - "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Sympathy for the Devil"
- mid-1969: the Stones were at the peak of their career
- just released a greatest hits album (Through the Past Darkly)
and Let It Bleed
- upcoming US tour was to feature BB King, Ike & Tina Turner as warm-up
acts ... going back to their R&B roots
- 6/9/69 - Jones left the band, stating that he didn't "see eye-to-eye
with the others"; replaced by Mick Taylor until 1974 when he was replaced by Ronnie Wood
- 7/2/69 - he was found dead in swimming pool
- coroner's report labeled it "death by misadventure"
- Jones was known to have serious drug problems
"Street Fighting Man" - sex, drugs, and rock & roll ... and destroying property
- 1969 US tour resulted in loads of bad press
- tickets were considered too expensive
- band frequently showed up late for performances
- being filmed for documentary
- video of the concerts at Madison Square Garden on November 27 & 28, 1969
(from the Gimme Shelter
documentary)
- "Honky Tonk Woman"
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
- followed by a press interview ... compare with the tone & content of Beatles interviews of the mid-1960s
- also planning & legal arrangements for what became the tragic Altamont concert
- "Love in Vain"
- "Street Fighting Man"
- backstage with Mick, Ike, & Tina
- outtakes (poorer video quality than excerpts above, but interesting):
- "Little Queenie"
- mixing the tracks for "Little Queenie" in early 1970
- "Oh Carol"
- "Prodigal Son"
Altamont
- 12/6/69: decided they needed a "big finish" for their US tour, so they threw a free outdoor
concert on the West Coast (Altamont
Raceway; 40 miles SE of San Francisco) .... other performers included
Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
- final decision to hold the concert at Altamont Raceway was made the day before concert!!
- used California chapters of Hell's Angels for "security"
Videos of Altamont performances
- Rolling Stones arrive at Altamont; flying over the crowds
- video includes Jefferson Airplane performance (crowd & Hell's Angels beginning to get out of hand), arrival of the Grateful Dead, then the Rolling Stones take the stage
- 18 year old African-American youth was stabbed in the neck
- as things got out of hand, the Stones made a musical transition from
"Sympathy for the Devil" to "Under My Thumb"
- Jagger reviews stabbing clip in editing room
The Top 10 Hits Continue
Stylistic Transformation:
Final Comments:
- Stones are still at it!!
- Beatle or Stone? (read text p. 124 carefully)
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