The Rolling Stones, The #4 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Four

 

(Continued from Part Three)

Wyman said he came up with the classic riff of this song while goofing around on an electronic keyboard before rehearsal.  "Charlie (Watts) and Brian (Jones) began jamming with me and it sounded really good and tough," Wyman wrote in his book Stone Alone.  "When Mick (Jagger) and Keith (Richards) walked in, they said, 'Keep playing that, and don't forget it.  It sounds great.'"  Wyman never received songwriting credit or royalties for the song, however.

 

The Rolling Stones released the non-album single "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in advance of their album Beggars Banquet, produced by Jimmy Miller, just the second Stones album to sell over one million copies.  It is another Stones song in The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*, #1 in the U.K. and Germany and a Top Five song in every major country in the world.

 

The album was more typical of their early days in which they featured Blues numbers.  "Street Fighting Man" was an observation on the political protests of the era, inspired when Jagger went to an anti-Vietnam rally in London.  As Richards said, "Our generation was bursting at the seams."

Beggars Banquet reached #3 in the U.K. and #5 in the United States.  Whether or not one believes in karma, the Rolling Stones experienced all manner of bad juju after recording this song--read on to find out more about that.    Never released as a single, the chilling "Sympathy For The Devil" is one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era* and earns the group valuable points that earn them #5 for the last 65 years.

 

In "Stray Cat Blues", Jagger and company contend there's nothing wrong with having sex with minors.  Only in their world.

 

John Lennon inspired Jagger to write a working-class anthem in 1968, but Mick added a good deal of irony in as well.  "Salt Of The Earth" is one of the first lead vocal performances by Richards (his first was on "Something Happened To Me Yesterday").

 

We also want to feature "Prodigal Son", a song about a boy who returns home after going out in the world on his own.

 

Here is an atypical Stones cut, the atmospheric "Factory Girl".

 

The mournful slide guitar work by Jones here would be one of his final major contributions to the group.  "We were sitting around in a circle on the floor...recording with open mics," Jagger said in 1995.  "That was the last time I remember Brian really being totally involved."  Both Beggar's Banquet and Exile on Main Street were released at a time the Rolling Stones were writing and recording songs which reflected Rock's deeper roots.  Here is "No Expectations".

After hearing the music of Bob Dylan, Richards realized his lyrics paled, or as he put it, it was a "punch in the face".  Dylan's influence definitely rubbed off on this one, "Jig-Saw Puzzle".

The group filmed The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which also included performances by the Who, John Lennon, Jethro Tull and others, at the end of the year, but the planned release was put on the back burner and not released until 1996.

Jones had pretty much left the fold at this time, with his drug use becoming a serious problem.  He couldn't get a U.S. visa, ruling out road shows there.  On July 3, friends found his body at the bottom of the swimming pool at Cotchford Farm, the Sussex home where A.A. Milne had written Winnie-the-Pooh.  

The Stones heard several guitarists auditioning before deciding on Mick Taylor, who was recommended by their old friend John Mayall.  Taylor was so good that he joined them for a free concert at Hyde Park in London two days after Jones died before an estimated 250,000 fans.  The show was filmed live and broadcast by Granada Television as The Stones in the Park.     

The concert also featured the live premiere of "Honky Tonk Women".  Whereas the recently departed Jones may have used finesse on the song, Taylor tore into it and was a good pairing with Richard's guitar work.  It started out as "Country Honk"--"We lived for a few days on a ranch where Mick and I wrote "Country Honk" sitting on a veranda like cowboys, thinking ourselves in Texas," Richards remembered.  "It was written on acoustic guitar, and I remember the place because every time you flushed the john these black blind frogs came jumping out."

 

One of the group's biggest hits, it topped charts in the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia and Switzerland and sold over one million copies, and is another of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

The Rolling Stones were firmly cemented in The Top 100 Artists* by this time, but the work in the years ahead that we will hear lands them at #4!