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

 

(Continued from Part Seven)

Emotional Rescue in 1980 was a strong follow-up, hitting #1 in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, the Netherlands and Sweden and selling over two million copies.  The title song, another Disco effort written by Jagger on the electric piano, advanced to #1 in Canada, #3 in the U.S., #5 in the Netherlands and #9 in the U.K.

Former Santana alumnus Michael Shrieve played percussion on this Disco song.  "'Dance, Pt. 1' was one strong riff where Mick immediately took the bait, literally got up and danced to it," Wood said about the first Rolling Stones song for which he received writing credit.  "It's a catchy riff," he added.  "That was an example of a song that originated without words, just a groove with various changes, but never a chorus. 

 

The recording sessions for Emotional Rescue went so well that several of the recordings made it onto the group's next album.  From their first album to hit #1 in the U.K. since Goat's Head Soup in 1973, "Let Me Go".

In 1981, the Stones released the album Tattoo You.  The lead single was one of those songs referred to above recorded for Emotional Rescue that was included instead on this album.  "Start Me Up" began as a Reggae song, but after rediscovering it five years later, Richards added the iconic riff and it transformed into a Rock song.  "Start Me Up" is one of The Top #2 Songs of the Rock Era*.

Tattoo You rose to #1 in the United States, Australia, Canada, France and the Netherlands and #2 in the U.K.  This song had to wait even longer to find vinyl--it was written during the Goat's Head Soup sessions of 1972!  Nicky Hopkins played piano, Jimmy Miller took care of percussion and Danish session drummer Kasper Winding played tambourine.  "Waiting On A Friend" was a #8 Mainstream Rock hit, though it stalled at #13 overall.

 

The band's American tour was the highest-grossing of the year, helping the album sell four million copies.  A "hang fire" is a delay from when a trigger is pulled and the time the gun actually fires.  The metaphor here could apply to lazy people who won't take action.  We also want to feature "Hang Fire", #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

 

If you didn't know it, you may not think this is a Rolling Stones song--it is truly atmospheric with Jagger playing an electric guitar and singing over minimal accompaniment.  Here is "Heaven".

Shows with Muddy Waters in Chicago, Illinois were recorded and released as the live album 

 

Still Life, which peaked at #4 in the U.K. and #5 in the United States.  The Rolling Stones released their cover of the Miracles' hit "Going To A Go-Go".

Footage of shows in Tempe, Arizona and the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands, New Jersey were featured in the movie Let's Spend the Night Together.  Later in the year, the Rolling Stones performed in Europe for the first time in six years.  

The group recorded most of their next album at Pathé-Marconi Studios in Paris.  Chris Kimsey, who had been an engineer for the band on Sticky Fingers, had become their co-producer from the Some Girls album on.  

The Stones worked on the album for about a month before breaking for the holidays and hoping that tension in the band would wane.  It didn't.  When they resumed, the musical differences between Jagger and Richards came to a head.  

Jagger had pretty much steered the ship while Richards was dealing with his drug addiction, and now that Keith was back, there was some resentment that he wanted to assert control after being gone from the scene.  Jagger had guided the group more towards Dance songs, while Richards wanted the group to return to its Blues Rock roots.

The group finally finished the project in 1983, and it seems that there was a compromise for we hear elements of both on the album.    

After releasing the album Undercover, the group signed a four-album recording contract with CBS for $50 million.  A song about the political corruption of South America that features the rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, "Undercover Of The Night", also hit #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #9 Popular in the U.S.

Undercover moved to #1 in the Netherlands and Sweden, #3 in the U.K. and #4 in the United States.  Jagger brags about romantic encounters in New York, Detroit and Chicago in this song that features former Allman Brothers Band member Chuck Leavell on keyboards, along with Ian Stewart.  "She Was Hot" is another strong song on the album (#2 Mainstream Rock), which has now sold over one million copies.

Stewart died of a heart attack in 1985, just two days before the Rolling Stones earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  Jagger drifted away from the group and spent two years working on writing and releasing solo albums.  On the 1986 album Dirty Work, Richards took over the lion's share of songwriting, with Wood assisting him.  Even in the recording of the album, Jagger was rarely in the studio. 

The breakup of the Stones?  A definite possibility.  You will read how they avoided it and continued on into the history books in Part Nine!