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

 

(Continued from Part Six)

The Rolling Stones also released their double compilation album Hot Rocks 1964-1971, a #3 LP in the U.K. and #4 in the United States.  The album took up residency on the Billboard Album chart for 347 weeks and has sold six million units. 

 

Since 1972, the group has set up an elaborate scheme to avoid paying taxes, paying just 1.6% of their royalties on taxes while their fans have paid much higher tax rates.  The Stones recorded the album Goats Head Soup in Kingston, Jamaica.  It topped charts in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom.  "Angie" rose to #1 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, France and Switzerland and sold over one million copies.

 

The album gave them three straight Trans-Atlantic #1's and has topped the three-million sales mark.  During the recording, however, authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of Richards and because of Jagger's prior drug charges, the Rolling Stones were denied permission to play in Japan and were nearly banned from Australia.  They did do a tour of Europe in 1973.  "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" reached #10 in the U.K. and #16 in the U.S.

 

"Star Star" is a song about groupies, which of course is a field Jagger is an expert on.

Recording of "Dancing With Mr. D" began at Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, with the Stones continuing sessions at Village Recorders in Los Angeles and Island Recording Studios in London.  Billy Preston plays the clavinet on this song.

The band released the album It's Only Rock 'n Roll, recorded in Munich, Germany, in 1974.

Ron Wood made a major contribution to the title song, although he had not yet joined the Rolling Stones.  Wood lived in an estate in London called The Wick, which Pete Townshend later bought.  In Wood's basement, Ron recorded much of the song with Jagger singing lead, David Bowie on backing vocals, session man Willie Weeks on bass and Kenney Jones, bandmate in Faces, on drums.  

"It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I LIke It)" hit #3 in the Netherlands and #10 in the U.K. but with a peak of #16, it is easily one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The album rose to #1 in the United States and France and #2 in the U.K. and has gone over one million in sales.  Paul McCartney introduced Jagger to this song, and Mick loved it so much he had the Stones record it.  The much-processed Richards guitar riff put the Stones' stamp on the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg".

Although the track "Time Waits For No One" includes Taylor and his great guitar solo, it was one of the last songs he recorded with the group.  Taylor left after the album was finished because he wasn't getting songwriting credit for songs he helped write.

However, with members living in different countries and the group unable to tour in several countries due to legal restrictions, the group was languishing.  Taylor, feeling left out due to the dominance of Jagger and Richards, quit the group at the end of the year.

Once again, the group had to search for a new guitarist, and they auditioned aspiring applicants while recording their next album.  When Ronnie Wood from the group Faces auditioned, everyone decided he was perfect for the part.  

Wood debuted with the group in 1975 for their North American tour and the Stones released the album Love You Live in 1977.  But upon arriving in Toronto, Canada, Richards was arrested for importing narcotics.  The legal process lasted over a year.  The band released the album Black and Blue in 1976, a #1 effort in the U.S.,  France and the Netherlands.  "Fool To Cry" attained #2 in the Netherlands, #6 in the United Kingdom and #10 in the United States.

Black and Blue has topped one million in sales.

In 1978, the Rolling Stones released the album Some Girls, their most successful in years.  Billy Preston, who toured with the group, came up with the bass lines for a Disco song, recorded at Pathé-Marconi Studios in Paris as the first single.  Watts talked about the song:

             A lot of those songs like "Miss You" were

             heavily influenced by going to the discos.  

             You can hear it in a lot of those four-on-the

             floor rhythms and the Philadelphia-style 

             drumming.  Mick and I used to go to

             discos a lot...It was a great period.  I

             remember being in Munich [Germany]

             and coming back from a club with Mick

             singing one of the Village People songs--

             "Y.M.C.A." I think it was--and Keith went

             mad, but it sounded great on the dance

             floor.

"Miss You", a #1 effort in the U.S. and Australia that also reached #2 in the Netherlands and #3 in the U.K. and sold over one million copies.

The album topped charts in the U.S. and Canada while falling just short at #2 in the U.K. and France.  

 

There has been much speculation about the meaning of this song.  Inside The Rock Era doesn't deal in speculation and no one should deal in speculation but focus on facts.  Keith Richards told Esquire magazine in 2017:

             Those who say it's about one woman in 

             particular, they've got it all wrong.  We

             were trying to write for a slightly broader

             audience than just Anita Pallenberg or

             Marianne Faithfull.  Although that's not

             to say they didn't have some influence 

             in there somewhere.  I mean, what's 

             close by is close by!  I've always felt

             it's one of my best soul songs.  It was

             another strict collaboration between

             Mick and me.  I think I had the first

             verse along with the hook, and we

             were still working very much in our

             traditional way:  Here's the idea,

             here's the song, now run away and

             fill it in!  

"Beast Of Burden" gave the group a second Top 10 song on the album, the first time the Stones had achieved that in 12 years.

Jagger lived in New York City prior to writing songs for the album, and his songs depict the city.  In this one, the message is that there is plenty of excess, and even if you enjoy it, eventually it will catch up to you.  Thanks to songs like "Shattered", Black and Blue has gone over the six-million mark in sales.  It is another Stones tune among The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

Jagger talked about the homosexual nature of this song in 1978:

              There is one song that's a straight gay 

              song--"When The Whip Comes Down"--

              but I have no idea why I wrote it.  It's

              strange--the Rolling Stones have 

              always attracted a lot of men (laughs).

              That sounds funny, but they're not all

              gay.  And, of course, I have a lot of gay

              friends.

Here are Jagger and the boys with "When The Whip Comes Down".

 

This song is about the lifestyle that got Richards in trouble.  The Stones recorded it while Keith was out on bail after getting caught with heroin and arrested for drug trafficking in Toronto the year before--"Before They Make Me Run".

The Stones still had plenty of rock & roll in them and we'll hear Part Eight next, exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!