50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of the Rolling Stones
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1408833824
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
On July 12, 1962, London's Marquee Club debuted a new act, a blues-inflected rock band named after a Muddy Waters song - The Rolling Stones. They were a hard-edged band with a flair for the dramatic, styling themselves as the devil's answer to the sainted Beatles. A young, inexperienced producer named Andrew Loog Oldham first heard the band at a session he remembers with four words: 'I fell in love.' Though unfamiliar with such basic industry practices as mixing a recording, he made a brilliant decision - he pitched the band to a studio that had passed on the Beatles. Afraid to make the same mistake twice, they signed the Stones, and began a history-making career. This is just one of the 50 classic stories that make up 50 Licks. Many are never-before told, some are from exclusive interviews - including with elusive bassist Bill Wyman - and all are illustrated and told by the people who lived them. Half a century on, the Rolling Stones are still the greatest band working. And this is the book to commemorate their unparalleled achievement in rock music.
most wanted to recruit was Charlie Watts. He was very reluctant to commit to being anything more than a semi-professional musician. He was a draftsman and he thought the late nights would affect the steadiness of his hand. As for our mystery man, even though Keith Richards (and an ad from that week’s Jazz News) claim it was Mick Avory, later of the Kinks, in doing our research, we received word from Mick Avory himself that it wasn’t him. Both Dick Taylor and Alan Clayson told us it was
Nicky Hopkins they think of his right hand. But he would make the groove happen sometimes. If you took him out, it’s “Oh, what happened here?” Which is normal. If they are listening to him they are gonna play around him. Or with him. And if you take one of those elements out: “What happened here?” It’s music. See. That’s how it works. The album’s focal point became one of the Stones’ most famous songs, “Sympathy for the Devil.” CHARLIE WATTS: “Sympathy for the Devil” was tried six different
of the lyrics. He was very involved. I don’t think I was putting in more than anybody else. Charlie was amazing. Everybody was in great form. The journalist in residence certainly noticed the tensions between Mick and Keith. ROBERT GREENFIELD: They weren’t coming up with any new songs. The thing that drove Mick crazy was that Keith would sit around all day long playing country-western songs with Gram Parsons. Gram was teaching Keith the lexicon of country. Gram was a scholar of that music.
solves the mystery—sort of. He was in Switzerland receiving treatment for heroin addiction. KEITH RICHARDS: When I was in the clinic, Anita was down the road having our daughter, Angela. Once I came out of the usual trauma, I had a guitar with me and I wrote “Angie” in an afternoon, sitting in bed, because I could finally move my fingers and put them in the right place again, and I didn’t feel like I had to shit the bed or climb the walls or feel manic anymore. I just went Angie, Angie. It was
groundbreaking, and that causes a bit of a stir, as well. PETE FORNATALE: The tour has just been fabulous and the future of the Stones seems limitless. What’s left? What’s left to achieve from your perspective? MICK JAGGER: Well, I enjoy doing other projects, I enjoy doing stage design and clothes design. I enjoy doing music, obviously it’s what I like, but I like to stretch myself in other areas. And I’m interested in other things as well. And I think the Stones will always be an important