Rolling Stones Gather Moss In India

April 4, 2003 9:12 AM

Stones 'fail to rock' young Indians The Rolling Stones have failed to sell out their first concerts in India - amid reports that many young music fans are simply not interested in them. [ the best part is the quote " Tell me how many college kids are into Rolling Stones? " by a guy called Brucelee Mani, Bangalore rock musician ]
posted by turbanhead (24 comments total)

I'm not surprised. The Stones' "failure to rock" could be more aptly described as a pronounced ability to suck ass.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:30 AM on April 4, 2003

If I was back in Mumbai right now, I wouldn't be going to see them. The Stones aren't *big* in India.
posted by riffola at 9:30 AM on April 4, 2003

Tell me how many college kids are into Rolling Stones? "

I'm a college student, and I'm into the Rolling Stones. My roommate too. So thats two right there...
posted by SweetJesus at 9:34 AM on April 4, 2003

Rock On? Yeah, in Chairs
By Neal Pollack
(NYT link, blah blah blah)

full story here
posted by matteo at 9:35 AM on April 4, 2003

I never liked the Stones until I was older (30s).
posted by stbalbach at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2003

Crisis in India: the world market plummets as "rocking" expectations in the volatile nation fail to reach expected limits. Experts fear the downturn in rocking may also affect the crucial "partying" market. Andrew W.K. has been dispatched to affect volume. "The rocking market is vital to the structure of the Indian cultural status," Mr. W.K. explained upon touchdown at a New Dehli airport. "Therefore we must ensure that the country is not only prepared to party, but party hard." Mr. W.K. then drank an entire 20-oz. bottle of spring water before smashing it into his face repeatedly until bleeding.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:45 AM on April 4, 2003

The Stones are just as relevant as the incarnations of Kansas and Toto I just saw at the liquor free (free as in 'nonexistant'... not as in, 'we are only at this $50 dollar table for the free drinks' ) casino.

Buy an album, watch Gimme Shelter... anything live after Steel Wheels is an oldies tour.
posted by cedar at 9:52 AM on April 4, 2003

Two theories on India's tepid reaction to the Stones:

1) They've never forgiven Brian Jones for his amateurish sitar work on 'Paint It Black'

2) You know who was huge in India a couple years back? Lou "Mambo No. 5" Bega. You know who else is huge in India? Bollywood playback singers. You know what sounds nothing like Lou Bega or Bollywood music and thus has very little cultural relevance in India? The Rolling Stones.
posted by gompa at 10:07 AM on April 4, 2003

I'm a college student, and I'm into the Rolling Stones

Into them as in you like the recordings they made back when they were good, or into them as in you would go see them on stage, all of them in their sixties, several of them likely grandparents, long, long, long past their prime?
posted by jonson at 10:08 AM on April 4, 2003

I was working for a Sony subsidiary when their 1999 tour wheezed into town. A lot of young people in the company got free tickets and were really jazzed, even though their notion of who the stones were began with Steel Wheels, or perhaps State of Shock. It was definitely the Neal Pollack "legend" effect, to be sure. I would give anything to go back 30 years and see the Stones on their Exile tour, but that ain't gonna happen. Anything else is ust an insult to the memory. I'm frankly ashamed of what they've become.

Also, what's this on NYT: "Purchase Single Article -- $2.95" Dark days ahead.
posted by squirrel at 10:18 AM on April 4, 2003

hopefully this is the start of a trend that'll spread worldwide and the Stones and bands of their ilk will go the fuck away.
posted by dobbs at 10:36 AM on April 4, 2003

Into them as in you like the recordings they made back when they were good, or into them as in you would go see them on stage, all of them in their sixties, several of them likely grandparents, long, long, long past their prime?

I tend not to go to any concerts larger than a club show, so I probably wouldn't go see the Rolling Stones live. But if they came to Lupos, I'd see them.

Age has nothing to do with it. Iggy Pop is in his 50's or maybe even 60's, but I saw him last year, and he still comes out on stage for 2 hours and tears shit up.
posted by SweetJesus at 11:02 AM on April 4, 2003

Y'know, in a weird way I can almost understand Kansas and Toto playing the casinos...gotta put bread on the table, man. And the royalties for "Africa" probably about top off the tank at this point.

But Keith must have enough stashed away for another 30 years of whole-body transfusions. Mick's probably lost more change in the lines on his face than Kansas ever picked up. They've gotta be bored, they've gotta be tired, they don't need the money, and they get nothing but shit and disrespect when they creak out there, what is the deal? Is it the chicks? Will this continue until even viagra no longer works on the groupies?
posted by umberto at 12:07 PM on April 4, 2003

I dunno about lupos. maybe if they played at the met cafe...
posted by atom128 at 12:19 PM on April 4, 2003

Y'know when I was a kid, I wasn't much into Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman or Guy Lombardo. My parents were, but I was into The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel and Herbie Hancock. It makes sense that today's youth, be it America or India, would not be interested in music by guys just a shade this side of the mortal coil. I've always found it amusing that Mick Jagger is still at it, considering what he said over forty years ago: "I'd rather be dead than singing 'Satisfaction' when I'm forty-five." I'd rather he be dead than listen. Or *shudder* watch.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:39 PM on April 4, 2003

I dunno about lupos. maybe if they played at the met cafe...

Why not just do it in my living room? You can fit more people, and the drinks are cheaper...
posted by SweetJesus at 12:44 PM on April 4, 2003

It's weird. Blues singers and country singers have had careers that lasted well into their senior years and nobody thought much of it, but rock and rollers get a little gray and people have a little disco freak out.

Now this probably has a lot to do with rock and roll projecting itself as "youth music" but that really isn't true anymore in the Stones case. Just about everything post Exile On Main Street has been from a decidedly adult point of view.

they get nothing but shit and disrespect when they creak out there, what is the deal?

I dunno, man, maybe they actually still love playing. I saw them in 1989 at Shea Stadium and rocked like sunzabitches. I'm sure that those of you all who saw them in '69 or '71 will tell me that they were better then and you're probably right, but even half-strength Stones is something to behold. Anyone interested in rock as music (as opposed to fashion or cultural artifact) will accord them the respect they deserve.

As far as India goes, tastes are different in different places, although I think it's more a time thing, cause if this comp(and I've heard some of the music from it) is any indication the impact of Beatles/Stones garage rock was felt in India just like everywhere else. And hey if the sitar riff on "Paint It Black" is any indication, the Stones dug India.

It makes sense that today's youth, be it America or India, would not be interested in music by guys just a shade this side of the mortal coil.

Some of my favorite music, and I know that I'm not alone was made by people who were dead before my mother was born. Especially know, with pretty much the entire history of music at our fingertips, music is "new" if you've never heard it before, so era becomes more or less irrelevant.
posted by jonmc at 1:28 PM on April 4, 2003

I'm just a child, but I would love to see the Stones live purely to see if Keith Richards could keep a'rockin for a whole set.

Sorry kids, but the show is cancelled. We couldn't get Mr. Watts out of his bath

Seriously though, the Stones are magnificent and it is a crime they are denied the respect they are due. After all, Brian Jones could make his guitar *bark*
posted by Celery at 1:45 PM on April 4, 2003

I'm a longtime fan of the (pre-Steel Wheels) stones, and I've been rediscovering them recently with the advent of P2P and all the bootleg albums you can cause to magically appear on your hard drive each morning. Revelatory shit...people can pay $500 a head to watch them sit in wheelchairs trying to keep the amp cable from getting tangled with the colostomy bags. That's their right. I'll be home with headphones listening to 1971 Muscle Shoals outtakes.

What jonmc said, music is the eternal present. Live music is riskier.
posted by luser at 1:51 PM on April 4, 2003

On a trip to India last month, I couldn't meet an Indian (age 15-30) who wouldn't shut up about the sheer genius of Pink Floyd and Metallica.
posted by wannabehippie at 3:57 PM on April 4, 2003

Celery:

I'm just a child, but I would love to see the Stones live purely to see if Keith Richards could keep a'rockin for a whole set.

You know that the current "Keith Richards" is actually an android, don't you? Trust me, no one can heroically drink, drug and chain smoke like he did for forty years and survive.

I dig the Stones too, but I haven't taken them seriously in fifteen years. However, I am the only person on the planet who will admit to enjoying Their Satanic Majesties Request.
posted by mark13 at 4:31 PM on April 4, 2003

I didn't think the Stones could deliver anymore until I actually went to one of their shows. Those guys can out rock and roll any of today's angry whiny white kid bands.
posted by brendoman at 6:29 PM on April 4, 2003

I'll put Keef against anybody.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 9:14 PM on April 4, 2003

Age has nothing to do with it. Iggy Pop is in his 50's or maybe even 60's, but I saw him last year, and he still comes out on stage for 2 hours and tears shit up.


Oh, c'mon now. We all know that Iggy isn't human.
posted by Ayn Marx at 1:30 PM on April 5, 2003