...there’s some desperation to this junk version of “Dancing in the Street,” with both parties trying to affirm their A-1 celebrity status. One of the more pernicious effects of the whole Live Aid/Farm Aid/Band Aid spectacle was to cement the hierarchy of the “legend” rock acts and a smaller tier of anointed successors from the slightly-younger generation (Tom Petty, Sting, Dire Straits, U2). It was the height of the Boomer Counter-Reformation. The late Eighties would see the over-publicized returns of everyone from Steve Winwood to the Monkees to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, to a revamped George Harrison to a MOR version of Pink Floyd to Robbie Robertson pretending that he was Peter Gabriel (a version of Gabriel who couldn’t sing) to an all-star Yes and a Zeppelin-sampling Robert Plant, culminating in the return of the “revitalized” Stones in 1989, the touring company now reincorporated into a gleaming multinational. As Marcello Carlin said back when Popular covered this single: “Suddenly we were once again reminded who in pop and rock mattered and who didn’t…With their massacre of “Dancing In The Street,” Bowie and Jagger seemed to relish rubbing it in.“
-
The Annotated Jagger/Bowie "Dancing in the Street"
posted by anazgnos
on Jan 17, 2012 -
180 comments
We were kids...and songs would come on...and I would sing really loud...always the wrong lyrics. My little sister grew up thinking MY lyrics were the right ones. via
posted by Knappster
on Dec 22, 2011 -
28 comments
It's no secret that throughout their long career, the Rolling Stones have covered
lots of tunes by black singers and bands from the worlds of soul, blues, R&B, reggae and early rock'n'roll, and have, of course, been heavily influenced by these various genres in their own performance and songwriting. Perhaps a bit lesser known is that several of the most iconic and legendary figures in black music have covered Stones songs as well. Here's
Brown Sugar by
Little Richard,
Satisfaction by
Aretha Frankilin and
Otis Redding,
Under My Thumb by
Tina Turner,
Start Me Up by
Toots and the Maytals and, rather unexpectedly,
Let's Spend the Night Together by blues great
Muddy Waters
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 14, 2011 -
52 comments
40 years ago today, The Rolling Stones played two concerts at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. In the darkness of the audience was a man known to history only as
"Dub"...
[audio auto-plays] [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese
on Nov 9, 2009 -
13 comments
Well, young folk, there was a time, y'know, when bands would put their band name on the kick drum head, so the audience could see the name of the band, y'see? Why, best as I can recall, the
The Yardbirds did it, and
The Zombies, too. And
The Hollies. Oh, and did I mention
The Yardbirds? Well, my memory's not what it used to be... oh, and there was those boys from Liverpool, used to sing about
Kansas Cty so well, why, you'd think they'd actually
been there! Now, there was this one band called themselves the
Spencer Davis Group, but I never could figure out why, cause it was that little Winwood fella just outta knee pants who was the star of
that show!
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 17, 2008 -
18 comments
He laughs and leaves. I sit alone in the room, staring at the walls, just about every inch of which is covered with more memorabilia: a photo of him with Lennon, a photo of the Beatles circa 1965, a photo of Muddy Waters.... After maybe five minutes, Richards wanders back into the room, laughing. “Sorry, mate,” he says. “I got lost. I don’t come here often!”]...
Why do you think some people live and some die..? ...there’s that line between recklessness and stupidity, and you—
"No, you bring up a good point...."
posted by Huplescat
on Mar 30, 2008 -
21 comments
There's a whole lotta Mefiers interested in the upcoming
Led Zeppelin reunion, and it got me to thinking, let's pay a little visit to the Poet Laureate of the blues,
Mr. Willie Dixon. After all, without him, there wouldn't have been a
Whole Lotta Love, or a
Bring It On Home, or... hell, there might not have been any Zep
at all... His music has been
interpreted and
reinterpreted by an
astonishing number of
musicians. The man wrote a
whole lotta songs. Oh, and, he played a little bit of
bass, too. He was a whole lotta
great.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 13, 2007 -
28 comments
In early 1968,
Jean-Luc Godard filmed The Rolling Stones
in the studio writing/recording "Sympathy for the Devil".
Mick Jagger recalled in a 1995 interview with Jann Wenner: "... [it was] very fortuitous, because Godard wanted to do a film of us in the studio. I mean, it would never happen now, to get someone as interesting as Godard. And stuffy. We just happened to be recording that song. We could have been recording "My Obsession." But it was "Sympathy for the Devil," and it became the track that we used."
Later that year, Godard released
a film (in Europe) titled "One Plus One" which featured the "Sympathy for the Devil" studio footage. To increase the commercial value of the film, the U.S.
release was re-titled after the Stones song and the end of the film's soundtrack was altered to include
a full take of the song in its final form, much to the dismay of Godard.
posted by Poolio
on Aug 9, 2007 -
35 comments
...The Rolling Stones released their Four Flicks DVD in Canada on an exclusive distribution basis, limiting availability of the Four Flicks DVD to only one retailer, thereby excluding HMV and all other retailers from making this product available to their consumers....HMV responded by indicating that if its consumers were not good enough to have access to the Rolling Stones new product in HMV stores, then the Rolling Stones were not worthy of having ANY of its products in HMV’s stores...HMV would now like to solicit your opinion as it decides its next steps with regards to its position...
posted by boost ventilator
on Feb 10, 2004 -
18 comments
Friday flash fun in the form of a rather amusing game to promote the
Rolling Stones tour. Catch the bras, dodge the bottles and knock away the pants thrown by the men! Predictably enough, I was rubbish at it.
posted by ralawrence
on Jul 25, 2003 -
2 comments
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
on Apr 4, 2003 -
24 comments
Is This Finally The Best Of The Rolling Stones? Their
website was redesigned earlier this month in preparation for
Forty Licks, the upcoming anthology which is being touted as the definitive compilation of their best songs. Is it though? There have been, er,
more than a few of them in the past - even (most shockingly!) a couple of very good ones. Nor do the four new songs exactly transmit over-confidence. More pertinently: does it (do they) still
matter? [
Or, are we better off sticking to the current Primal Scream reincarnation?]
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Sep 13, 2002 -
51 comments
Sir Mick - "Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music, newspapers reported on Sunday." What's the point in knighting old rock stars? What's the point in being a knighted rock star? It probably wasn't even on Her Britannic Majesty's request, but just the result of some silly committee deal.
posted by pracowity
on Jun 9, 2002 -
18 comments
