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

Kiss shreds, as do The Stones. [more inside]
posted by hellbient on Aug 19, 2009 - 19 comments

"In the summer of ‘71, The Rolling Stones, seeking shelter from their UK tax woes, exiled to the South of France. Keith Richards set up house with Anita Pallenberg and their son Marlon in Villa Nellcôte– a 16 room waterfront mansion that once served as Gestapo headquarters for the Nazis during WWII. The infamy continued with it now best remembered among rock fans as the grand flop-house where Exile On Main Street was recorded." More photos.
posted by dersins on Aug 14, 2009 - 38 comments

Rock critic Dave Marsh called it "part of rock and roll legend." Truman Capote said "I've never seen anything equal to it." And the film can not legally be shown unless the director is physically present. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Mar 5, 2009 - 61 comments

He couldn't sing, dance, or tell jokes, but he was television's greatest impresario. He was a stone-faced puritan -- America's arbiter of status quo -- but had a sly sense of humor , and in the segregation-tainted 1950's, welcomed blacks to his stage, and in the 1960's showcased rock n' roll's most anti-establishment acts. His show, the longest-running variety show in history, ran from 1948 to 1971. [more inside]
posted by terranova on Feb 7, 2009 - 46 comments

Joseph Szabo has been photographing his teenage students for the past twenty-five years, and has perfectly captured the ambivalence of that time of life. Samples from his books: Almost Grown, Jones Beach, Teenage, and Rolling Stones Fans.
posted by dobbs on Jun 30, 2008 - 20 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

The Maestro FZ-1 Fuzztone was one of the first stomp boxes a guitar player could use. Released in 1962 by Gibson, sales didn't take off until a British band used it in the introduction to one of their songs in 1965. But if it weren't for a Marty Robbins song and engineer Glen Snoddy, the pedal might have never been invented and country music wouldn't have been the same. [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete on Dec 4, 2007 - 29 comments

More fun from the Daily Mail. Apparently Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones has decided to post bits from his upcoming autobiography. 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Oct 7, 2007 - 29 comments

PJ Harvey suggests that all the castration imagery of Rid of Me isn't necessarily metaphorical. [more inside]
posted by Weebot on Oct 6, 2007 - 93 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

The Greatest Rock & Roll Show On Earth: Jethro Tull { Song For Jeffrey } The Who { A Quick One While He's Away } Taj Mahal { Checkin' Up On My Baby, Leaving Trunk, Corrina, Ain't That A Lot Of Love } Marianne Faithfull { Something Better } clowns ☻ The Dirty Mac John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards & Mitch Mitchell { Yer Blues [2nd take] } Yoko Ono with Ivry Gitlis & The Dirty Mac { Whole Lotta Yoko } The Rolling Stones { Jumpin' Jack Flash, No Expectations, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Sympathy For The Devil [previously] } (1968)
posted by Poolio on Sep 1, 2007 - 40 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

John Lee Hooker performs Gloria and It Serves Me Right to Suffer with Van Morrison; I'm in the Mood with Bonnie Raitt; The Healer with Santana; Boogie Chilluns with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton; and Roadhouse Blues with Jim Morrison & the Doors (audio only). [Also, Muddy Waters, Etta James and more blues legends & rock combos inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Aug 5, 2007 - 25 comments

The Rubinoos recently filed a lawsuit against Avril Lavigne, claiming that her song Girlfriend (Youtube) plagiarized from their song, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (mp3). An authorized cover version of the Rubinoos song performed by Lush and retitled "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" has even more similarities to the Lavigne song. Now that the teeming millions on the Internets have gotten into the act, YouTubers are now arguing whether Lavigne is a plagiarist, whether the Rubinoos plagiarized from the Rolling Stones, and whether Ms. Lavigne plagiarized a second time. Now that Web 2.0 has made it easier to uncover musical copycats, I'm hot on the case of Bob Marley vs. The Banana Splits.
posted by jonp72 on Jul 10, 2007 - 66 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

Journalist Bill Wyman threatened with legal action for having same name as Rolling Stones member. Via Google News.
posted by stevenf on Nov 17, 2002 - 38 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

"Has time come for Old Rubber Lips to fade away?" While US's Jan Wenner personally gives Mick Jagger the Rolling Stone 5 star classic rating, the UK's Guardian/Observer slams him, finding "...the failure to sell Jagger to a contemporary pop audience is intriguing..." What is going on.
posted by Voyageman on Nov 25, 2001 - 32 comments