Featured Stories

We counted down the Stones’ complete 1970’s studio catalog, and now we take on the band’s output during the decadent decade of the 1980’s. This period found the Stones sometimes funky, sometimes fiery, but always feisty. Keep in mind, the countdown

The complete list to date.

The Last Five:

20. “Harlem Shuffle” (from Dirty Work)

19. “She’s So Cold” (from Emotional Rescue)

18. “Blinded By Love” (from Steel Wheels)

17. “Dance (Pt. 1)” (from Emotional Rescue)

16. “All The Way Down” (from Undercover)

15. “Tops”

From Tattoo You

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Dusted off after nearly 9 years on the shelf, “Tops” found its way onto Tattoo You and left fans wondering just what took the Stones so long to unveil it. It’s not your typical Stones’ effort, what with its lightly tripping rhythm and near-absence of guitars. But this unassuming gem ingratiates itself by the end, an example of the group finding success off the beaten path.

In the place of the loud guitars comes some nice interplay between Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, pushing the song forward in a herky-jerky manner. When the guitar of Mick Taylor comes in at song’s end, it’s an elegant, lyrical solo that complements the song rather than overwhelming it.

Mick Jagger’s acting career has always been fodder for critics (Freejack, anyone?), but he steps to the other side of the camera to play your typical Tinseltown sleazeball. That he’s so charismatic and convincing in his pleas only adds to the sense of melancholy about the song; you just know the young innocent is going to fall for it, and you know that her true Hollywood story will not have a happy ending.

14. “Let Me Go”

From Emotional Rescue

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Hey, let’s face it, it’s not easy being a playboy rock star. After all, there’s that ugly business about having to set an adoring young female fan free after she’s worn out her welcome, and it’s especially troublesome when she just doesn’t get the message. Mick certainly doesn’t know how to let anyone down easily though, as evidenced by some of his coarser put-downs in this song.

Then again, he doesn’t exactly hide his lack of couth. In the bridge, featuring some of the Stones’ classic bedraggled harmonies, he sings, “I find it hard to be cruel…,” then pauses just a nanosecond before delivering the punch line, “…With a smile, don’t you?” It’s his way of doing this girl a favor, letting her in on the crueler aspects of romance:
“You’ll never find that perfect love/That you read about/That you dream about.”

As if she didn’t get the message, Charlie Watts starts throwing snare-drum jabs to punctuate Mick’s increasingly desperate pleas. This is a great, forgotten song off Emotional Rescue, with not an ounce of chaff on it from Keith’s revving-engine opening riff to the fade-out.

13. “Can’t Be Seen”

From Steel Wheels

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You can make fun of Keith Richards’ croaky singing voice all you want, but the truth is that he sings the heck out of this mid-tempo groover from Steel Wheels. Multi-tracking his voice with backup singer Bernard Fowler in the bridge, they create a wall of harmonies that gets right to the sorrow hidden in the false bravado of the lyrics. But even unadorned, Keith’s voice conveys all of the desire and wariness of his character in the song.

It seems that the narrator has latched onto a femme fatale of sorts, a married one no less, and is trying to break it off before his lust gets the best of him. “It’s hit and run anyway,” Keith sings, but you can tell that he’s trying to rationalize his decision against what his heart might truly want.

The band predictably handles the chugging rhythm in style, with some nice organ work from Chuck Leavell sneaking out of the mix to stand out now and then. But the real star is Richards, writing a killer tune and then daring to go out and hit, well, most of the notes.

12. “Hang Fire”

From Tattoo You

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Can someone please explain to me why “Hang Fire” never caught on as a cool phrase meaning “relax”? We’ve had to endure several years of “It’s all good” and an agonizing period when “It is what it is” held sway. You mean to tell me “Hang Fire” isn’t any better than that tripe?

Oh, well, maybe I can start that campaign myself. In the meantime, we can take comfort in knowing that the song has endured, a short blast of energetic rock and roll that takes aim at the lazier parts of England’s male population, those for whom “marrying money is a full-time job” and whose attitude with everything is to “say what the hell.” Jagger’s disdain is palpable.

Luckily, the music is so much fun that it leavens the social commentary. The guitars sprint ahead of Charlie Watts breakneck pace, and the “doo-doo-doo” backing vocals are the perfect evocation of idleness. “Hang Fire” eased into the U.S. top 20 back in 1981, a pretty hefty achievement for a song all about doing absolutely nothing.

11. “All About You”

From Emotional Rescue

LISTEN HERE  

Such woeful bitterness creeps into Keith Richards’ voice on this, the closing track from Emotional Rescue, that at times he barely seems able to go on. The music has to just about come to a halt to keep Keith propped up. That’s how raw the emotions on display here are.

Which begs the question: To whom are these emotions directed? Richards had recently ended his long relationship with Anita Pallenberg at the time of the song’s recording. Some might speculate that Richards was singing about his drug addiction, which he had also kicked around that time. Or maybe he’s taking one of his first public stabs at Mick Jagger, feeling that Mick was blocking his attempts to regain a leadership role in the group.

Well, only Keith knows it for sure, but whoever, or whatever, gets this animosity, it ain’t pretty. The very first line says it all: “Well, if you call this a life/Why must I spend it with you?” The one-liners just keep on coming: “The laughs may be cheap/That’s just ‘cause the joke’s about you.” “I may miss you/But missing me just isn’t you.” But his voice is more defeated than angry, and when he reveals he’s still in love with this “you,” his torment is laid bare.

It’s a pretty powerful song, rendered tenderly with Richards handling guitar, bass, and piano on the track while sharing the harmonies with Ronnie Wood. Bobby Keys’ sad sax makes the biggest impression, mirroring Richards despair. In the end, I guess it doesn’t really matter who the object was. Sometimes we all need to feel pitiful, and songs like “All About You” serve that purpose beautifully.

The complete list to date.

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