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:

10. “Undercover Of The Night” (from Undercover)

9. “One Hit (To The Body)” (from Dirty Work)

8. “Sad Sad Sad” (from Steel Wheels)

7. “She Was Hot” (from Undercover)

6. “Worried About You” (from Tattoo You)

5. “Mixed Emotions”

From Steel Wheels

LISTEN HERE  

It’s hard to imagine now, especially since the band seems indestructible these days, but there was a time, back in the late 80’s, when serious doubt existed as to whether The Rolling Stones glorious run atop the rock and roll world would continue. Such was the animosity that seemed to exist between the group’s co-songwriters and yin-and-yang leaders, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

So when they returned to action in 1989 with Steel Wheels, promising that all hard feelings had been forgotten, it could have seemed disingenuous. After all of the barbs fired back and forth in the press, after Keith had lashed out at Mick in song, the schism needed to be addressed.

“Mixed Emotions” does that brilliantly. For the most part, the song is an upbeat rocker, all dirty guitars and Charlie Watts’ snapping drums, as Mick addresses a reticent girl and tries to convince her that life is too short for petty arguments and squabbles of the past. If it had kept that tone all the way through, it would have been a fine, if shallow, return to form.

But the chorus is what makes the song. That’s when the hurt comes to the fore, as the minor-keys seep in and Mick and Keith harmonize on the line, “You’re not the only one with mixed emotions.” That sums it all up, really. Whoever wrote it (my guess is Jagger, since Richards often referred to the song jokingly as “Mick’s Emotions”), they both needed to say it for the pair to get past the rancor that nearly shattered their partnership.

With that simple acknowledgment of the bad stuff that had gone down, it seemed OK to move forward. By the end of the song, Mick was singing that they had to “stick together,” and all was right with the world again. Sometimes you have to pay tribute to the darkness before the light can break through.

4. “Emotional Rescue”

From Emotional Rescue

LISTEN HERE  

Maybe it’s because I first heard the song when I was eight years old, booming out of an 8-track player with my older brother mimicking Mick Jagger in the “I will be your night in shining armor part.” I didn’t know rock from disco, didn’t know what selling out was. I just heard that opening cymbal crash and three bass notes and knew that “Emotional Rescue” was a great song.

That’s still the way I feel about it today. Just that start announces to the listener that you’re in for something special, grabbing the attention with that bass hook, played by Ronnie Wood, ironically enough. (Maybe it was too showy for Bill Wyman, who played synthesizers on the track instead.) Once Mick leans into the mike with that leonine falsetto, the fun really starts.

Jagger uses every trick in his Loverman book here, the falsetto to plead, the mid-range to convey his anguish in the “I was dreaming” part, and an almost sinister lower voice in the spoken-word part and the “You will be mine” refrain, during which he sounds like a B-movie villain. All of this comes in an effort to free a would-be partner from the clutches of a rich man who doesn’t appreciate the finer charms, debasing her to the point where she’s on the same level as his dog.

The track meanwhile, even with a dearth of guitars, absolutely sizzles. Charlie Watts’ stoic demeanor belies that fire in his drumming, and he forms a great rapport with Wood’s effortlessly funky lines. Bobby Keys shows up late for some great sax, all adding up to one of the most sensual tracks in the group’s history.

So who really cares if it’s closer to disco than rock? All I care about it is that it still holds that same visceral thrill for me almost 30 years after I heard it first. I only wish I still had that 8-track player. Luckily, my brother can still do the “shining armor’ part upon request.

3. “Waiting On A Friend”

From Tattoo You

LISTEN HERE  

Maybe the reason that this rather unassuming ballad that closes out Tattoo You has won such a special place in the group’s pantheon is that it reaffirms a bond between the group members that, quite frankly, can be hard to discern sometimes. It always seems that they go their separate ways in between albums and mega-tours, only to regain their chemistry the next time around with seemingly little effort. When you take into account how vastly different their personalities are, at least the ones they show to the public, it’s hard to imagine these guys watching a ball game together.

Of course, that dynamic isn’t unusual among rock bands, and oftentimes relationships within groups are much more volatile that what the Stones seem to possess. But “Waiting On A Friend” allows all of us Stones fans to indulge in the notion, however fantastic that it might be, that their musical bond is born of personal kinships that no one can tear asunder.

Even that notion has to make room for some irony, since it is Mick Taylor, who always seemed like more of a mercenary than a group member, playing the leisurely guitar lick through the song, as the song was begun in 1972 and shelved, only to be revived for Tattoo You. Other guest players stake out their territory as well, as Nicky Hopkins’ genial piano fills in all the gaps in Jagger’s narrative, while Sonny Rollins’ saxophone, recorded nine years after the track was originated, carries the song into sublime infinity.

We can also believe in the message of the song because of Mick’s absolutely heartfelt performance. So great is he here that the lines “Making love and breaking hearts/It is a game for you” sound thoroughly convincing coming from one of the most legendary lotharios in the history of the world. When he and Keith Richards come together to sing, “I’m not waiting on a lady/I’m just waiting on a friend”, it’s perhaps the sweetest moment in Stones’ history.

So, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, I prefer to believe in the Stones as this song portrays them. The true story belongs to the biographies and the tabloids, but the music provides a beauty even deeper than the truth.

2. “Slipping Away”

From Steel Wheels

LISTEN HERE  

Keith Richards has perpetrated the caricature of Keith Richards for so long now it’s easy to forget there’s anything else in there. All you see is the cigarette dangling, all you hear are the slurred, hoarse witticisms that roll off his tongue like he were Confucius’ soused British cousin. He’s stunningly self-deprecating, often treating the riffs that changed rock and roll as if they were lucky accidents that happened to him.

I believed in that caricature, because I knew little else, until I heard “Slipping Away” in 1989. Then I picked my jaw up off the floor, cued up the song again, and started to dig a little deeper. The research that I’ve done for these Stones’ countdowns only reinforces what I’ve learned since then: Keith Richards, the musician, is immensely talented, as much a reason for the The Rolling Stones’ success as Mick Jagger. And Keith Richards, the man, is much deeper than the poster child for hard living who’s threatening to outlive us all.

If his guitar playing is his id, then the ego of Keith Richards comes out in his ballads. The bruises hidden beneath the grizzled exterior show through in these lovely, sad songs. Usually, these bruises are the result of other people in his life, often women, sometimes Jagger. But what makes “Slipping Away” so poignant is that the bruises here are caused by time. Richards stares down old age in this song, and suddenly the caricature is gone. This is something he can’t laugh off.

It’s totally unsurprising that the music on this track is top-notch at every turn. Charlie Watts sets the steady tempo which marches on like the calendar, while each of the guitarists gets their chance to make their commentary before receding into the darkness. The strings and horns are natural offshoots of the emotional content of the song, rather than an excuse to spruce it up, and the backing vocals are just gorgeous.

What might surprise some is how wonderful the lyrics are, seemingly simple yet raw and revelatory. Richards tries to shrug off the dying of the light, but the truth is closing in: “First the sun and then the moon/One of them will be ‘round soon.” His loneliness is palpable as he contemplates absent loves, and then he finally fires up on the bridge, joined in loyal harmony by Jagger: “All I want is ecstasy/But I ain’t getting much/Just getting off on misery/It seems I’ve lost my touch.”

If all you know is the caricature, now pushed even further into la-la land by Johnny Depp’s “tribute” of using Richards as the muse for his portrayal of a drunken pirate, then I’d urge you to dig deeper, starting with “Slipping Away.” For a man who’s made a living out of unpredictable antics, it’s a crime that, to some people, the most surprising thing of all about Keith Richards is the brilliance of his music.

1. “Start Me Up”

From Tattoo You

LISTEN HERE  

With the rest of the music world still bumming about the death of John Lennon just a year before, The Rolling Stones, in 1981, provided healing much more lasting and effective than any of the maudlin tributes popping up all over the place. “Start Me Up” was a reaffirmation of rock music’s vitality even in the greatest of crises, and it proved that The Stones were still keeping the torch alive, as lascivious and as powerful as ever.

So many of the best songs in rock and roll history have happy accidents as a big part of their creation, and “Start Me Up” is definitely included in that group. The song began as a reggae number in 1975, but was put aside for several years when the band wasn’t pleased with the results. The Stones revived the track in an effort to get it on Emotional Rescue in 1980, but still it fell short, despite many different attempts to find the right feel for it.

In 1981, Mick Jagger and Chris Kimsey, who would later co-produce the group, were sifting through tapes looking for songs that might work for an album the band would release to tour on (which would become Tattoo You). They stumbled upon umpteen versions of “Start Me Up,” and, buried in the middle, was one version where the reggae was discarded and the tempo sped up. I don’t know if the band had a “Eureka” moment upon discovering it, but they decided that this version was worth a shot.

Good choice. If guitar could be translated to English, Keith Richards’ opening riff would say, “Start me up,” wouldn’t it? It certainly gets the message to Charlie Watts, whose drums, aided by the famed “bathroom reverb” technique, snap like never before. For all of the band’s celebrated guest performances, “Start Me Up” really benefits from the absence of any guests. It’s just the four instrumentalists bumping and grinding off one another for a truly explosive recording.

The lyrics, meanwhile, tell the touching tale of a young motorcycle rider and the woman who loves him. What’s that? Oh, there’s some hidden meaning to those lyrics? Wow, I totally missed that. Oh, that crafty Mick Jagger. Seriously, this might be the king of all double-entendre songs out there. When Jagger finally drops all pretense for the line “You make a dead man cum” (their spelling, not mine), it’s an electrifying, um, climax.

So much of the genre music that the Stones have always been able to make their own, from the blues right down to the urban music of the 70’s and 80’s, is built upon the sexual longing of a man for a woman. Maybe that’s why the Stones were better than any other rock band at assimilating those styles; they understood this reality and, rather than running from it or prettifying it, they reveled in it, pure and unadulterated. “Start Me Up” is the epitome of that, and its place in history as one of the greatest ever rock songs is assured because of it.

The complete list to date.

No Comments »