You Rolling Stones are one of the few bands to have a career spanning 60 years. On July 12, 1962 the band played their first concert at the Marquee Club, on Oxford Street, London. The Stones replaced Blues Incorporated at the house.
Alex Kroner was the guitarist for Blues Incorporated and managed to get his band to BBC Radio in the program jazz club. Kroner then called in some musicians who were looking for an opportunity. Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Ian Stewart and Dick Taylor took the chance and so the Rolling Stones took their first steps. After months with rotating drummers, Charlie Watts joined the group.
Calling everyone’s attention for his iconic performances, Jagger went so far as to declare: “I hope they don’t think we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band”. Over time, Jagger paid off the tongue and the Stones accepted that they are rockers, even without abandoning the blues.
first show
To get their first gig, the kids borrowed money from Jagger’s father and rented sound equipment. The band played 18 songs, according to Keith Richards in his biography “life” (Life). The guitarist still reports what was the setlist of the presentation;
“Kansas City”
“Baby What’s Wrong”
“Confessin’ the Blues”
“Bright Lights, Big City”
“Dust My Broom”
“Down the Road Apiece”
“I’m a Love You”
“Bad boy”
“I Ain’t Got You”
“Hush-Hush”
“Ride ‘Em on Down”
“Back in the USA”
“Kind of Lonesome”
“Blues Before Sunrise”
“Big Boss Man”
“Don’t Stay Out All Night”
“Tell Me You Love Me”
“Happy Home”
In the 70s, the Stones returned to the Marquee for a concert celebrating the band’s 10th anniversary. Check out an excerpt from the presentation:
60 years, or is it not?
“It was so long ago! Some of us are still here, but it’s a very different group than the one that played all those decades ago.”, said Jagger. The vocalist is absolutely right in what he said. Today, the Stones have only him and Keith Richards from the original lineup and, in addition to Ronnie Wood, form the Rolling Stones – in addition to the support musicians for the shows.
Artists say they feel it’s cheating to say the band turns 60 if they’re not all original members. “I tried to find out when Charlie’s first was, and none of us can remember and no one really knows. But it’s an incredible achievement, and I think it’s fantastic and you know I’m very proud of it.”, declared Jagger. But it is undeniable that the soul of the Stones has always been present over the years.
Sixty: Stones Europe 2022
To celebrate their 60th anniversary, the Rolling Stones enter a tour by Europe. The shows will take place in Madrid, Monique, Liverpool, Amsterdam, Bern, Milan, London, Brussels, Vienna, Lyon, Paris and Stockholm.
There will be 14 shows that started on June 1st. In Watts’ place, drummer Steve Jordan was invited to join the band. The band promised classics and unexpected tracks and a new stage production.
At the opening show in Madrid, over 53,000 people filled the Wanda Metropolitano stadium. Watts tribute videos were shown. “This is our first tour without Charlie, we miss him so much”said Jagger before singing “Sad, sad, sad”.
The Stones also honored the people Ukrainian who suffers from the evils of war with the track “Gimme Shelter”.
Rolling Stones Playlist
So let’s hear the great Rolling Stones songs
1) Angie
Angie is part of the album “Goats Head Soup” from 1973 and after years it has gone through an unpublished edition. Behind the song, there is a long story lived by one of the guitarists when facing a crisis of abstinence.
Over the years, there has been doubt and rumor that the song was written due to other factors, but in fact it was written during this period, one of the worst in Keith’s life and not for David Bowie’s first wife as some believe. . In decades, the song has become the group’s most famous song, it couldn’t be left out of our playlist and starts it off in the best way.
2) Worried about you
This time, we brought a song from the album “Tattoo You” released in 1981. The track was one of the songs composed by the duo Mick and Keith, which at first was produced for Black and Blue and recorded in Holland.
During the performance of the song Mick accompanies guiding the vocals and the electric piano along with Richards supporting the vocals in the chorus. Simultaneously, Perkins and Richards perform on guitar, Charlie on drums and Bill on bass. Every second the group leaves nothing to be desired with harmony and talent.
3) Hard Woman (Mick Jagger)
In third place we chose a solo song by one of the band’s members, Mick Jagger. From a very young age he was always guided by music and at 14 he got his first guitar that became a great companion at various hours of the day. His biggest influences came out of the blues and years after collecting countless albums by the likes of Muddy Waters, he became the leader of one of the biggest bands in the world, which in his account sold more than 240 million records in their six decades of life.
In “Hard Woman” the singer delivered a very good song that throughout the verses talks about the relationship with a difficult woman to be conquered even after several attempts.
4) Paint it black
Initially, this song reached the public as a solo single but in the US version of the album “Aftermath”, it was chosen as the first track to integrate the production in May 1996.
As usual, the band achieved yet another feat with their release, placing at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Charts simultaneously. This time, in addition to the duo Mick and Keith, Brian also participated in the composition and his biggest contribution was in the guitar solo part right at the beginning of the song.
5) Miss you
Following the same pattern as the previous song, “Miss you” was also the first track on one of the band’s albums, “Some Girls” and written by the dynamic duo. Once again, she secured the group’s spot on the US and UK charts. Likewise, the song became the group’s eighth lead single in the US at ’78.
In addition, the legacy left by it was so great that after its release, several groups such as the Rolling Stones produced a remix of it, which also became a fever.
6) Ruby tuesday
Few people know, but Brian Jones learned piano since he was a child because of his mother, who was a teacher of the instrument at the church where the family attended and to compose this song, he used this knowledge transmitted and taught by his mother to write.
Paradoxically, in that same period he went through enormous challenges with addictions and still dedicated himself to producing at all costs. In this song, the melody was so impactful that Keith, his bandmate ended up writing two versions and when finishing them, he dedicated them to his girlfriend, Linda.
Check out: How the same song tells different stories around the world
7) Can’t be seen
“Can’t be seen” couldn’t be left out of our playlist and it certainly takes the seventh place. The track makes up the nineteenth album in the UK released in ’89 by Columbia Records. One of the most moving parts of the song is the brief guitar solo in the intro that impacts the listener and then comes into harmony with the singers’ vocals.
8) You can’t always get what you want
In 2004, “You can’t always get what you want” was named the 100th greatest song of all time by the magazine of the same name. Its production differed a little from the others but at the same time it still followed the thread of others when produced when the members spent some time in their rooms.
In it, there were some difficulties due to the fact that Charlie was not well to play the beats and his colleague Jimmy was left with this task. Throughout the verses, the singers portray some themes such as their love and political experiences at the same time.
9) Jumping jack flash
Next May, it will be exactly 54 years since the Rolling Stones released the single “Jumping Jack Flash” in the UK. The story of this song denotes much of the friendship between the group members, as it was written at Keith’s country house on a night when they spent the night together sitting on the couch and at the same time composing some verses.
10) Let’s spend the night together
To finish off our playlist, the number 10 song on our list will be “Let’s spend the night together”. Again, the greatest songwriters, known as the dynamic duo, Mick and Keith, also signed on to write the song and brought to the world a music that sold millions of copies around the world.
Its impact was so important that many great artists re-recorded the song and among them is David Bowie.
At 60, the Rolling Stones still have a lot to offer and a lot of rocks to roll.
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