Bloody hell, seems like Quiet Roar and myself are in the minority here. I reckon you fuckers need to listen to more Stones albums, especially Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed and Sticky Fingers. Come on folks, 'Sympathy for the Devil' and 'Gimme Shelter' are two of the greatest tracks ever made.
totally - the stones are fucking incredible.
but you're also spot on about the albums - Beggars Banquet (1968 ), Let it Bleed (1969) and Sticky Fingers (1971) - the stones most impressive material is from the latter part of the 60s and into the 70s, when they stepped out of the beatles' shadows.
nothing against the stones, but the beatles were releasing self-penned singles really early on that completely transformed pop music and rock'n'roll (then going off into a range of ground-breaking and experimental music styles, from psychedelia and indian influences to using sound collages and tape loops with the occasional symphonic flourish) - but the stones really began as a covers band doing blues material.
a few of the stones' 60s records were smart-arse retorts to beatles records (their "let it bleed" to the beatles' "let it be") or kinda obvious rip offs ("their satanic majesty's request" to "sergeant pepper's lonely heart's club band" - but by the time the beatles were fracturing apart, the stones were really finding their stride.
the stones' early 70s records were killer. "exile on main street" is another great one.
but i dunno, there's something about the songs the beatles were writing in the early 60s that i fucking love - this is from 1963;
the beatles - there's a place
the melodies and those vocal harmonies are pretty fucking special, i reckon. nobody sang like john, paul and george.
and for all the "clean-cut" moptop innocent image, they did have a hit song about oral sex in 1963 -
the beatles - please please me
it's easy to overlook how profoundly subversive the beatles were.
the stones were playing the role of being "bad boys" - but the beatles really changed pop culture - and youth culture in such fundamental ways that the music business - and pop culture - were
totally different pre-beatles and post-beatles.
they famously couldn't hear themselves onstage because of the girls in the audience screaming - and it's really hard to sing onstage with a band if you can't hear yourself even without thousands of kids screaming at you - but they still sang those incredible harmonies live, pitch-perfect. which is really fucking amazing if you ask me.
nothing against the stones though - they're a fucking great band in their own right. one of many great bands from that time, like the kinks, the animals, the who, the yardbirds...and many others.
the fucking
troggs man!
if the stones fans haven't seen this, i'd recommend you do so