They’ve been one of the biggest bands in the world for decades and their gigs are still huge rock’n’roll events even after 60 years on the road.
So it is no surprise that the Rolling Stones have some stories to tell from down the years.
Following the death of Charlie Watts last year, his bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood sat down for rare in-depth interviews, with the drummer remembered fondly. They may have come close to splitting down the years, and perhaps time isn’t on their side any more but somehow the Stones’ tours roll on like a “relentless juggernaut”, as Keith says.
BBC series My Life as a Rolling Stone begins with a Mick Jagger profile episode at 9.30pm on Saturday, on BBC2, and continues through July as part of the BBC’s Rolling Stones at 60 season.
All four episodes profiling Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie will be available to watch from Saturday
on BBC iPlayer. The Stones will also be giving their latest generation of fans musical satisfaction when they play the BST Festival at London’s Hyde Park on Sunday, July 3.
To celebrate, here are some of their memorable moments in the band’s own words…
Being on the road for 60 years
Keith: “To do it this long, Mick and I look at each and think ‘We must be doing something right’. I don’t know what it is.
“The idea of turning people on for 60 years is like ‘Whoa!’. The thing is relentless, it is like a juggernaut.
“God knows what I would be like if I did not do this. My wildest nightmare.
“Really, all you wanted to do was play music and try to get it better and get the band tighter.
“Not many people get the chance to do this with thousands of people, you know, as a job.
“When you are exchanging that much appreciation to each other it is profoundly touching.
“Music is a resilient thing and sometimes I think god, it is the only thing we have got that we can trust.
“I gave up many years ago trying to figure out why and how it works. I found the best remedy is to put it in a room and go ‘1,2,3,4’ and all the problems go away.”
Charlie Watts, who died last year
Mick: “I miss Charlie on many levels. Like, I miss wanting to play him this new groove and I want to say how badly England have done in the Test match yesterday. You know, I miss him a lot.”
Keith: ”I am still dealing with it. Charlie was the engine. The best drummer England has ever produced. People like Charlie Watts are very hard to put in a pocket. They don’t make pockets for people like Charlie. He is a totally unique guy.”
Ronnie: “When Charlie passed, we were mind-blown. We have the spirit of Charlie playing with us
all the time.
“One word – particular. Clothes had a layer of tissue paper between each shirt, each sock, each underpant, each jacket. Pristine would be the word. Not one thing out of place.”
Mick as frontman and leader
Mick: “I don’t mind being in control of situations. I am not a control freak. That must be really boring. Someone has to be in control of an enterprise like this.
“It is not only about music. I am representing the band, in a way – to make sure they don’t get f***ed.
“One of my big jobs is to be a big show-off. I mean, that is really what it is. That is my job for two hours – to make people feel good and bring people a joyous experience so they have a great evening. That is what I think my role is.
“I am lucky I can still sing the same notes [as] when I was 19 but I have not got a great voice. It is OK. It does its job.”
Ronnie on Mick: “He is more of a controller and an organiser than he knows. It is just what he is built to do. He wants to see this ship sail, you know. He knows what he wants and you know when he knows, cause he starts to respond and starts to sing and it is ‘Voom, voom, voom’.”
Keith on Mick : “He is the best frontman in the business. He will get up there and do his stuff and lay it on you and he means it. What you see is what you get, you know. I mean there is loads of facets and variations on him but he is really an honourable man, you know... under all that crap. Ha-ha.”
Drugs
Mick: “Everyone was taking far too many drugs then [in the 1970s]. The band should have gone into rehab for a year, including me. But you take the rough with the smooth.”
Keith: “The hard stuff ain’t called the hard stuff for nothing and you better be hard enough to deal with it.”
Ronnie: ”In the crazy days it got out of hand when it was the base pipe. I used to take it at parties and thought it was the best thing going. It got to the point where it wasn’t funny any more.
“Getting high with that pipe was dangerous. You’d do anything for it.
“Mick said, ‘Do you need a little help?’ and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll give it a go’. That was my first rehab. After doing it for so many years your body thinks it needs it but I can’t handle it any more. It was the beginning of me seeing the light.”
On 1967 arrest for acid possession after party at Keith’s mansion Redlands
Mick: “When you are on acid and being busted it is very odd. It is not fun being busted at all – being busted on acid is really grim. It was a complete waste of everybody’s time. B*****ks, basically.”
On 1977 arrest for heroin possession in Toronto and threat of 20 years in jail
Keith: “I think the reason I was taking it was how to deal with fame and pressure. I would not recommend it to anybody but it is a rough old world and sometimes you need something to blank it out.
“It was the realisation in Canada that I was jeopardising the band. If they were going to put me away it was bye-bye.
“If I was going to get out of this and not have to [go] cold turkey in jail I am going to go and clean up.”
The Beatles
Keith: “They got cleaned up by their manager to make them more palatable for the public, otherwise they were exactly the same as we
were, filthy swines!
“We were working the clubs in London. The Beatle s had a hit with Love Me Do and what a great record! Our job was to be the premier rhythm and blues band in London. We managed that but we had no idea of progressing beyond that stage.
“We were envious. They were doing what we wanted. They got it – they could make records. The holy grail was to make records. Without The Beatles, the Stones would never have been there. We would have never got in a recording studio without them.”
Ronnie joining
Ronnie: “I was sitting on this sofa one night and Mick Taylor was there and Mick Jagger was there. At one point, Taylor leans over to Jagger and says: ‘I am leaving the band. And I am leaving right now’.
Mick asked if I would join and I said: ‘I thought you would never ask.’ My feet never touched the ground for many years.
“I had that feeling of coming home when I joined the band. Keith found his little brother.”
Keith: “Ronnie is my great mate. He is a funny f***er. What he brought was a whole new sense of purpose.”
Keith and his shyness
Mick: “He is terribly shy. As I knew him as a child and growing up to be a teenager, I know what he is really, really like. Nobody knows him from that period except for me, I think. You can see from the interviews he is introverted naturally. I think if you are an extrovert in showbusiness you are in a good place. If you are an introvert it will probably cause you some anguish or some discomfort or anxiety.”
Keith: “When it comes to shyness I don’t really know where to put it. I sometimes think I use it as a weapon. You get shy of these crowds and stuff.
“I would have been quite happy to make all these records totally anonymously but, of course, that is not possible. You have got to get out there and put yourself out. I quite enjoyed that but I guess my refuge was heroin, it was drugs and there I stayed as long as I could.”
Mick and Keith's relationship
Mick: “The thing about bands is that it is a band. It is a collection of individuals. People say: ‘Oh, you are just like brothers, it is like a family.’ It is not like a family at all. I actually have a brother and I know what it is like to have a brother and it is not like being with Keith at all. It is friendship and working together. As in friendships or love affairs, people have roles to play but those roles change. It is in a state of flux so it is never the same.”
Keith: “It is like: ‘Oh, they have had an argument. Oh, my God.’ I mean it is all storms in tea cups. Before I know it, Mick and I are having to make up fights just to keep everybody happy, you know? So it gets ridiculous. No, we are tight.”
Ronnie on healing rift between Mick and Keith in the 1980s
Ronnie: “I rang Mick and said: ‘If I got Keith in 15 minutes, would you talk to him.’ He said: ‘Yeah, I would.’ So I prepared the ground. I had to keep this thing in motion, whatever it takes. There is a bond that can’t
be broken.”
School
Keith: “Being kids, you don’t realise you are being streamed to one aspect of society or being dumped or being elevated. I took the middle route and got expelled, which I heartily recommend to any red-blooded English schoolboy. As far as I was concerned, they heaped humiliation on me and you are not going to take it. Maybe after that, you start to question other forms of authority. There is always something about being told what to do without any reason.”
