This past week marked the 60th anniversary of the Rolling Stones' first-ever gig which took place at the Marquee club in London. That makes me feel even more wrinkly than usual.
The line-up on July 12, 1962 included two unknown 18-year-olds, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In addition, there was the talented Brian Jones who had given the group their name from the old Muddy Waters song Rollin' Stone. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts were to join shortly after.
The Swinging Sixties had officially started in London, not that I did much swinging. Amazingly at the age of 78 Jagger and Richards are still at it, currently on a 14-event Stones tour along with Ronnie Wood. A fortnight ago 50,000 fans attended a concert in London's Hyde Park and they were not disappointed. In a review of their Anfield concert a few weeks earlier Guardian writer Dave Simpson observed: "Alongside [Jagger], fellow grinning septuagenarians Keith Richards (78) and Ron Wood (75) sway elegantly like ancient trees in a breeze ... with a swagger that suggests that time, however improbably, is still on their side."
Not sure whether Jagger would have appreciated the "ancient tree" analogy but they have certainly come a long way. After one of their first television performances in 1963 the show's producer told Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham that he should get rid of the "vile-looking singer with the tyre-tread lips".
They didn't. It turned out to be a wise decision.
Not fade away
The surviving Stones have become almost respectable in old age. Jagger, who the police regarded as virtually Public Enemy No.1 five decades ago, was knighted in 2003 and in recent years Sir Mick is more likely to be seen at a cricket ground than a nightclub. Richards has amazed many simply for still being alive, despite his history of drug-taking and appears to be enjoying life and reading books. On the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs he talked of his early days as a soprano in the school choir -- imagine that.
It is well known that actor Jonny Depp based his Capt Jack Sparrow mannerisms in Pirates of the Caribbean on that of Richards who was handed a role as Capt Jack's dad in a couple of the films. They even tried to persuade Sir Mick to play an elderly pirate but Jagger, perhaps wisely, declined.
Walking the dog
In those early days in the 1960s even on the rare occasions when the Stones wore suits they looked kind of scruffy and rebellious.
Their music was equally scruffy, earthy and raw which was exactly why teenagers liked it. Just listen to their early hits like Not Fade Away, It's All Over Now, Off the Hook and Walking' the Dog and it is raw rhythm and blues.
Whenever I play Walking the Dog at home my hound's ears prick up and he starts running around in circles at the first sound of Jones' whistling.
My parents hated them as did nearly everybody's parents which of course made the Stones even more popular among young fans. Stirring things up nicely, the tabloid newspapers carried provocative headlines like: "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?"
Good times, bad times
These "long-haired louts" as one judge called them, were loathed by the establishment, especially the police. In 1965 Wyman was arrested and fined for taking a leak on a garage wall after finding the toilet was closed.
The judge was apparently not convinced by Wyman's "weak bladder" defence and they, along with the Beatles, became targets of many drug raids.
When Jagger and Richards were given jail sentences at Chichester based on questionable evidence, it looked suspiciously like they were scapegoats.
Even the Times, a pillar of the establishment was outraged and carried a critical editorial headlined: "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?"
The Appeals Court quickly quashed the jail sentences.
No satisfaction
In April 2003 a Stones concert was scheduled for Bangkok and that was something I wasn't going to miss.
For a start, it was a chance to see the only band left in the entire world who were older than me.
I was even going to write about the experience in this column, or as one colleague put it: "One old fossil writing about a bunch of other old fossils."
Alas the concert was abruptly called off, the official explanation being that the plane carrying all their road crew and equipment could not take off from Mumbai airport in India owing to a "technical glitch".
Well, you can't always get what you want.
Dum di-di dum
It was sad to read that the man who composed the original "James Bond Theme", Monty Norman, has died, aged 94.
It is probably one of the most recognized sounds in popular music and we all must have tried our own version of that "dum di-di dum dum" sound sitting in the bath.
The combination of those guitar riffs and Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder emerging from the sea in a white bikini in Dr. No won me over from the very start.
Younger readers might not be aware of it but back in 1962 bikinis were still regarded as a little bit naughty.
Those original guitar riffs have survived all the Bond films and still send a shiver up my ancient spine.
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