Battle of the Bands, Part 5, Stones Surrender to the Beatles in Cleveland, perform "I Saw Her Standing There," as Pennance

Posted in Battle of the Bands, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones on March 29th, 2012 by Willie

As the battle raged for decades, with both bands suffering unspeakable tragedy (Brian Jones, John Lennon), the bloodshed just HAD to end.  And end it did with Mick Jagger’s historic concession in Cleveland, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Mick, clearly disgusted at being forced to admit bitter defeat, inducted the Beatles, minus Paul McCartney (who apparently was too busy to witness  Mick’s humiliation), in a ceremony of drunken revelry, and cheeky good humor.  Watch this hilarious clip below…

My favorite part is seeing Mick’s unabashed, yet good-natured jealousy as he recounts the Beatles story.  That’s actually not something to be underrated, as that jealousy fueled Mick Jagger to heights he probably never dreamed of attaining.  It’s brilliant that Mick agreed to induct the Beatles into the Rock Hall, as he hung out with the Beatles a lot in the 60s.  He was there in the early London club days, the early drug taking days, the Maharishi lectures, the “Day in the Life” recording party, and the “All You Need is Love” performance.  He was an intimate eye-witness to a lot of the behind the scene Beatle madness, and you can tell by this great speech.  He inducts the Beatles, but the only ones to show are George and Ringo.  John, being dead at the time, had Yoko, Sean, and Julian represent his presence, while Paul is mysteriously absent.  George, Ringo, and Yoko, all make subtle bitter jokes about Paul’s lack of being there, and its all actually quite hilarious, especially George.  Sean also has a brilliant line as well…watch!

That was great, and yes, Paul’s presence was missed sorely, but so was John’s…After all, the Beatles would never really ever exist anymore without the four of them, so who cares.  Imagine if he lived though?  I guarantee they would have all come to this ceremony, and rocked the shit out of this joint.  Instead we get Billy Joel, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and Bruce Springsteen taking a shot at “I Saw Her Standing There.”  Even with all that star power, it doesn’t come close to the power the original Beatles could have generated with just the four of them.  Ah well, its still a fun and rollicking performance, with George again being the main cut up, giving the patented Beatle head shaking “wooo!” a move he probably hadn’t pulled in 25 years.  It’s amazing, a perfect end to a glorious war, with the Beatles and the Stones coming together to agree that yes, we are all super gods enshrined in a museum of rock.

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The Rolling Stones, Some Girls

Posted in The Rolling Stones, Youtube Favs on November 29th, 2011 by Willie

Some Girls is one of the best Rolling Stones records.  It’s sleazy, dirty, punky, and country.  It came out in 1978, and has just been reissued it a nice little collectors package.  You should get it; I know I will.  To celebrate its corporate repackaging, I present to you a thoroughly scandalous fan made music video of the title song from the record.  The video features classic films such as “Easy Rider,” “Backbeat,” “Quadrophenia,” “Death Proof,” “Goodfellas,” and “Dr. No.”  It also has great clips of the Sex Pistols, Blondie, and the Rolling Stones, all vamping it up for one of the Stones most booziest songs.

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Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones

Posted in Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, Youtube Favs on April 14th, 2011 by Willie

In part 35 of my youtube favorites countdown, we take a trip to rock school.  In our lesson we’ll look at two thunderously classic clips.  The first features the immortal Muddy Waters leading his band through his genre defining blues cut “Rollin’ Stone.”  This song, as you probably know, was the original inspiration for the Rolling Stones’ name, as well as Bob Dylan’s classic “Like a Rolling Stone.”  Beyond that bit of history making, the song itself, which many people aren’t familiar with, is a snarling bit of cool contained electric blues.  Muddy kicks it off with a peculiar wish, to be a catfish, swimming in the deep blue sea, where presumably, a whole bunch of sexy ladies will be fishing after him…Hmm, pretty strange, yet awesome imagery.  The second clip unites Muddy with his disciples, the Stones, hammering out a nasty good version of “Mannish Boy.”  Now “Mannish Boy” is probably where you’ve heard Muddy proclaim his Rolling Stone status more famously then the actual “Rollin’ Stone” song, where the proclamation was more of a throwaway.  This video is a lot of fun.  Muddy sounds fantastic, and looks like he’s having a great time grooving with his “children.”  I like that Muddy seems more bemused, and not annoyed as Mick dances, struts, and vamps all around him.  When Mick takes the mic, his vocal interactions with Muddy are just too cool, as Muddy cheers him on in the slickest way possible.  Thus endeth the lesson.

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The Rolling Stones, Respectable

Posted in The Rolling Stones, Youtube Favs on February 27th, 2011 by Willie

Welcome to part 10 of my youtube favorites countdown where we take a look at the rollicking 1978 single, “Respectable,” by the Rolling Stones.  Its appropriate that we take a look at this awesome song right after diving into Chuck Berry’s world.  This s0ng is basically a master course on what happens when you combine elements of Mr. Berry and classic punk.  I love this video because of its raw simplicity.  Its the Rolling Stones, looking cool, playing their balls off, in a dirty white room which they eventually tear apart.  Its basically what they were born to do and its fabulous.

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