The Rolling Stones have been and always will be rock ‘n’ roll purists. They are borne from roots material, and when they try to deviate, you end up with Dirty Work. As Keith Richards said when the offshoot of metal was causing an incursion on his patch, “Rock ‘n’ roll I never get tired of, but ‘rock’ is a white man’s version, and they turn it into a march, that’s [the modern] version of rock. Excuse me,” he adds humorously, “I prefer the roll.”
This realisation followed a failed effort to jump on the bandwagon of psychedelia. As ‘Keef’ told Esquire: “If you’re The Beatles in the ’60s, you just get carried away—you forget what it is you wanted to do. You’re starting to do Sgt. Pepper. Some people think it’s a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties — ’Oh, if you can make a load of sh*t, so can we.’”
Later in his memoir, the guitarist claimed: “None of us wanted to make [Satanic Majesties], but it was time for another Stones album, and Sgt. Pepper’s was coming out, so we thought basically we were doing a put-on.” He and his bandmates have claimed that they were simply so “strung out” from endless recording and touring in the period that they figured the easiest root would be to cruise on the backseat of a bandwagon.
In the clear light of day, Richards came to his senses and gave Satanic Majesties a far harsher rap than any fans. After its release, he looked to get back to basics. In essence, Richards couldn’t give a shit about what others were doing. He just wanted to knuckle down into more rock ‘n’ roll riffage. However, when it comes to Mick Jagger, there has always been a hint of a frustrated avant-gardist within his strut.
So, while many consider the four album run of Beggar’s Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972), to be a rock ‘n’ roll miracle, towards the end of it he was feeling stifled. Upon the release of the Exile, he told the Time Is On Our Side fanzine: “This new album is fucking mad. There’s so many different tracks. It’s very rock ‘n’ roll, you know.“
So far, so good, but then he curiously continued: “I didn’t want it to be like that. I’m the more experimental person in the group, you see. I like to experiment. Not go over the same thing over and over. Since I’ve left England, I’ve had this thing I’ve wanted to do. I’m not against rock ‘n’ roll, but I really want to experiment. The new album’s very rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s good. I mean, I’m very bored with rock ‘n’ roll. The revival. Everyone knows what their roots are, but you’ve got to explore everywhere. You’ve got to explore the sky too.“
It’s a quote that proves very revealing. Especially considering that within two years, he’d be gyrating in typical form and chanting, “It’s only rock ‘n’ roll but I like it“. Nevertheless, what he said was largely understandable. Exile arrived on the back of what was quite possibly the greatest year in music history. 1971 saw cognisant soul masterpieces like What’s Going On, the true arrival of funk with Maggot Brain, indie rearing its head with Ram and Hunky Dory, Joni Mitchell making everyone cry with Blue, The Doors prognosticating desert rock with L.A. Woman, Histoire de Melody Nelson seeding lounge…
The times were a’changing and with Woodstock failing to deliver the dream of peace and love, they were becoming more eclectic, with typical rock ‘n’ roll losing its prominence. So, even though the quality of the Stones’ records has seen them survive as masterpieces, following the condemnation they received as a result of the disastrous Altamont, it was easier for the press to sully them, and as a result, Jagger was wondering whether the roots really had been uprooted.
What’s more, you often sense that he carried the mantle of the late Brian Jones, the group’s much more natural avant-garde presence, and tried to uphold his quirkier subversion of the bold backbone of Richards and Charlie Watts. With that in mind, when Jagger made his “bored of rock ‘n’ roll“ comment, he was still only 29 and trying to find his own identity. If anything, the quote is proof that even if you’re a pop culture idol, you still keep learning about yourself as you move through life, coming to realisations such as: yes, you did indeed once consider buying the scorpion jacket worn by Ryan Gosling in Drive, but you were right to realise you couldn’t pull it off and now you’re ashamed to have even added it to basket once.
The fact that Jagger made this remark and then subsequently reverted to form in a matter of years — and has been happily rocking and rolling to great esteem ever since — is proof that reconciling our own limitations is, in fact, a strength. This is evidenced by the fact that while Exile may well have been a revivalist record in an era whereby the latest luminaries on the scene were leaving revivals behind in favour of a funky future, for most people, Main Street is a masterpiece that far eclipses any of the Stones’ experimental records and showcases that roots music done right will always have a place.
