in fact it's a gas...
I was listening to my iPod on shuffle in the car on Friday night when "Jumping Jack Flash" came on and that unmistakeable intro kicked in. It's a simple little riff (the best ones always are) and it's maybe been dulled a little by over-familiarity, but 38 years after it was first written, it's still a great song.
This got me thinking: has anyone in the history of music played a single riff more times in front of a paying audience than Keith Richards has played that one?
You'd think he'd be heartily sick of it by now. That same simple little riff picked out every bloody night since 1968? I suppose that the millions and millions of pounds he must have made out of it (and continues to make out of it) must be some consolation as he turns to the camera and mouths "I love this job" for the benefit of those fans watching the gig in the next postal district on the big screen.... every. single. bloody. night.
It's a gas, gas, gas.....
Indeed.
This got me thinking: has anyone in the history of music played a single riff more times in front of a paying audience than Keith Richards has played that one?
You'd think he'd be heartily sick of it by now. That same simple little riff picked out every bloody night since 1968? I suppose that the millions and millions of pounds he must have made out of it (and continues to make out of it) must be some consolation as he turns to the camera and mouths "I love this job" for the benefit of those fans watching the gig in the next postal district on the big screen.... every. single. bloody. night.
It's a gas, gas, gas.....
Indeed.
posted by swisslet @ 19:22
9 Comments:
At 9:23 pm,
Lazygal said…
Actually, I think "Satisfaction" may just edge out JJF... And "Start Me Up" has got to be up in his Top 5...
At 9:31 pm,
swisslet said…
God, is his typical set list at all different now to one he could have played in 1972?
I take my hat off to the sheer endurance levels required for the Rolling Stones to continue to milk their back catalogue for cash.
ST
At 9:42 pm,
Cat said…
Off topic, I know, but this post reminds me of a game my colleague and I spent hours playing last week. Back to our mis-spent youths and the heady days of the ZX Spectrum, we discovered Jumping Jack for the PC. Yes, the graphics were utter rubbish, but oh, the nostalgia!
(I'm a "Paint it Black" girl myself.)
At 9:59 pm,
swisslet said…
I can pretty much take or leave the stones at the best of times, to be honest. If I had to pick one though, I'd probably go for "Sympathy for the Devil" although I had "honky tonk women" as an earworm the other day, and frequently find myself humming the beginning of "Give Me Shelter", although I blame the RAC for that as much as I do Jagger / Richards.
Mick Jagger is a total cock though, isn't he? That puckish image he tries to carry off is just absurd and deeply undignified. Mind you, Keith can hardly talk - falling out of a coconut palm isn't exactly what I would call a dignified activity for someone of pensionable age (although I'd love to be trying that on my carribbean island when I'm his age)
ST
At 10:40 am,
Cat said…
Yes, Mick Jagger is a cock. A rich one, mind. But still a cock.
Sympathy for the Devil would be my next choice of Stones song. There's a Charlatans track that always really reminds me of it.
At 9:38 pm,
Flash said…
I would quite happily sing the same song for 38 years to an appreciative audience rather than get up at 5 in the morning to go & perform the same tests EVERY SINGLE DAY.
At 10:39 pm,
Stef said…
They should have quit after Some Girls in the mid 70s.
The early stuff was superb though. Agree with you about JJF but Gimme Shelter and Sympathy for the Devil have got to pip it for quality, surely?
As for Satisfaction... Totally over-rated and as it was released 3 years before JJF Keef has probably played it more too.
How do they cope? I could do a lot of boring things for $10m a year but then again I'm a complete whore.
At 10:45 pm,
Stef said…
Lest you forget how good the Stones were, check this out.
At 7:52 pm,
Ali said…
Blimey, Ye Stones don't bother me at all! They are far from my best band ever, but in fact, Brown Sugar + a dash of coca cola can make for a very animated Yoko on the dance floor.
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