The Rolling Stones: biography, composition, history, photo. Group name translation

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the list of immortals, which includes the greatest performers of all time, the Rolling Stones are in fourth place, behind only the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. However, in the eyes of loyal fans, the Rolling Stones were and remain number one, because this is not just a musical group - now this is the era in which modern rock culture has grown.

The phenomenal popularity of hooligans

Despite their venerable age, the Rolling Stones began as music hooligans and never dropped their title. It is surprising that this musical phenomenon did not originate anywhere else, namely in Puritan England. In the middle of the last century, when morals were still very restrained, these guys became the flagships of the sexual revolution.

It's no surprise that the lead singer of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, had a reputation for being almost a devil-tempter. A bully, a rebel and a real "bad boy", he infected the youth with hisfreethinking. Respectable mothers were in a hurry to plug their offspring's ears, as soon as Jagger's voice or the first chords of the group's compositions were heard somewhere nearby. However, the resistance of society turned out to be absolutely useless, it was impossible to resist such a powerful charm.

You could either love them with all your heart, or hate them with all the fervor of offended virtue. But there were no indifferent people, it completely suited all the participants. The task was completed - all the attention of the audience was riveted to the troublemakers.

How the Rolling Stones came about

July 12, 1962 began the history of the group, which was destined to become a legend. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were the first to meet on the basis of their favorite music, each of whom was familiar with Dick Taylor. Three people is quite enough for the Rolling Stones starting lineup to be determined. Contrary to the general fashion, the guys were not interested in rock and roll, but in rhythm and blues. The trio was called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, they covered some songs by Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry and performed to a rather modest audience.

Meanwhile, Brian Jones begins his musical career in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards also appear there from time to time. Many future stars began as session musicians in leading bands. However, Jones wanted to create his own group, pianist Ian Stewart joined him and, a little later, drummer Mick Avory.

It is the employment and popularity of Kornerpaved the way for newcomers - he invited five young musicians to perform instead of Blues Incorporated, invited to the BBC, at the Marquee club. So, on July 12, 1962, it was this line-up of the Rolling Stones that appeared on the stage - for the first performance under this name.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart and Mick Avory had no idea what fate awaited the group, but the name obliged. The Rolling Stones - this was the name of the Muddy Waters song, it became the source for the name of the new group. "Rolling stones" is an idiomatic expression, meaning the same as our "tumbleweed", that is, tramps. However, a little later it turned out that even before our era, the aphorism of Publius Syra was known, which reads - "A rolling stone does not grow moss." The fate of a quiet swamp did not shine for the new team, and they never overgrown with moss.

Despite the fact that at first the composition changed and updated chaotically at first, it soon stabilized. Instead of Taylor, Bill Wyman came, Ivory left, in whose place Tony Chapman did not stay long, he was replaced by Charlie Watts. Stuart also left the stage, but remained in the team and helped until the end of his days. Rolling Stones was taken up by Andrew Loog Oldham, who suggested the defiant image, and this proposal was enthusiastically supported.

Beatles or Rolling Stones?

If the Beatles were an absolutely pure ideal of rock and roll, then the Rolling Stones became antagonists - at that time it was difficult to imagine something more "dirty" and defiantly vulgar. By and large, the notorious battle of the whale with the elephant began, boththe team enjoyed crazy popularity, competing for the hearts of fans. To some extent, this confrontation has become a powerful stimulus for creativity and turned into a kind of friendship, pretty seasoned with the spirit of competition.

The sexual revolution was in full swing across Europe, and it was the Rolling Stones that contributed a lot to this. The biography of the musicians was full of scandalous stories and blatant permissiveness, and the lyrics suggested not holding hands under the moon, as in the songs of the Beatles, but going to bed (obviously not in order to get enough sleep). The "dirty" image worked, and most of the youth riots took place under the enchanting recognizable rhythms and voice of Mick Jagger.

The comparison between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones was the subject of the most heated discussions, but both groups benefited from this. They set off each other, against the background of the revealingly respectable Liverpool four, the Rolling Stones seemed even more hooligan than they really were, and the fans were delighted. The Beatles did not remain in the loser either, because against the background of these crazy people they seemed even more correct. Everyone got exactly what they wanted.

Debut performances and first steps

Unlike many bands that take an incredibly long time to reach the top of recognition, the Rolling Stones managed to break through into the category of public favorites. The very first released single took twenty-first place in the British charts, and the first released record literally “teared” the audience. ByeThe record worked for popularity in Britain, the group went on tour in the United States, recording new material along the way.

However, such an ardent love of the public did not come easy. Even the crazy energy of Jagger was sometimes not enough, it's amazing how all the members of the group did not fall with nervous breakdowns. However, pretty soon the insidious allies of creative people - alcohol and drugs - came to the rescue.

A flurry of popularity

Since the Rolling Stones were positioning themselves as very bad boys, there was no reason for the public to be embarrassed. This is probably another reason for its popularity, because people love all sorts of indulgences. At concerts, the audience allowed themselves everything that could only come into their heated heads. Emotions whipped over the edge, brawls constantly broke out, there were massive fits of violence. It got to the point that at one of the performances, excited fans smashed the piano to smithereens, and several dozen people ended up in the hospital with various injuries.

As a competent leader, Oldham demanded that the group switched to their own compositions, it was impossible to stay forever on cover performances of the repertoire of famous bluesmen. The result was the hit "Tell Me", co-written by Richards and Jagger. This duet of authors turned out to be very successful. Thus, in 1966, as a result of joint work, the completely author's album Aftermath appeared.

The photo of the Rolling Stones of those times does not show any special rebellious outfits, but do not forget that the audience is now spoiledabundance of visual images. Post-war England was ready to be shocked by literally everything - from the length of the hair of musicians to the manner of grimacing right into the microphone, dressing up in women's dresses or some incredible provocative costumes.

The dynamic development of the Rolling Stones

Partly the popularity was explained by the fact that the viewer did not have time to get used to one style, as in the next album he got something new, but invariably recognizable. Now it was the Rolling Stones rock group: it could not be called blues, but the songs were not the standard of classic rock and roll either. It was different, rolling rock, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes rebellious. Even when the band returned to rock 'n' roll, it still tinted with new emotional nuances and techniques. Compared to earlier compositions, the new sound is deeper and heavier.

The Rolling Stones managed the almost impossible: to try out various musical trends, but at the same time remain bright individuals. Their compositions are recognizable literally from the first chords, signature guitar riffs have become a kind of acoustic calling card.

Infamy: under the banner of obscenity

The eccentric lead singer of the Rolling Stones loved to shock the audience even before the fans began to chase him. His outfits, his incomprehensible mannerisms, completely unpredictable behavior - probably this caused a feeling of communicating with an abnormal. Variouspeople in their memoirs wrote that Mick could, for no reason, very naturally fall to the floor, then rise, as if nothing had happened. His outfits simply did not leave a chance not to notice the frontman in the crowd, and the other members of the Rolling Stones did not lag behind him. Of course, there was a lot of calculation in this - they looked so harmoniously on stage.

Scandals accompanied the group all their adult life - the already mentioned drugs, sexual orgies, reckless antics. Of course, even the favorites of the public did not get away with some hooligan acts - Jagger was detained several times by the police for violating public order. However, here's what's interesting - despite the abundance of scandals, it did not come to criminal prosecution, except for the probation for possession of drugs, which Richards and his girlfriend received during a trip to Canada.

From the band's inception and throughout its history, there have always been irreconcilable fighters for morality, who cited the Rolling Stones as an example of an absolute fall into sin. At some point, the name of the group became almost a household name, in the questionnaires of the late sixties there was a question how the respondent would react to the fact that his daughter would link her fate with a musician from the Rolling Stones. The image of bad boys no longer needed the support of the team members, but no one was going to refuse exciting adventures.

From rebels to patriarchs

The eccentricity of the Rolling Stones came out beautifully when the world of popularmusic was swept by a wave of absolute rebellion, and being “like everyone else” is no longer as cool as shocking the puritanical society of Britain. From the mid-seventies to the mid-nineties, the group existed as separate projects of the participants. Solo albums were recorded, quite successful, still shrouded in the light of the glory of the Rolling Stones. The history of the group, however, did not end there, despite the gloomy forecasts of music experts of varying degrees of competence.

In 1994, after some line-up changes, the joint album Voodoo Lounge was recorded, which was awarded the Grammy Award. The tour that took place after that shattered the negative forecasts to smithereens - the popularity of the group jumped to unprecedented heights, the reunion of the team made millions of fans around the world happy. The Voodoo Lounge tour became the all-time box office record holder, earning over $400 million. If we assume that the viewer votes with a wallet, then it was an unconditional victory. However, there is no limit to perfection - the very next tour broke this record, and this fact only confirmed the recognition of the audience. This record was broken a little later by U2, but fans still continue to consider their idols the winners.

Fiftieth Anniversary and Beyond

The updated Rolling Stones entered the new millennium already as the patriarch of old school rock and roll. Mick Jagger switched to an emphatically he althy lifestyle. According to his own statement, he is not going to maintain the image of an old ruin, so there is no longer any talk of drugs.goes. Now the frontman of the legendary band shocks the beau monde with emphatically correct behavior. However, this did not affect the character at all - despite his more than mature age, Mick Jagger also actively jumps around the stage, infecting a generation of fans with his enthusiasm.

In 2012 the Rolling Stones celebrated their 50th anniversary. This is the rare case when a rock band turned out to be such a long-running project. Despite disagreements and some breaks in favor of solo projects, the rebels with honor withstood all the blows of fate and the test of copper pipes.

The band's name really turned out to be prophetic, even though initially no sacred meaning was put into it. However, this, in part, is the phenomenon of the Rolling Stones: the translation of the name of the group can be interpreted as you like, at least literally, "Rolling Stones", at least figuratively, "rolling field" or "tramps". One thing is certain - rolling stones cannot be stopped, they roll wherever they please, they will not grow with moss.

Group symbol: interesting facts

It is impossible to deliberately confuse minds for more than fifty years and not expect it to have no effect. The Rolling Stones is a group that creates inspiration for other creators, an impetus to creativity. If earlier, at the dawn of his career, Mick Jagger covered other people's hits, now many young bands start with cover versions of Rolling hits.

The title of "Rock Dinosaur", which Mick Jagger almost seriously received from the journalistic fraternity, unexpectedly receivedreal confirmation. A new discovery in paleontology, until this day, a prehistoric animal unknown to science was named after the lead singer of the Rolling Stones. This fossil mammal was named Jaggermeryx naida - Jagger's Water Nymph.

Sympathy for the Devil was written after Mick Jagger read Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. Associating himself with Woland with inspiration, Mick put all his impressions of the novel into this song.

Keith Richards became a kind of prototype for the image of Jack Sparrow from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" - Johnny Depp is a passionate admirer of his work. Moreover, Richards responded to Depp's request and played the role of Captain Teague, the father of Captain Jack Sparrow.

In his memoir, Keith Richards admits that Mick Jagger has always been a completely unbearable person, with whom it is very difficult not to quarrel. However, at the same time, Keith was not afraid to give him funny nicknames, he called Mick "Her Majesty" or "Brenda".

In 2003, the soloist of the Rolling Stones officially began to be called "Sir Mick Jagger" - the English Queen Elizabeth solemnly knighted him in all form. So Britain acquired the most scandalous and hooligan knight alive today. Jagger himself spoke of his chivalry with humor, insisting on his own imperfection and reprehensible ability to drink traditional tea not at five in the evening, but at three in the afternoon. Rebel, so around!

Mick Jagger dedicated to several songs - in the list of performers Christina Aguilera, the group "Night Snipers".

Jigger has been officially twicemarried with seven children by four different women.

Keith Richards has built an impressive collection of guitars. Now there are more than three thousand copies in it, the owner dreams of opening a museum.

The company's signature logo is a drawing by John Pasha - bright red lips with a tongue protruding between them. Now many don't even know it's the Rolling Stones emblem, it has become popular in its own right and is used as a flashy symbol for everything from T-shirt prints to stickers.

During the existence of the group, more than two hundred million records with albums have been sold. Dozens of diverse albums were released, many solo projects.

The band continues to gather for rehearsals and fans are looking forward to another world tour. The stones keep rolling!