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The (Rock and) Rolling Stones

It’s a heady mix of blues and rock, a sound that has defined a band for over 50 years. The Rolling Stones 
are in Abu Dhabi today to dish out music that defined generations and defied the world

IT STARTS OFF with a purposeful riff that fades, the riff again, then a fade. By the time the snare and the kick in the bass drum give it tempo and the bass guitar runs a line underneath that is edgy and bluesy at the same time, Jumpin’ Jack Flash has already got your attention. It’s a song that one can imagine cruising down a long highway, the wind in your hair. Sepia toned images flash through your mind.

The Rolling Stones have got to you.

The song isn’t just about Keith Richards’ gardener Jack Dyer, it was a return to the blues for the band, but it was also something else. In 1968, when the song released, the Rolling Stones were competing for rock stardom in England and America. In the other corner were The Beatles, those men who wanted to hold your hand, for whom hundreds of screaming women greeting them at shows was enough to stop touring altogether. But The Beatles were practically on the road to a break up. Two years later, it was complete. The idealists had broken up, the realists were still rolling on. 
In 1970, after the sad demise of Brian Jones, the band picked themselves up and got ready to take on the world. They have never stopped.

Flashback: It was 1965 that was a year of change. I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction) was an international hit and The Rolling Stones were a name to be reckoned with. For some, it was sound that brought African-American blues and mixed with straight up rock. But, the game changer was this. It was a sound that defined the The Rolling Stones, a sound that they loved. It was music that they wanted to make. It was the music of rebellion and to America, where The Stones were enveloped in a loving embrace as if they were always there, it was a sound that defied those who wanted the Vietnam War.

But to the fans out there, to people who were enamoured by pop and rock culture, The Rolling Stones were a mystery. They faded out later in the early 80s, they experimented with new wave music, they tried their hand out on their solo careers, some moving away from the blues, some (Richards) planting his feet firmly and refusing to budge from the old 12 bar influence. Then, in the late 80s, they came back.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and 
Ronnie Wood created a movement that would power through generations. They were at the forefront of the British Invasion. The simple fact that parents and their children grooved to their music (at different times) is proof enough that the tag, “The Greatest Band in the World” is quite apt.

They had a cult following, from doyens of the anti-establishment forum to those who simply loved their sheer passion and drive for making music and touring. They never broke up (though they have gone on hiatus.)

In 2002, they celebrated their 40^th anniversary with a world tour, purported to be their last. In 2012, they were still touring on their 50^th anniversary. It’s 2014, 52 years after they first played together on stage at The Marquee Club in London, they are now here to play at the du Arena. There will never be another band like them, there will never be another sound like theirs. And, they will play music until, in the words of Keith Richards, “they keel over.” - news@khaleejtimes.com