one of those infrequent posts of looking back at a classical, or if you like golden, moment in rock history, look you see. with modern music being mostly generic and banal, and those who make it tending to strive to be dull, every now and then one needs a reminder that music was meant to be exciting, made by exciting people. people who, often, had exciting ideas.
like that time, for instance (or example), that i write of here. yes, and present images and video of. back to 1975 this goes (i think), when the Rolling Stones had the jolly good (and exciting) idea of introducing Ronnie Wood as a new "member" of the band by having him perform on the back of a lorry. well, "truck" if you are an American, i think, and as this happened in America, fair enough.
the story has been told a few times, and much better than i ever could recall it, but we are here now. it was so that in 75 the Stones needed to employ a new guitarist, what with Mick Taylor deciding nah, this is not for me. an entire album (Black & Blue) was recorded to find the best replacement, and so it was that Ronnie Wood was employed, mostly by all accounts because Keith Richards got on well with him.
in the interests of being rock stars doing rock things, the band elected to announce that Ronnie had been employed (and i am choosing my words carefully) via means of hiring a lorry ("flat bed truck") and playing songs on the back of it as it drove to a cafe where select journalists had been invited. this, i believe, was a throwback to the the way some of the blues acts Mick & Keith held so dear had done gigs from town to town.
yes, it was that Ronnie Wood was employed as a guitarist for the Stones, rather than joining them. shrewd business types, the Ro££ing $tone$ are, and they never make the same mistake twice. when Mick Taylor was taken on, he was taken on as a full band member, and contractually his departure was rather costly for the band. as their was no appetite to have their fingers burned twice, Ronnie was taken on only as an employee, being granted full membership only many years later; 1989 i believe.
some video of this often overlooked, or simply forgotten moment in rock history? certainly. i believe the source for this is the 25x5 documentary, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the band. and indeed here we are, quite close to the 60th anniversary of them being an active, going concern.
what do i "think" of Ronnie Wood? by some distance he is easily the 4th best guitarist ever to be in the Stones. if that sounds like a dig or a put down, it is not. the three who rank above him - Richards, Taylor and Jones - effectively changed the face, or rather the sound, of the world. ranking below Ronnie Wood is an absolute mountain of good, gifted and talented guitarists who simply lacked that factor that is needed to be in the Stones. Ronnie has it, also he seems to keep Keith company, which is lovely.
another snatch of the video? yeah, go on then.
anyway, that's probably just about that for this. the incident, or story, just came to mind. should it be so that i can recall any great (safe to publish here, mindful of Queen's Jazz album party) rock stories that have some decent images and/or video which i may (ahem) borrow to place here, i shall be sure to try and remember to post them.
perhaps i am just a dithering old f***, or am heading that way, but i do find it rather sad that whatever resembles or gets passed off as a "rock star" in the modern world would seem to lack the imagination or ability to do a stunt like this. it seems to me they are all just worried about managing a "social media presence", and "streaming stuff". whatever focus they had and still have on ensuring they get piles of money, the one thing always true of the Stones was that the music was, is the most important thing, and getting it out there in ways that attract attention has always been the goal.
let me (and indeed you) take it as a given that whereas no band is particularly interesting enough to do this kind of thing no more, it is equally true that we are unlikely to see the Stones recreate this moment any time soon. but, also, never say never.
right, rock on!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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