The Rolling Stones. Still going strong and defying the doubters, over 55 years since their formation, they possess a longevity almost unheard of in popular music – especially with three of the five original members still present.
The majority of people, however, would surely consider their work during the 1960s and 1970s to be their most creative, influential and original, from the early R&B material through the psychedelic experimentation of Their Satanic Majesties Request, the country/blues flavourings of Beggars Banquet , the louche swagger of Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street through to the mature and sophisticated feel of the more complex Goats Head Soup. With ‘new boy’ Ron Wood replacing Mick Taylor in 1975, the band returned to basics a little more with the album Black And Blue and a resultant world tour which saw over a million people apply for tickets to a run of six Earl’s Court shows in 1976.
The band have continued as a major force since the turn of the ‘80s, but it is that period up to 1980 which this book looks at, studying in depth every single song released during the band in that time, via factual, anecdotal and critical analysis. It’s only rock and roll, but this is the ultimate study.
Steve Pilkington is a music journalist, proof-reader and broadcaster. He is Editor in Chief for the Classic Rock Society magazine Rock Society, and contributes to other publications such as Prog. Before taking on this work full-time, he spent years writing for fanzines and an Internet music review site on a part-time basis. He has recently published Black Sabbath – Song By Song (Fonthill, 2018), Deep Purple and Rainbow - On Track (Sonicbond, 2018) and has written the official biography of legendary guitarist Gordon Giltrap. He lives in Wigan, Merseyside.
