The Rolling Stones: Rock Royalty ⋆ Patriots Hemp

The more longer you’ve been around, the more accepted you are, because the people who were there at the beginning, who were like 19, are now not teenagers, and the other ones, you know, they just accept you if you’ve been around for about four or five years.

So they start thinking there might be something in it after all. [rock ‘n’ roll music playing] [Bill Wyman] I always wanted to be a musician, I always wanted to be in a band. [interviewer] What’s your ambition now? To be a musician. Nobody else knew what to do.

They said, “You have to make the whole thing up as you went along.” [laughs] [Mick Jagger] The way you looked was a big part of it, but it wasn’t the only part of it. It’s how you acted, how you spoke.

[Charlie Watts] The days of playing in a suit are over, and it’s also bloody uncomfortable. Even though we didn’t really do that many shocking things in the early days, people were easily shocked. [laughs] Today, there’s so much variety

that I don’t think that a band could happen quite that same way. [Keith Richards] To me, it’s just in a day’s work. [laughs] [narrator] The Rolling Stones are arguably the most renowned and enduring band of all time. Their music has spanned over five decades,

influencing generations. And things are good, you know, fifty years, it seems an awfully long time, but it seems to have gone very, very quickly. Good-looking, but– Oh, it’s quite amusing well except when it isn’t, of course. [laughs] But mostly, it’s good.

[narrator] To this day, the band is still going strong, selling out tours around the world, and releasing albums that still top the charts. Their unique sound and personalities are what has set them apart from every other band to date.

[interviewer] Why have you stayed together as long as you have? [Jagger] ‘Cause we enjoy it. [rock ‘n’ roll music continues playing] This is another insight into an ongoing machine, an institution that will never stop rumbling. Well, it’s one of the most important rock bands in… so far,

[laughs] …in music history. I mean, you can’t really deny that. Anybody who should be interested in when we’re gonna quit, it should be the Stones, and they’re not particularly interested. [laughs] [announcer] The Rolling Stones. There they are. [rock ‘n’ roll music playing] [narrator] Dartford station, Kent, 1962.

By chance, former classmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meet on the railway platform. Keith spots Mick’s records, and in that moment, the greatest friendship in recent history begins. [Richards] He’s got The Best of Muddy Waters and Rockin’ at the Hops by Chuck Berry under his arm.

“Hey, man.” [laughs] “Nice to see you, but where did you get the records?” [narrator] A few months later, the new musical duo meet their future drummer and lead guitarist at The Ealing Club in London.

Charlie Watts and Brian Jones were playing with fellow blues musician, Alexis Korner, [Wyman] Yeah, he played with Alexis, and the band that Alexis had that Charlie was playing drums in. Um, he actually persuaded Alexis to let him get on stage and play.

And he heard an Elmore James record for the first time in his life, which I’ve never heard one till about ’65 or something, till ’64. He said that the whole universe shuddered, you know, when he heard this… [hums “Dust My Broom” intro] You know, that slide thing.

Immediately he got a slide and started playing on it. There he was, playing when Mick and Keith first went to see the Alexis Korner band. [narrator] After this meetup, Brian Jones decided to bring them all together and form the Rolling Stones. Brian named the band, formed the band, rehearsed…

It was his idea, and everything was him, yeah. [interviewer] What were you doing before you joined? Um, well, just sort of bumming around, waiting for something to happen, really. -Mm. -I had quite a few jobs and I was trying to get a band going,

But it was unsuccessful until I met up with Mick and Keith. [narrator] From there, the band posted auditions for a bassist and were absolutely blown away when they heard Bill Wyman. The band were heavily inspired by the ’40s and ’50s blues and rock ‘n’ roll,

because of their hard-hitting guitar riffs and relatable lyrics that reflected the post-war world. Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Elmore James, and Buddy Holly were all inspirations. The Stones began as a blues-inspired rock band,

but were forced to label themselves R&B to get noticed. No, it wasn’t the thing to be a rock band though, really, not in these clubs we were going to play in, because it was… the thing was it was “R&B,” which was like… Because they were jazz clubs.

You could get in if you were called R&B. -And so we were kind of– -Nobody knew what it meant. No one even knew it, not really. R&B doesn’t mean the same. In those days, R&B meant something else than what it does now.

So, it meant like, kind of blues, really blues, more than anything, with a “B.” Um, so, we had to circumvent that, though we– Of course we played rock numbers. We played pop numbers, rock numbers, anything. But we did play loads of blues. And so, that’s how we wanted to be this R&B band.

It was a little bit of a craze as well. [Wyman] People didn’t know what it was when they heard it. The audience just stood there, like… completely shocked. They didn’t know how to dance to it, or how to react to it.

They never heard the songs, never heard the rhythms. It was bizarre. Some days, we used to sit on stools and smoke cigarettes and drink beers and just play amongst ourselves. And if the audience clapped or something, we kind of looked around, and “Ah!”

And if they didn’t, we just talked amongst ourselves and carried on. It was a bizarre experience. [narrator] In 1963, the Stones showed off their blues influences with their first recorded track, “Come On.” [“Come On” playing] ♪ Come on Since me and my baby parted ♪

♪ Come on I can’t get started ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ [narrator] The single was a hit with UK audiences, and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks. The Stones had made their mark and would continue to grow from there.

[news announcer] A Qantas jet arrives at rain-soaked Kingsford Smith Airport, and onboard are the pop singers who rival the Beatles for popularity, the Rolling Stones. Despite the rain, about 200 fans wait for the Stones, there is lead singer, Mick Jagger,

Brian Jones, Keith Richards, and drummer Charlie Watts. [interviewer] Hello, you’re rather well-known. First of all, let’s hear from some of the members. How did all this start? Uh, well, we just met each other in jazz clubs in London about two years ago.

-And the group developed from there? -Yeah, from there, yeah. Do you write any of your own music at all? Yeah, quite a bit of it, yeah. The Rolling Stones were sort of forged by the blues, which then sort of represented a kind of an authenticity,

And a danger, and a kind of an edginess, and they were named after a Muddy Waters’ song. And they covered lots of blues songs. And in a way, that’s always been the sort of the heart of the sound,

and I suppose, the heart of how they feel about themselves. My first awareness of the Stones was they were this kind of threat to society, you know, these kind of hooligan delinquents, who were just doing naughty things.

[Jagger] In those days, what the press portrayed as wild was actually in our world now, quite tame, you know? But, for those days, people were very easily shocked. You’ve got to remember that it was still a very shockable society. There wasn’t the kind of, um,

Kind of scandal-mongering quite in this way as there is now, which is, you know, sort of scandal on a daily basis. There’s a staple diet of it, I think. So… But they love scandal, of course, the newspapers, so they used to play it up a lot.

So even though we didn’t really do that many shocking things in the early days, people were easily shocked. [laughs] ♪ Santa, bring my baby Back to me ♪ ♪ Santa, bring my baby Back to me ♪ ♪ Bring my baby Back to me, oh ♪ [laughs]

[Hoskyns] I don’t remember my parents saying very much about them or anything. My parents, you know, kind of reasonably liberal and tolerant in their attitude towards the Stones. But I sort of was intrigued, you know. It was something about Jagger

and his strange sort of androgynous clothes, these lips, and this incredible kind of swagger that he had. [narrator] In 1963, 19-year-old Andrew Loog Oldham signed as the band’s new producer. He saw their potential as rising stars and wanted to give them a brand-new look.

He transformed the Stones into rebellious bad boys. They were managed, apparently, at the time, by Giorgio Gomelsky, who went on to manage the Yardbirds. And Andrew obviously made a very good presentation to Mick that he should have him, Andrew, as his manager. And Giorgio got second-best with the Yardbirds.

[Jagger] Andrew had this real talent for, sort of, making a splash and a fuss, and centering attention on you, which would’ve taken us a lot longer, probably, if we hadn’t have had someone like Andrew. And he was younger than any of us.

So he had a very young and very, very irreverent attitude. [narrator] Later that year, Oldham asked John Lennon and Paul McCartney to help create a new original song for the band. The result was “I Wanna Be Your Man,” which was released to huge success.

♪ I wanna be your man ♪ ♪ I wanna be your man ♪ ♪ I wanna be your man ♪ [narrator] After a few months with the band, Oldham secured the Rolling Stones a UK tour and a US tour. And by 1964,

they had become one of the most popular bands in the UK, US, and Australia, with their closest competitors being their once-collaborators, the Beatles. [interviewer] How do you compare your group with the Beatles? I don’t know. How do you compare with the Beatles? Uh, I don’t compare at all.

You know, there’s no point. Well, let’s get right down to the brass tacks. Do you think you’re better than they are? At what? You know, it’s not the same group. So we just do what we want and they do what they want. And you can prefer us to them, or them to us.

-This is diplomatic, you see. -Very diplomatic. And I don’t want to belabor it, but do you feel that you do what you want to do better than they do what they want to do? -Uh… Probably. I don’t know. -[man] Yes. I don’t know what they want to do, you see. Very diplomatic.

Rolling Stones’ debut single came out only about a year after the Beatles’. And the Beatles had such a kind of instant impact that they were kind of… There was something very friendly about them. They definitely represented the kind of new energies of the ’60s and youth.

And Andrew Loog Oldham very smartly positioned the Stones as the kind of threatening ones. That they were the ones for the older siblings. [reporter] What do you think about John Lennon’s returning the medal? Aghast. Yeah. It’s a long time. He should have done it as soon as he got it.

[people applaud] [Lynskey] They were the ones that had this kind of, this sexuality and this menace and this whole idea of, you know, would you let your daughter go out with a Rolling Stone? [Hoskyns] You know, what the Stones represented

particularly to, you know, to young girls in the ’60s was in contrast to what the Beatles represented. And one important thing the Stones did, and they were the first to do it, really, was they stopped wearing matching suits.

I think that Andrew Oldham has to take some credit for saying, “Okay, you know, we are just gonna do something a bit more natural.” And, I mean, that sounds kind of like fairly innocuous now, but then, it was quite a statement.

Um, it was like, “We don’t care.” The way you looked was a big part of it, but it wasn’t the only part of it. It’s how you acted, how you spoke, what you said in your songs, everything. Um, but we never was a sort of sit-down in a committee and trying to cultivate…

But it became obvious to Andrew that there was a market out there that wanted something where the people could rebel against their parents. And Andrew just encouraged them to wear their own clothes and they got slowly or suddenly rougher and harder.

And that’s how the image got developed. [Hoskyns] You’d see pictures of them and you’d see pictures of Jagger and, you know, they just– They looked like bad boys, you know, as opposed to the Beatles.

So you kind of had a sense where they were just more affable and sort of cheeky chappy, and kind of boys next door in a way, you know. So the Stones were very clearly positioned as a sort of the bad boys in contrast to the Beatles.

[rock ‘n’ roll music playing] [Jagger] We never really consciously cultivated this anti-hero image thing, it was just the way things evolved. And then people tried to get us to wear uniforms at a certain point. I don’t really know why. I was heavily into the design and the image really.

And it was away from the Beatles, everyone looking the same in suits and ties. [Hoskyns] There was something just much– I think, probably, just, uh, sexier, blacker, funkier, darker, more dangerous about the Stones, you know. They…

You know, their grooves just had a sort of dirty, primal sort of quality to them, but also a poetic quality. It was, you know… I love the Beatles, but, um, I just couldn’t have followed them to the ends of the earth.

[narrator] In 1964, the band released the single “Little Red Rooster,” and achieved their first number one hit. [announcer] Teenagers went barmy. [crowd cheering] [Calder] We must remember that a number one in those days was a real number one.

It wasn’t just a– You know, you went to number one and you’d sold three, four, 500,000 singles. Today, you’re lucky to go on 30,000 or 40,000. [narrator] The band was finally a chart-topping success. In 1965, the Rolling Stones released

what would be one of their most celebrated songs, “Satisfaction.” ♪ I can’t get no ♪ ♪ Oh, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ [narrator] Channeling their rock ‘n’ roll influences, this track stood out to audiences,

as it mirrored the frustrated society of the early ’60s. The track was a massive hit, and finally, their original songs were attracting audiences. [Lynskey] When you listen to early rock ‘n’ roll songs, going through from, like, the mid ’50s to the mid ’60s really,

loads of songs basically have got this kind of itchy impatience. The young men who were just desperate to get laid essentially. That is inspiration for loads of the early rock ‘n’ roll songs. And “Satisfaction” is maybe the best example of that.

It’s this constant kind of itchiness. “I need something to happen.” And that’s just the way that, on one level, that song is kind of– You know, it’s pretty trivial, and in another way, it seems to be the most important message. It’s just, like, you’re always wanting.

There’s just this sort of appetite and drive and you need something to happen and you need to get what you want. “Satisfaction” was the real break record. I can remember driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, and we punched the station, and it played “Satisfaction.”

We punched the next button, it was “Satisfaction.” All five stations on the five buttons were playing “Satisfaction.” We knew they broke the record. [narrator] The track was such a hit in the United States at that time, it was even featured as a cover

on the NBC musical variety television show, Hullabaloo, in 1965. …David Winters is going to dance to one of those swingin’ wild arrangements. So, ladies and gentlemen, David Winters dances Peter Matz. [audience applauding] [“Satisfaction” instrumental music playing] [narrator] The Rolling Stones’ early career went positive to positive.

They had signed to Decca Records, increased their popularity around the world, and by 1966, the Stones had released six studio albums, including their critically-praised number one album, Aftermath. However, during the mid to late ’60s, culture was reshaping,

changing the way music sounded. [announcer] In another example of the recent social phenomenon that’s sweeping the country, It’s a giant “Love-in,” close relative to the “Be-in,” sort of a happity happening, laced with the rites of spring. Slogans were just as frank as ever.

Hippies would be hippies and just plain folks, made a colorful scene with wild costumes, uninhibited dancing, and general higher frolic. The attitude was you had something which was all about, you know, love, nice things, you know. You didn’t want to go to beaches and fight people.

You wanted to sit, listen to music, dress up. The parties were more colorful, it must have been a great time to be in London I wish I was there then, you know. [narrator] By 1967, the Hippie Movement was in full swing.

During this year, the Beatles traveled to India to reinvent themselves and search for new inspiration, resulting in a release of the band’s eighth album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I mean, there was no music like it before, the hold, the cover, everything.

It put what was probably something not everyone was maybe aware of on the map. ♪ So may I introduce to you ♪ ♪ The act you’ve known For all these years ♪ ♪ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪

The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album was revolutionary, it was terrific. Uh, it– The cover design by Peter Blake, the music. It’s very difficult nowadays to imagine the impact that that had on a kind of black and white world.

[narrator] The Rolling Stones also wanted to change their style and join the Hippie Movement. In December, the Stones released their album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, an album that was to supposedly drive the Rolling Stones into the hippie world and bring psychedelic pop into their music.

So, they were sort of in stead with the Beatles for a while, and you could say that Satanic Majesties Request was sort of their Sgt. Pepper, much, much less good than Sgt. Pepper. But around the time when Satanic Majesties Request came out,

I think that they sort of realized it wasn’t really true to them. It didn’t feel right, it didn’t feel authentic. It’s hard to tell whether you affect or you are affected by some things like flower power. [chuckles] I don’t know. Um… We were sort of–

We were getting into sort of beads and hats and… flowers when we did the London Palladium show last Christmas, but, uh, so we got a bit fed-up with it before the summer came. [interviewer] Because of commercialization? No, because we were just sick of it after about two or three months.

When I say flower power, I don’t mean ethically. I just mean very superficially, the beads, and the flowers, and everything. [Hoskyns] The way Keith Richards looks back on it was that he kind of woke up one day and, you know, “I’m feeling pretty angry about all of this

And we’re not really making music that’s– I mean, “Ruby Tuesday” is not– It’s not me,” you know. Um, “She’s a Rainbow,” it’s not true to Keith Richards’ spirit. ♪ Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday ♪ ♪ Who could hang A name on you? ♪

Correspondingly, at the same time, you know, they were busted. They were targeted by the police and sidestepped by the media. And I think they felt– You know, it’s almost like they were victims of this whole Swinging London, psychedelic Carnaby Street thing.

So it was almost like the hippie fans who were sick of the aromas kind of wearing flowers in their hair had sort of come around and bitten them on the arse, you know. It hadn’t worked well for them, and it wasn’t really, musically true to their own blues roots, I think.

[narrator] Not only did their album only peak third on the charts, the band had been targeted for drug use by the police and media. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were arrested for possession, as well as losing Andrew Oldham as their producer. [Calder] As the ’60s developed,

The national newspapers which had now taken rock ‘n’ roll to its front pages, became more and more interested in rock stars. So, therefore, they’d spent years being utilized by people like Andrew Oldham to build up their artists. So, now they were interested in trying to bring them down.

[reporter] A national newspaper had tipped off the police to raid Keith Richards’ house at West Wittering. In the house were found traces of cannabis resin and a pipe in which cannabis had been smoked. Evidence that an unknown naked woman

was sitting on the sofa with a rug around her, was given in court today. [Hoskyns] You know, inevitably, the Stones find themselves at the center of this new counter-culture, this new, um, quite decadent scene, you know, drugs come in– Drugs came in very early for everybody.

I mean, you know, everyone was smoking weed in the early ’60s. I mean, much earlier than anybody realizes. I think they already, you know, sort of dropped acid by ’65, ’66. So, you know, by ’69, um, you know, Keith is using both coke and smack.

[Jagger singing incoherently] You have to say that those drugs do contribute to the sound of the Stones. [narrator] Soon after Mick and Keith’s drug allegations, Brian Jones was also arrested for drug possession, giving the media more reason to portray the Rolling Stones in a negative light.

[reporter] Across town, Brian Jones face charges for possession of drugs. Jones admitted that he had taken drugs in the past to a slight extent. Passing sentence, Mr. Reginald Seaton told Jones,

“You occupy a position by which you have a large following of youth, and therefore, it behooves you to set an example.” Jones was charged to his full name of Louis Brian Jones, a musician. His long, fair hair was rumpled, and he wore an open-neck shirt with a flowered pattern.

Detective Sergeant Robin Constable asked for a remand over the substance which he said had been found when police called at Jones’ flat between 6:00 and 7:00 this morning could be analyzed. It’s alleged that the substance was cannabis, and Jones is charged with illegal possession of it.

[narrator] The hippie era was a disastrous time for the band. Because of this, the Stones decided to move away from the flower power movement, and go back to their dark blues roots. In 1968, the band released their intense single, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,”

Followed by the release of Beggars Banquet. So, the psychedelic thing just went out the window, and instead, came in this kind of, uh, slightly disheveled– I can only call it– It’s like a sort of– They would look like aristocratic tramps.

You know, you look what– The sleeve of Beggars Banquet, you know, and there’s nothing sort of, um, there’s no sort of paisley or no flowers in the hair. They just– They look like, you know, look quite sinister, actually. Quite sinister. So, out of that comes “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,”

Which is just, like, wow. I mean, what is that? it’s just a million miles from “Ruby Tuesday.” It’s dark, it’s lo-fi, it’s gritty. It’s got this slightly satanic element to it, much more satanic than Satanic Majesties Request. [chuckles]

You know, who is Jumpin’ Jack Flash? Is that the devil? You know. ♪ But it’s all right now ♪ ♪ In fact it’s a gas ♪ ♪ But it’s all right… ♪ [Lynskey] They were better when they were moving in this kind of,

Uh, you know, this sort of darker, more turbulent territory, and there was always that sense that they played on, and in fact– And the tabloids certainly expanded on. It was the sense that they were dangerous. They seemed to be channeling the zeitgeist.

And the zeitgeist is we’ve gone past this sort of love and peace thing and we’ve gone into something that’s much more edgy and frightening. And so, I think they turned rock ‘n’ roll into something really quite dark, and primal, and alluring, and sexy, and sinister.

And it turned into this glorious line of records. [Lynskey] And in the late ’60s, you have this incredible run of songs, um, where– “Gimme Shelter,” which is really, sort of sums up this apocalyptic end of the ’60s vibe. ♪ War, children ♪ ♪ It’s just a shot away ♪

♪ It’s just a shot away ♪ ♪ War, children… ♪ “Sympathy for the Devil,” you know, in which he gets to be Lucifer, it’s inspired by Bulgakov’s novel, The Master and Margarita. It was quite, kind of high-brow allusion

Which created this wonderful, kind of, like, feverish, evil samba feel, which, again, sounded like it’s era… ♪ Let me please Introduce myself ♪ ♪ I’m a man Of wealth and taste ♪ ♪ And I laid traps For troubadours… ♪ …that you can’t always get what you want,

Which was almost this great sort of epitaph for the ’60s, and “Street Fighting Man,” which is ostensibly a protest song, uh, inspired by, you know, Mick attending an anti-war rally. ♪ Hey! ♪ ♪ Think the time is right For a palace revolution ♪

But actually, it’s about him not being a protester. It’s got, “What can I do, you know, but sing in a rock ‘n’ roll band?” And they didn’t need to be sort of particularly convincing, politically. Their very existence seemed, you know, rebellious and significant. ♪ All right ♪

[narrator] Unfortunately, just before the release of Beggars Banquet, Brian Jones was arrested again for drug possession. Because of this, his involvement in the band and Beggars Banquet was almost non-existent. His focus became primarily on drugs.

Brian Jones was a really important part of the Stones for a long time. He really knew about blues, he really understood about blues, he brought something very unique and important into the Stones, but, as we all know, he really started to unravel. [narrator] Tension between Brian and the band rapidly increased.

His court hearing denied him permission to go abroad for the Rolling Stones’ US tour. And by 1969, Mick and Keith decided he was a liability. It was time for him to go. Brian’s drug abuse was so appalling, he was incapable of playing.

And he wasn’t really fired, he was just told goodbye. He was– You know, it just happened that he was no longer available as a competent human being to turn up to record or to play. [Richards] It was very important to us the fact that

If we were going to go back out on the road or behind a new record, that… that we resolve this thing with Brian. So Mick and I had to go down and sort of tell Brian, virtually like, “Hey, you’re fired.”

[narrator] A month later, the devastating news hit the band and the fans. Brian Jones had died in his own swimming pool. Charlie phoned me up. Phoned me about 3:00 in the morning, and, I had just, like, got off to sleep after about an hour. Charlie phoned me up, and…

He just said, “Brian died.” [narrator] Fans and bandmates gathered to watch as Brian Jones was laid to rest. The 27-year-old rock star’s career had come to an end. Nobody was really that surprised. There are people, I mean, I’m sure that everybody’s got those feelings that certain people–

Everybody knows people that… you just have that feeling about them, they’re not going to be 70-years-old ever. You know, not everybody makes it. [narrator] Later that year, the band threw together a remembrance gig at Hyde Park to bring everyone together to remember Brian.

“The One remains, the many change and pass Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly Life, like a dome of many-colour’d glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments.” [narrator] Unfortunately, problems didn’t stop there for the Stones.

Late into their US tour, that was to promote their new album, Let It Bleed, they were to experience one of the darkest days in rock ‘n’ roll history, the free concert at Altamont. The 1969 tour of America is really quite a big tour, you know,

They play Madison Square Gardens, um, and it culminates in this free concert that they give, uh, near San Francisco, December ’69. They felt like they should do something like Woodstock. So, this really hastily put together, and rather ill-advised, ill-conceived event takes place at the Altamont speedway.

The Hells Angels are drafted in as the security service, and, it just, from the get go, turns very nasty. They beat up Marty Balin of the Jefferson Airplane, and this is one of the artists, you know. They are meant to be the security guys.

You know, anyone who gets anywhere near this pathetic little stage that’s about five feet off the ground, you know, is beaten up. And right in front of Mick Jagger, you know, this guy is murdered, is knifed to death. And Jagger doesn’t realize that’s happening there and now. [people screaming]

They have lost control and he’s out of his depth. He doesn’t know what to do. It was a really scary moment. It was a real reality-check for them. You know, I think the Stones went in a more hedonistic direction and a slightly less political direction.

It’s almost like, “Okay, we’re not spokesmen for our generation anymore, and we’re gonna sort of– Yeah, we’re gonna go in just a more kind of funky hedonistic, sort of aristocratic jet-set, you know, Stones in Exile kind of partying in, you know, in the South of France sort of direction, I think,

which doesn’t mean the music is there, but it’s just less. It is not channeling the darker elements of the zeitgeist. And I think– So something changes in the Stones’ mindset at that point. [narrator] After the terrible events of 1969, the band was to change their sound again.

Mick Taylor was to replace Brian Jones, and help them break away from the politics and the dark-themed lyrics they were expressing in Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed, and bring in a much more funky upbeat sound to them. [Hoskyns] When Brian went,

And Brian was already effectively replaced by Mick Taylor, um, that was a really important change to the sound and style of the Stones as well. Mick Taylor brought in a real virtuosity, a really different kind of guitar style and tone to Keith,

And it was just a brilliant kind of contrast and counterpoint there, that I think was really important. [narrator] Mick Taylor’s involvement with the band helped them to write music and lyrics that were to get away from the political statements, and focus more on relatable, less antagonizing things.

It’s easy to forget what a great lyricist Jagger was, you know, what brilliant words he wrote in the Stones’ heyday. Uh, I mean, he can still write lyrics, but he was really paying attention, you know, uh, in that great period. So, you read the lyrics to, sort of, “Wild Horses,”

You know, it’s a very different thing, that kind of song of pain and break-up addressed to Marianne Faithfull. ♪ Wild horses ♪ ♪ Couldn’t drag me away ♪ I mean, they’re pretty great lyrics, you know, they really are. And you felt like he would’ve cared about the craft of song,

So, you put those two guys together, and then they just wrote dozens of the greatest songs ever, I think, you know, I really, really do. Um, they were really on it. They were really on their game. The Stones are often known for this kind of, you know, the swaggering rock ‘n’ rollers,

You know, “Tumbling Dice” and “Start Me Up.” And then the kind of dark, menacing stuff. “Paint It Black” and “Gimme Shelter.” But they’re quite underrated as writers of love songs. They could be surprisingly tender, songs like “Wild Horses,” and “Moonlight Mile,” and “Angie.” And they really… They could evoke great sensitivity as well.

[narrator] After Let It Bleed in 1969, the band left Decca and started their own label, Rolling Stones Records. The Rolling Stones released their most landmark albums during this time, such as Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Sticky Fingers was so loved by fans,

that in 1986, bassist Bill Wyman even opened a restaurant under that name, filled with band memorabilia. Um, sticky Fingers came from the Stones’ album. I thought it was a great name for a restaurant. [woman] Well, next time you should call it “Goats Head Soup.”

Uh, well, I didn’t think people would eat there. [all laughing] But, well, there are a few names, “Beggars Banquet”… [narrator] At this point in their career, the Rolling Stones had become world-known. They had given a new image to the world of rock and pop music,

And redefined what a rock star looked like. They had gone from being the rebellious kids of the ’60s to international rock icons. [interviewer] Mick, in these press conferences, you seem to be called on to play a kind of philosopher king role– Which is impossible to do.

How do you feel about being placed in that position of taste measure and philosophy measure? I withdraw from it totally into banality if it continues. He’s central to the whole idea of rock ‘n’ roll and pop music. It’s this idea that you create yourself, you create your own mythology.

And the Stones were always very attuned to that, you know. They were mostly kind of middle class, suburban, small-town kids that were really into blues. Had this sort of transatlantic accent, that it was kind of… Weirdly, that was sort of seen as authentic, but, of course, they weren’t.

They were creating characters of themselves. Why, one of the best songs is “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” ’cause instantly, it was like, “I was born in a cross-fire hurricane.” It’s amazing, and it’s got no– Of course, he wasn’t. He was like, born in Dartford. So, their whole kind of message was really, I think,

About this sense of reinventing yourself, and at a very potent time in British culture. [Calder] I firmly believe that today, that Andrew is not given the true recognition to what he did for most people in the industry today. His imagery of Mick Jagger,

and then the devil in Keith Richards set up rock ‘n’ roll together onto the front page of the newspapers. It became television news, it became newspaper news, and it set a standard people have tried to copy and follow. Many have followed.

Uh, I don’t think anybody really surpassed what was achieved in that ’64 to ’65 period. It was number one after number one, you know, “Get Off Of My Cloud,” “Satisfaction.” “19th Nervous Breakdown.” I mean, this are a classic pop rock ‘n’ roll records.

They’d just become a magnet for the cool people, and the most beautiful women and everybody wants to be around the Stones. It’s the allure of what they stand for. They are just– You know, there isn’t anything cooler than Keith Richards in 1969, 1970, ’71. He just defined cool,

because he wasn’t trying to be cool. He just, sort of, you know, the Keith Richards wardrobe is just slinging together– It’s like a dressing-up box. It’s like just, you know, put a jacket on, put this– wrap this scarf around my neck, you know. [laughs]

I’ll put on these sunglasses. And it just was so natural to Keith. That’s why he’s a real star icon. I know I need to present that I’m not totally, uh, you know, this is all rock ‘n’ roll maniac, you know.

I mean, when I go mad, I do it on purpose. [laughs] You know, some of Mick’s choices are a bit kind of weird. [laughs] Really. But he was still cool, too. Mick Jagger was a PE teacher’s son from Kent, uh, you know, a bit sort of tall and gangly, but fit,

With this kind of huge, oversized mouth, like, odd-looking. And he became– that he sort of made that like, “Oh, this is what a rock star looks like.” This is how you move. You had this, kind of, this strut this sort of weird, like, predatory sexuality,

that sort of flamboyance that was, uh… slightly, you know, it wasn’t straight-hedge sexuality, you know. There was a sort of complexity there. And that became like the model of how one should be. And even now, you know, even in his 70s,

There’s sort of vague peculiarity, vague sort of fluid about the way he moves, and that’s something that he’s preserved throughout his life. [singing rock ‘n’ roll song] I think the thing with Mick Jagger is this appetite he has, this incredible appetite to be a star, to be around,

And that could be in terms of, you know, glamorous girlfriends, it could be turning up at, you know, Studio 54. That could be collaborating with lots of different people. That could be having political faces.

He does the things that that a kind of rock star is meant to do. I really like the silhouettes, you know, I like the– You know, it’s a really good look for a woman. And she’s really… [Lynskey] He’s always wanted to have all his fingers in different pies.

He’s always wanted to be more than just a singer in a band. You know, I do try and do other things apart from the Rolling Stones. At one time it was the only thing in your life. You know, but as you get older, there are other things that come along

That take your time up. And so, you know, now I think it’s on a very level keel, so that you can be enthusiastic about it, but it’s not the only thing in your life. I think that’s normal. Keith, on the other hand, is basically, the guitarist in the Rolling Stones.

You know, he was the one that always resisted, you know, when they were interested– Mick was interested in synthesizers, or disco, or reggae. Keith was like, “No, not really.” He basically wants to do blues rock. [playing guitar riff]

There’s this great sort of, you know, this tension between them. Mick, I always think, does the things that we’re meant to admire in stars. You know, being kind of daring, and taking risks, and trying all these different things. And Keith represents what we’re meant to sort of disdain,

which is being quite conservative and quite stuck in his ways, and resistant to change. And yet, people love Keith, because he sort of never changes. ‘Cause he’s this weird sort of grizzled pirate character. Maybe it’s just because I’m just me,

And, you know, there’s no artificial crap about me, you know. I just tell it like it is. [Lynskey] And I think people are quite suspicious of Mick, you know, that there’s something that seems quite, sort of, opportunistic about him.

And I’ve always felt that that perhaps was slightly unfair, because Mick was often the person that was pushing the Stones to try different things that sort of stopped them from essentially becoming, you know, relics, that kind of kept them moving through the ’80s,

that kept them, you know, adapting and surviving. Whereas, if it was up to Keith, I get the feeling that they would have basically been frozen in time in around sort of, you know, 1972.

[Hoskyns] You felt like that Keith was the real, sort of, engine of the Stones, the real creative force, and this kind of slightly dark foil to Jagger. I always think that Keith Richards is really underestimated as a writer, as a composer of music.

But I was fascinated by Jagger. I still think he was the greatest frontman that ever was. When he was wearing those slightly Elvis-ey sort of rhinestone one-piece, like, bodysuit things, he was just magnificent. If you have Mick with no Keith,

You have a band that would be very ambitious, but perhaps, pretentious, somewhat pretentious and a little ruthless. And if you have Keith with no Mick, you just probably have a really solidly enjoyable blues rock band.

And it’s the fact that the reason why they often don’t get on is that they want quite different things. They have very different personalities, they’ve got very different artistic visions, and yet, they agree on this one thing that they agree on,

and it’s the push and pull that made them such a powerful band. [narrator] In 1974, Mick Taylor, unfortunately, decided to leave the band to begin his solo career. The ex-Birds guitarist, Ronnie Wood, later replaced him.

In the 1980s, the band became extremely heated. Their ideas conflicted as both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards couldn’t see eye-to-eye anymore. Mick wanted to focus on his solo career, leaving Keith as the main writer in the studio.

Their music heavily suffered throughout this decade. [Hoskyns] For a good number of years, you know, Mick and Keith are this amazing team, amazing kind of couple, like a married couple, creatively. But I think they stopped to support parts.

You know, Keith just sinks deeper and deeper into the quagmire of addiction. Mick is more interested in expanding his horizons ultimately. He’s more interested in the beautiful people, more interested in the Andy Warhol set. And I think they start to pull apart, creatively.

They’re not the best of friends anymore. You know, Mick has grown tired of trying to manage Keith. You know, Keith has become quite scornful of Mick’s pretensions, and airs, and graces, and by the mid ’80s, you know, Keith looks back and describes it as World War III.

They’re really separate camps. And that’s the way things are. Guys don’t work together for 50 years almost without having the odd, you know, contretemps. [Jagger] Relationships over long periods, they go very up and down. Sometimes, they’re good and sometimes, they’re not very good.

I mean, The Rolling Stones, we have lots of, you know, any internal group of people always have varying relationships with each other, so the dynamic changes. But, you know, I mean, we have, sort of, common goals, and so, we try and get over the ups and downs

And try and keep on the common goal. And this is so common in really successful rock bands. I mean, it happened with Lennon and McCartney, it happened with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin. It happens time and time again when you’ve got two alpha males particularly, you know,

Who’s the boss? You know. Who is the boss? And they both thought that they were the boss. [narrator] The Rolling Stones remarkably stayed together throughout this heated decade. Their fame was so monumental, fans around the world wanted to see them. Their branding was so recognizable,

that they were able to sell out tours around the world instantly, allowing them to become one of the biggest touring bands of that time. By the ’80s, the Rolling Stones live, the Rolling Stones’ touring had become this massive business.

Um, and, you know, they are extremely wealthy, as a result. They really became the band that’s corporation, and Mick Jagger’s mouth became the logo of the band. They made so many very canny business decisions, while at the same time, seeming, you know,

Presenting this image of being this kind of like decadent, slightly out of control, you know, the epitome of rock debauchery. And yet, behind the scenes, they were so smart, and they were laying the foundations for their survival. And so, I think Rolling Stones is the epitome of the band that’s also a business.

[man] It’s a very nice crowd, and everyone’s obviously very homely. It’s reckoned there’s 650,000 now. You could say, well, the thing got just, sort of, way out of proportion, the scale of these live shows, you know, these massive stadiums they were playing in.

Maybe the soul of the Rolling Stones kind of took a back seat, you know. You got to one of those shows, and they’re just these, like, dots on the stage, blown up massively on screens, and, you know, that comes so far from their blues roots,

you know, playing around Richmond. A lot of those artists from that era have a kind of status that relies on what you might call “Baby Boomer nostalgia.” The older people go to see the Stones concert, and they wait for the old hits,

Because, quite frankly, the hits that Andrew produced weren’t necessarily the greatest records of all time, but each record was a statement. And it’s a statement that the Stones have come to live by, and it’s a statement that everybody’s copied and followed since.

[Hoskyns] I think the Stones have just been able to, to some degree, just rely on that, that that’s never gonna change. They don’t have to do very much to get millions of people coming out to see them. [narrator] The Rolling Stones’ tours continued into the ’90s,

but unfortunately, lost Bill Wyman, who, like Mick Taylor, wanted to follow his solo career. During this decade, the band set aside their differences, went back to releasing albums, as well as continuing to tour around the wold. [rock ‘n’ roll song playing]

In 2012, the Rolling Stones hit a landmark of 50 years in the music industry, an incredible achievement that only few have achieved. Definitely rocking, yes. And things are good, you know. Fifty years, it seems an awfully long time, but it seems to have gone very, very quickly.

That’s like a flash! Yeah, it does go fast, it’s true. It goes super-fast, so enjoy it while you can. It seems that we did enjoy it while we could. I keep asking the same questions. I keep saying, “What’s the other one?”

Did you think, when you started out, you were gonna do this for 50 years? Of course we did. I thought I’ll get to sit next to Charlie for the next 50 years, talking to him about the beat. If you had asked that question a bit later, I would have, perhaps, answered.

But that was a correct answer at the time, because no one had ever really lasted very long, so, why would you last? It’s a bit presumptuous to think that we were gonna last at all any more than anybody else. Why should you?

You know, it wasn’t a kind of long-term industry in those days. [narrator] This was then followed by the band’s own exhibition in 2015. A chance to allow fans to see their history, untold stories, and allowed them to experience life in the Stones’ shoes throughout their rocking years.

[Jagger] We’ve been thinking about it actually for quite a long time, collecting things, thinking about, “Ah, this would be good. We better save this, because we want people to see it.” You know, and we want people to see this, we want people to see that.

Yes, I mean, it is a kind of look at your career, and, er, I think it’s a kind of an interesting time to do it. We’ve got enough stuff, in fact, too much stuff. We’re getting a bit emotional walking around there, you know. You think you know it all, and then…

Especially they’re all… They’re all flat. Yeah, I looked at that and I said, “I’m ready to crash out, man.” [laughs] There are things I’ve never seen. I mean, the most poignant one in there were Keith’s and Brian’s contract they signed on our behalf.

I remember them doing it. I should not sign it, “We’re going to do it,” ’cause we weren’t allowed go up to the office. I also I’m finding, you know, some of my favorite clothes that I realized that they have found, and… “Damn it! That’s where I left those boots!” [laughs]

I’ve been lookin’ them for years, you know. As you walk to this exhibition, you can see it goes to all these different eras and all these different things that happened around the rock band, so to speak. So it becomes part of more than just being a rock band.

It’s just like another interim in this adventure that we’re on. You know, so, it’s a good thing that we’re still working. You know, and this is going on in the background. It is good. [Lynskey] One of the reasons the Stones sometimes seem like the archetype of rock band

Is this almost like a movie-like perfection to some of the things that happened to them. You know, the Redlands drug-bust, when they almost went to prison, the death of Brian Jones. These are these huge kind of, uh, sort of symbols of, uh, of rock-stardom,

tipping over into something darker. You know, this symbol of sort of, like, of rock ‘n’ roll decadence, was in fact, I mean– Keith Richards’ consumption was astonishing, and lasted for a very long time. But Mick Jagger is, you know, PE teacher’s son. He’s a very healthy guy.

And so, he was not this sort of enormous drug-hoover at all. It was almost like the symbolism of it as the various things that happened to them, the records they made, they all sort of conveyed this message

that this is kind of– these are these rock ‘n’ roll outlaws, you, know, living on the edge, and yet, of course, at the same time, you know, keeping a very close eye on business affairs and merchandising. [Hoskyns] I think the Stones will keep going until they drop.

I have no doubt of that. Until they can no longer stand up. I can’t imagine they will actually play with the Zimmer frames, but I wouldn’t put it past Mick. So, you know, they’ve got a little while left, I think.

There are some retrospectively very funny quotes from Mick Jagger from around 1969, where he’s just like a guy saying, “Oh, I can’t imagine doing this when I’m 30. Wouldn’t this be ridiculous?” And quite a lot of the time, they just go, “Well, you can’t be the Rolling Stones and old.”

And by “old,” they basically meant over 30. [Hoskyns] No one could see beyond 30 at that point. So, now it’s like, “You’re gonna be doing this when you’re 80, Mick?” [laughs] [interviewer] Have you still got the rebellion? ‘Cause there were those brilliant headlines, wasn’t there?

“Lock up your doors, ’cause the Stones are coming.” “Lock up your grandmothers,” now they say. [interviewer laughing] Does it make you laugh that you’ve got kids and grandkids, that that was written about you? I went– I did this show in the Southern United States,

And there was a poster outside this college, and it said, “Mick Jagger slept with your grandmother.” It was a joke, quite funny, really. [Lynskey] The Stones were very good for quite a long time. You know, they obviously outlasted the Beatles. You have the great ’60s albums,

then, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. in the ’70s. It’s really kind of totemic records. Some people’s favorites. And, you know, they continued to be pretty good through the ’70s. And then they dropped off,

and then they became sort of like so many people, kind of, persistence. And there’s something quite powerful about that. You know, even though the younger Mick Jagger would have laughed at himself still being on stage now. They are like carved out of rock.

They’ll be sort of historic figures. And there’s something weirdly moving about seeing the Stones at Glastonbury. It was like, “Oh, they’re still here.” And in the ’60s, nobody imagined that. Nobody thought that anybody would get to be middle-aged, let alone old,

and still be able to like, sell out, you know, big shows, and still have anyone care about their records. It is rock ‘n’ roll, that’s all I know, and that’s all I’m good at. And, you know, I’m a terrible plumber. [chuckles]

I’m just tellin’ it like it is, you know, as far as I’m concerned. [Lynskey] The Stones are really sort of the pioneers of age, of tenacity, of growing old, and yet, somehow, they became sort of frozen in time, if you see Mick, and Keith now.

They haven’t really sort of settled down. They are versions of their younger selves. So they’ve become iconic in a way that I don’t think they could have predicted when they were younger. Fame is something that you have to learn to live with,

Because it comes along when you don’t really think about that. When you’re doin… You’re just, “I wanna make a record. I wanna make some good record.” And then you do, and then, suddenly, this thing called fame comes in. [chuckles] And then you have to learn a whole new game,

You know, to deal with that. [Hoskyns] Any band that combines rock ‘n’ roll with rhythm and blues draws on the Stones. And I’m thinkin’ about every band from Aerosmith to Guns N’ Roses, if they all have to say, well, you know,

They’ve all got to doff their caps to the Rolling Stones, because the Stones invented that style, and that template. They will always be influential, I think. I don’t think the Stones’ influence will ever fade out over rock ‘n’ roll, because they absolutely embodied and encapsulated it.

I say God bless the Rolling Stones. -[man] The best. -That’s what I say. Best rock band. Jon and I went to their concert recently after the 12-12 Concert in New York, and they were better than ever. I thought that. Well, I always say, if the Stones can keep going,

If I can keep seeing Mick up there, then it’s okay for us to do it, you know. I mean, why should there be an expiration date on rock ‘n’ roll? -I mean, really. -There’s not anymore. Honestly, as long as we’re having fun playing the music, and it feels good,

-we wanna keep doing it. -Yeah. [narrator] To this day, the band is still touring internationally, attracting fans from all over the world and from all generations. In 2016, the Rolling Stones released their latest studio album, Blue & Lonesome, almost paying a tribute to their legacy,

going back to their old roots of the blues. It feels like they’ve really gone full circle. I mean, you could say, “Well, I guess they couldn’t think of anything else to do.” But why not go back to the beginning, you know. It’s a fun thing to do for them.

Perhaps it’s kind of grounding them in the reality that they came out of, when they were just a bunch of pale, spotty boys who wanted to be Muddy Waters, you know? [laughs] We listened to him back months later, and we go, “Who is that? Must’ve been recorded in Chicago

In the ’50s or something.” And it’s us. It was very exciting. -And it’s what the band is all about. -Something different. Yeah, blues, really. It’s about us. [Hoskyns] It’s nice to just sort of hear their love of that music, and just to go back to the, sort of, source, you know,

The oracle that inspired them in the first place. [narrator] The Rolling Stones will never cease to be around. Their rich history and landmark albums will always take place in people’s lives, and continue to influence future generations to come.

The Rolling Stones are the essence of rock royalty and will forever be remembered for how they changed the world and music forever. [rock ‘n’ roll music playing]