2. The Rolling StonesAftermath
The Brian Jones’ era of the Stones is just fantastic. Listen to ‘Mother’s Little Helper’. The sound of that slide riff on the guitar, the way the band come together. Those lyrics [about a mother needing Valium to cope with her kids] are pretty direct too. And politically incorrect! But think of how this sounded coming out back then.
The Stones were placed as the opposite to The Beatles by the people around them, but they really weren’t. They were just different to The Beatles. They still absolutely knew how to create a sound, and they introduced so many people to the American blues stuff like Muddy Waters. I wouldn’t have known any of that stuff without them. Lots of people wouldn’t. And that’s why in my first group, The Outer Limits, I was playing the blues, albeit on electric guitar, and very badly.
It took me a while to get the blues, though, because it sounded so primitive. I guess that’s why I’ve never been good at primitive stuff apart from primitive techno [laughs]. I thought it was just three chords, but with great songs, you get the whole point of it. It’s all in the mood. And the best blues musicians created the most amazing moods. It becomes quite hypnotic and cathartic.
