Rolling Stones Reach Another Generation or Mick Jagger is the Energizer Bunny

As many of you know by now late last fall The Rolling Stones released another compilation of their greatest hits. It seems like every few years a new set of this music appears all claiming to offer something new. On this collection, titled GRRR, we were promised, to go along with the pristine sound on the newly cleaned up original hits from yesteryear a couple of new singles.

The first of those was called Doom and Gloom and I wrote about the song at that time. However as much as I liked the song, and I did, I do not listen to commercial radio that much and when on the satellite often find myself listening to a mix of First Wave, the Alternative Music Channel and of course my girl Elizabeth Cook on Outlaw Country. Thus I do not often hear what is being played on the more contemporary channels.

That changes when my lovely thirteen year old daughter jumps in the truck. We have an unwritten agreement that unless I am listening to something I cannot miss she is allowed to switch it over to the Hits Channel or the 20 on 20 channel on the satelite. So there we were the other day on our way to school she had bounced around" her channels" so much I had told her to for goodness sake pick something and as she landed on 20 for 20 I heard the opening chords of what could only be a Stones song.

I must admit to feeling a little bit disoriented to not hear Taylor Swift or somebody rapping at me but then smiled to myself to think that our boys Mick and Keith had cracked the bubblegum channel on the Satellite. I cannot tell you how much pleasure it brought me to tell my daughter " Whoa, right there, I think this is the channel to listen to." and we grooved out to Doom and Gloom all the way to school. This truly is one of the best Stones singles I have heard in the last thirty years.

Mick's howl is in rare form and as he spreads out the syllables in Moooooove and Doooom and Gloooom the song works like nothing new we have heard from them in a long time. Take that great song and then make a few teenagers listen to these old wrinkled men as my girl says and you have the start of a very fine day. In the end even she had to say that " while it was not a song she would have picked out it had a pretty good beat."

Perhaps there is hope for her musical taste yet. The Rolling Stones approaching 70 and as Bobby Russell used to say on the radio still " The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the world. "

Doom and Gloom by The Rolling Stones

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Rolling Stones. That is an incredible length of time. The band is currently in rehearsal for some celebratory shows in Newark and London, a release next month of a anniversary compilation and at least if things go well a potential full scale tour next year.

Keith Richards almost died a few years ago when, and you cannot make this up, he fell out of a coconut tree and landed on his head. The man who most assumed would be next casualty to the rock and roll lifestyle for a period of over thirty years almost died of a coconut tree accident but other than that appears healthy. Bill Wyman left the band years ago but the Charlie Watts still drums and Ronny Wood still slithers around the stage. And of course Mick's voice has not faltered a bit.

What is most remarkable to me this fall however is that as has now become the norm for these repackagings of old material the Stones have recorded a couple of new songs, one of which has recently been released. The new song, titled Gloom and Doom has the signature Stones sound. If listening to the song I had to put an era to it I would call it something that would fit in the late seventies, early eighties but the truth is the song is a killer track.

There is a great deal of flotsam out in the music industry and here come these rock Gods yes, but grandfathers also, to release a new song that does not miss a beat, slow a step, or otherwise accommodate the inevitable expected decline and slowing of recording artists their age.

This might be one of the strongest singles you will hear this year. Make sure you do.

Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live

Mick Jagger did double duty last weekend on Saturday Night Live as both the host and musical guest. Say this for Jagger he is a good sport. He was funny in his skits, most of the characters he played were a bit over the top so it was not a great challenge to a septuagenarian who dances around state in front of tens of thousands of people.

Saturday Night Live has been uneven this year, perhaps it has been many of the last few years, this last episode was one of the stronger ones this year. The skit that has people talking was the sentimental sweet last skit that had Jagger playing a speaker at a Graduation. The Graduation of course of Kristen Whig, the SNL actress who has been the anchor of the show for the last few years. Whig who is leaving the show was seriously affected by the skit as each of her costar came up to high and kiss her or dance with her. She choked up and the show ended on a high note with Jagger at the end of the skit leading the cast in a singalong of Goodbye Ruby Tuesday. This was very sweet.

Of course with Mick Jagger the highlight has to be music and in this he delievered. Rumors had bubbled all week that Jagger might be joined by his band mates and we might actually see The Rolling Stones. This was not to be and to be honest, this was a good thing. Why? Jagger performed magnificently with backing from two of the biggest bands in rock today.

In his first performance Jagger sang the the ancient " The Last Time" backed by Canadian Alternative Rock Supergroup Arcade Fire. Win Butler, his brother, and the rest of the band might well be the biggest thing in music that you have never heard about. Each time I see them perform live I become more enamored of them and resolve to listen to The Suburbs five more times to grow and appreciation for it beyond what I already have. Arcade Fire is fast becoming like Dave Matthews and Phish, a band that can best be appreciated live and backing Mick Jagger was a thrill for them but also seemed to energize Jagger.

Late in the show Jagger was joined by the Foo Fighters for a medley of 19th Nervous Breakdown and It's Only Rock and Roll that shook the building. It is interesting that in the twenty years since Kurt Cobain's death that Dave Grohl has become the go to guy in rock and roll. If there is a rock and roll event that needs someone who has the respect and respects the forefathers of rock and roll you will most likely find Grohl. Playing at a furious, sped up clip on 19th Nervous Breakdown my daughter said " Wow the band is so loud you almost cannot hear the singer." The Foo's certainly did not slow the pace for the old man Jagger.

On top of all the Mick can never be a good boy, his Presidential themed song about Governor Romney gained some controversy and caused some local stations to cut away. I am sure that made Mick happy, he can never be too conventional.

Perhaps Mick has another career ahead of him. One thing is for sure, he has more energy than any of the hosts we have seen earlier this year.

If you missed this the first time around be sure to catch it in reruns later this summer.