Benedict Gombocz

Sophomore Composition

Rolling Stones Essay

9 September 2008

Why I Like the Rolling Stones

Very few will believe or imagine that a man in his sixties still has the ability to be on

stage. Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, at 65 years old, still enjoys touring and being a

businessman. This past April, the Rolling Stones were presented with the opportunity to see the

start of their career on screen with the worldwide premiere of the Martin Scorsese movie Shine a

Light. The band was established in 1962; from debut album (titled The Rolling Stones in the UK

and England’s Newest Hit Makers in the U.S.) to most recently released album A Bigger Bang,

the band has had an enormous influence on music. The greatest rock and roll band in history, the

Rolling Stones were indicted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, the year studio album

Steel Wheels was released.

Since the band’s start, Mick Jagger has been their front man. Born in Dartford, Kent,

England, on 26 July 1943, Jagger attended the London School of Economics in the early 60s

before the band’s establishment. In According to the Rolling Stones, Jagger states that he “was

always a singer and always sang as a child.” While he was attending Wentworth Primary School

in September 1950, he befriended classmate and future bandmate Keith Richards. Jagger went on

to Dartford Grammar School, now home to the Mick Jagger Centre. After losing contact with

Richards as the latter went to a different school, Jagger rejoined Richards in the summer of 1960;

they resumed their friendship and discovered a common love for rhythm and blues music.

Jagger quit school in 1961 and moved with Richards into a flat in Edith Grove; there,

they met a guitarist named Brian Jones, with whom Richards made plans to start a rhythm and

blues group. At the London School of Economics, Jagger continued his business courses and

decided between becoming a journalist or politician. Strangely enough, he compared the latter to

becoming a pop star. In 1963, he left the London School of Economics to start his musical career

with the Rolling Stones.

Much like ex-rival the Beatles and many other rock and roll bands of their time, the

Rolling Stones have covered many songs from earlier artists. Highly influenced by Muddy

Waters, they took their band name from his famous song “Rollin’ Stone”. Blues music was such

a big part of the band that they covered many blues songs on both the debut album and its

successor released later in 1964, 12 X 5, and the first two albums of 1965, The Rolling Stones No.

2 and The Rolling Stones, Now! 1965 saw more Jagger/Richards songs with “Play with Fire”, “(I

Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “The Spider and the Fly”, “Get Off of My Cloud”, “I’m Free”, and

“As Tears Go By”. 1966’s Aftermath through 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request were the

only studio albums between 1964 and 1968 not to feature cover songs. 1968’s Beggars Banquet

features Robert Wilkins’ “Prodigal Son”; Robert Johnson’s “Love In Vain” is featured on 1969’s

Let It Bleed and Fred McDowell and Reverend Gary Davis’ “You Gotta Move” is featured on

1971’s Sticky Fingers.

I saw the Rolling Stones in concert for the first time when they played in Minneapolis but

I had been a fan of them well before that; memories associated with my childhood are listening

to their 1971 compilation Hot Rocks 1964-1971 during yearly summer vacations in Germany and

Hungary. This concert was during the brief (only two and a half months) No Security Tour of

1999; the tour supported 1998’s concert album No Security and 1997’s studio album Bridges to

Babylon. I was not yet seven and there I was in a big Midwestern city. My favorite memory of

driving through the city was watching Northwest aircraft approach the Minneapolis/St. Paul

International Airport. In the three years between the No Security Tour and the Licks Tour of

2002-2003, my music interests switched to newer bands, particularly boy bands like the

Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, both major pop groups in 2000. I already started to like the

Backstreet Boys back in 1998 when I heard one of their hit singles, “As Long As You Love Me”,

which was my favorite song from them from that point. It was not until 2000 that I heard of

*NSYNC but their hit song of that year, “Bye Bye Bye” made me a fan of them. Throughout

both 2000 and 2001, I was one of many fans of both bands.

For both the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, 2002 was different than the preceding two

years. The former went on hiatus after releasing The Hits: Chapter One in October 2001; the

latter broke up after releasing what was their last studio album in July 2001, Celebrity (they

would later release a Greatest Hits album in October 2005). With neither band making new

releases, I once more became a Rolling Stones fan. The Rolling Stones released Live Licks in

2004. The following year, the group made a visit to the studio for the first time in eight years to

begin sessions for the next (and most recent to date) studio album, A Bigger Bang. As a joke,

drummer Charlie Watts said that the tenth track on A Bigger Bang, “Oh No, Not You Again”,

referenced their return to the studio. A Bigger Bang was released on 5 September 2005, the day

before it was off to Minneapolis for my second time at a Stones concert; throughout the A Bigger

Bang Tour, I was blessed with the chance to go to three additional concerts, the former two in

2006 (the first one in Omaha and the second one in Vienna) and the latter one in 2007, which

was held in Budapest. This summer, my dad and I saw Shine a Light at a theatre in Budapest.

Being a die-hard Rolling Stones fan and an admirer of rock and roll in general is truly a

gift. I am proud to be among the people in my generation who love the Rolling Stones’ music

and have their albums in my music collection. They have contributed to a great change in music

and do a great deal of running their success like show business. This is astonishing for men who

are over 60 years old. For Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, what began as a small music group

of Rhythm and Blues fans became the greatest and most successful rock and roll band. The

albums the Rolling Stones have put out have inspired me to carry on their work and legacy even

long after they have passed on. They will long be regarded as heroes of rock and roll music.