{"id":3177,"date":"2015-03-15T05:06:07","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T05:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=3177"},"modified":"2015-03-15T05:06:07","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T05:06:07","slug":"50-years-ago-the-rolling-stones-first-us-hit-evinced-the-bands-eclectic-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/50-years-ago-the-rolling-stones-first-us-hit-evinced-the-bands-eclectic-style\/","title":{"rendered":"50 years ago, the Rolling Stones’ first US hit evinced the band’s eclectic style"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Covach<\/a>, University of Rochester<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In the first weeks of 1964, the Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Want To Hold Your Hand\u201d raced up the US charts, giving the Liverpool band its first American hit single and helping to launch the British invasion. At around the same time, the Rolling Stones were enjoying a number-three hit in the UK with \u201cNot Fade Away,\u201d as well as a number-one British EP. The Stones tried \u2013 but couldn\u2019t immediately replicate \u2013 the Beatles’ stateside success, lagging behind by more than a year.<\/p>\n

The decisive breakthrough for Mick, Keith and company came with the release of \u201c(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction\u201d in June of 1965. The song rocketed to the top of the US charts, partly fueled by claims that the lyrics referred to sexual frustration.<\/p>\n

But \u201cSatisfaction\u201d was not the Stones’ first top ten single in the US. In March 1965 the band released \u201cThe Last Time,\u201d which rose to the number-nine spot stateside, while topping the charts in the UK. Unlike \u201cSatisfaction,\u201d the story of this song is not one of scandal and rebellion, but rather one of admiration and imitation. It possessed stylistic flairs and influences that would ultimately foretell the band\u2019s future stardom.<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones perform \u2018The Last Time\u2019 in 1965.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The roots of this Jagger-Richards original can be traced back to \u201cThis May Be The Last Time,\u201d a gospel track recorded by the Staple Singers in 1955. A quick listen to the Staple Singers’ record will dispel any doubt over the source of the chorus in the Stones song. The gospel influence would become a central element in the Stones’ original music for years to come, especially in tracks such as \u201cShine a Light.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The Stones were clearly inspired by Staple Singers’ \u2018This May Be the Last Time.\u2019 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But \u201cThe Last Time\u201d is more than a rocked-up gospel reworking. It\u2019s driven by an opening guitar riff that percolates throughout the song, creating a hook that rivals the chorus\u2019s infectiousness. The idea of opening with a guitar riff wouldn\u2019t have been new to fans of Chuck Berry\u2019s music (as the Stones were) or the Shadows (not so much). It\u2019s also worth noting that the Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Feel Fine\u201d<\/a> commenced with a catchy guitar lick; released in late 1964, it\u2019s a track that could have inspired the Stones, along with the Staple Singers’ record.<\/p>\n

The Stones would employ catchy opening riffs in future hits. In fact, the famous opener to \u201cSatisfaction\u201d may well have been an attempt to repeat the distinctive arranging element of \u201cThe Last Time.\u201d And a catchy guitar lick is also used in the band\u2019s next single after \u201cSatisfaction,\u201d \u201cGet Off Of My Cloud.\u201d (Meanwhile, the Beatles led off both \u201cTicket to Ride\u201d and \u201cDay Tripper\u201d with a guitar hook, making 1965 into an unofficial \u201cYear of the Guitar-Riff Intro.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAn advertisement for The Rolling Stones’ 1965 US tour, which promotes \u2018The Last Time.\u2019<\/span>
\nWikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Listeners may also detect a hint of country music in \u201cThe Last Time.\u201d Country would play an important role in the band\u2019s developing career (perhaps best captured in \u201cDead Flowers\u201d<\/a>). The Stones covered Hank Snow\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Moving On\u201d during live shows in early 1965, and even included it on the EP Got LIVE If You Want It in the UK, and the album December\u2019s Children in the US.<\/p>\n

But we needn\u2019t look further than the single that preceded \u201cThe Last Time\u201d to hear a classic country twang. \u201cHeart of Stone,\u201d released in late 1964, rose to a respectable number 19 in the US charts \u2013 while unabashedly tipping its hat to country influences. In fact, a demo of this song<\/a> contains a prominent pedal steel guitar \u2013 a staple of the country sound (though apparently someone deemed it too country<\/em> for the final version). The demo also contains guitar work by a young session guitarist named Jimmy Page, whose solo Keith Richards copied note for note on the single.<\/p>\n

Like \u2018The Last Time,\u2019 \u2018Heart of Stone\u2019 was infused with country influences.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Stones originally emerged out of the London blues revival scene in 1962, at first playing only cover versions of the blues, soul and 1950s rock music they revered. So it\u2019s only natural that their first original songs would be rooted in the dozens of cover songs the band played and recorded in its nascent years. \u201cThe Last Time\u201d is simply a logical extension of the group\u2019s development and range of influences \u2013 the sort of compositional modeling has been occurring in music for generations.<\/p>\n

But the Rolling Stones’ eclectic range of influences did<\/em> create a uniquely broad stylistic palette, one that the band drew on as their music expanded and developed throughout the years \u2013 and as they went on to enjoy greater success and longevity than most of their contemporaries.<\/p>\n

So despite its title, there would ultimately be very little about the band\u2019s first US hit that would happen for the last time.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>.
\nRead the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Covach, University of Rochester In the first weeks of 1964, the Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Want To Hold Your Hand\u201d raced up the US charts, giving the Liverpool band its first American hit single and helping to launch the British invasion. At around the same time, the Rolling Stones were enjoying a number-three hit in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":3178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3179,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions\/3179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}