ICON OF THE MONTH n mediaspeak, the Rolling Stones are The men who once, in an ill-advised brings us back to how they get away Ia living legend. As 70,000 people excursion into Pepperdom, took the with it. spilled out of Wembley Stadium last title ‘Their Satanic Majesties’ still have Perhaps what sets the Stones apart month, after what may be their last big about them the feel of royalty. Perhaps from their erstwhile rivals and peers is gig in Britain, I heard a man say to his their name has a faint echo of another that their image had no sell-by date. It little boy, ‘I’m glad that you’ve seen kind of Roller: a sumptuous machine, may have been astute marketing that them, because when you’re older…’ eccentric, yes, and dedicated to excess positioned them against The Beatles as But what had he seen? A monument in a peculiarly British way, but one that ugly and dangerous, but their genuine to music? A cultural joke? Four middle- devotion to the dark side of the blues aged men pretending they were identified them with values that had Jumpin’ Jack Flash? nothing to do with youth and its hope The original Stones have become to fall in love or change the world. exemplars of a range of rock’n’roll That is why they can still perform lifestyles. In 1969, Brian Jones pipped the songs of their prime without the aid Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison by of irony. The spirit that informed them dying in mysterious circumstances. – cynical, heartless, shallow, rude and Keith Richards has varied the theme by vain – was always old before its time. surviving in mysterious circumstances, And time is on their side. ‘(I Can’t despite a lifetime of chemical abuse Get No) Satisfaction’ has proved to be that to many people has been almost a more convincing anthem for the heroic in its self-abandon. Sixties than ‘All You Need is Love’ – Bill Wyman opted instead for sexual and for every decade since. At the end achievement, keeping a score of the of the century, the vague but potent women he laid which reputedly ran apocalypticism of ‘Gimmie Shelter’ into four figures, and topping it off by strikes a deeper chord than ‘Let It Be’. marrying a girl of sweet 16. And the self-proclaimed Greatest Charlie Watts has been true to a less Rock’n’Roll Band in the World have familiar type, the brilliant journeyman stayed remarkably true to that spirit. who plays his part to perfection before Icon of the Month Thirty-seven years on, long after the going home to his wife of 34 years and Beach Boys have grown old and the his beloved big-band jazz. No 17: The Rolling Stones Kinks have gone straight, after Pink Which leaves Mick Jagger, the real Floyd have turned grey and Michael Peter Pan of pop. The Little Red does not let you down. ‘Start me up, Jackson white, the Rolling Stones still Rooster may no longer be cock of the and don’t you know I’ll never stop, haven’t gathered any moss. walk, but he still can strut and crow. never stop, never stop, never stop…’ Their only religion and their only His arrested development is pointed up The Stones may be outmoded, but cause have been a little sympathy for by the contrast with Bianca, his queen they have never been outclassed. You’ll the devil and a lot of self-indulgence. consort of the Sixties, who has grown find no vomit on the upholstery. And, It’s only rock’n’roll, but they have kept up to be a human-rights campaigner of despite their vintage (or because of it, the faith – and in our world integrity of international repute. perhaps), they are still going. Which any kind wins respect. Huw Spanner.