A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

An updated essay on the Rolling Stones influence in the 1960s, once again written for my english class. This essay focuses more on the Stones' influence on the youth of London in the 1960s, through a cultural studies approach. 

         Fifty years since their formation in 1962, The Rolling Stones have proved to be the most powerful and influential rock and roll band in the world. At the height of their career, in terms of musical and social influence, the Rolling Stones influenced an entire generation of teenagers, predominantly London’s youth. Decades following the height of the Stones’ popularity and influence in the 1960s, two memoirs were published, one in 1979 by their drug dealer Tony Sanchez entitled Up and Down with The Rolling Stones, and one by a member of the Rolling Stones himself, Bill Wyman, entitled Stone Alone published in 1990. Through the cultural studies approach, which aims to examine its subject in terms of cultural practices and their relation to power, these memoirs will be analyzed. The cultural studies approach will be applied to The Rolling Stones to comprehend the Rolling Stones’ influence on London’s youth and their rise to power as musical innovators and leaders of the youth revolution in London in the 1960s. Due to their roles as musical innovators and leaders of the social revolution, The Rolling Stones proved to be the most influential band in London in the 1960s, who became a part of both “Swinging London” and the British Invasion.

         The Rolling Stones’ earliest and greatest influence was American blues, which helped develop the Stones’ style and signature sound. Their efforts introduced the youth of London to blues, a new genre of music they had never heard before. Brian Jones, the mastermind behind the Stones, is credited with naming the band after the song “Rollin’ Stone” by Muddy Waters, an American blues musician. His love and admiration for the blues, was the driving force behind the band’s early sound, as Bill Wyman said, “he nursed an absolute fervor for true American blues. [His] obsession created the Stones, made them what they were – totally different from every other pop group. His knowledge of the origins of our music, and the translation of it into a British sound, was our blueprint” (77). The cultural studies approach allows us to examine what “happens when cultures come into contact with each other” (Sardar), and in this case can be applied to the Stones’ modification and incorporation of American blues into British rock and roll. The result of combining two cultures together created the Rolling Stones’ sound and introduced the youth of London to American culture. In consequence to introducing a generation to a new culture and music genre, their recordings were met with great critical acclaim and chart success, which helped them solidify their place as one of rock’s greatest artists.

         In contrast to the “clean-cut, well-behaved” British boy bands of the 1960s, The Rolling Stones brought a rebellious “bad boy” image to America during the British Invasion. They were marketed as the antithesis to the Beatles, and served as idols to both the British and American youth who felt the need to break away from social norms. As its name suggests, the cultural studies approach aims to “[understand] culture in all its complex forms and [analyze] the social and political context in which culture manifests itself” (Sardar), which in this case would be the Stones’ influence on British culture through their image and sound. While The Beatles were known for their positive image, which is evident in the song “She Loves You”, The Rolling Stones were the first to challenge the typical feel-good pop songs of the mid-60s with songs such as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” which repeats the line “No, no, no” (Jagger/Richards), which directly countered the Beatles’ “Yeah, yeah, yeah” (Lennon/McCartney). Although music played an important role in setting the Stones apart from any other band, their image is what sparked media attention and got them the “bad boys of rock” label. As Bill Wyman said when looking back on those years, “In 1963 and 1964 when our reputation was being forged, appearances of people our age were pretty traditional. Hair over the ears, like the Beatles, was pretty unorthodox: hair down to the back of the neck, like ours, was really rebellious. It was much more than a fashion: it was a statement opposition” (153). The Rolling Stones were capable of influencing the youth of London through their lyrics and style, and later American youth and culture, when they were at the forefront of the British Invasion.

         The Stones’ greatest achievement in the 1960s was their cultural and social influence on the youth of London. Their controversial image and lyrics greatly inspired the youth to indirectly form a subculture, which became a part of the phenomenon known as “Swinging London”. “Swinging London” was the name Time Magazine gave to the flourishing cultural scene in London in the 1960s, which can be analyzed through the cultural studies approach which examines how “sub cultural groups and individuals resist dominant forms of culture and identity, creating their own style and identities” (Sardar). In the 1960s, “[clubs] were crowded with the young and beautiful men and women who had turned London, momentarily, into the hip capital of the Western world” (Sanchez 2). London in the 1960s wouldn’t have been the same without the music. At the time, those most capable of influencing the youth all had one thing in common: they played music, and if one was to conjure up a list of most influential artists at the time, The Rolling Stones would be at the top. According to Tony Sanchez, who was a teenager during Swinging London, The Rolling Stones were considered “the new potentates” who influenced everyone from the “leisured aristocrats to schoolboys barely out of short trousers” (Sanchez 1). The Stones influenced every aspect of teenagers’ lives in the 1960s, from their clothing and their hairstyles to their behaviour. Their image influenced others to dress similarly to them, while their music contained lyrics that the typical British teenager could identify with. No other musician has ever possessed as much power to incite change among a whole generation.

         The 1960s proved to be The Rolling Stones’ most artistically creative and highly influential period. Through the cultural studies approach, their role in Swinging London and as influential leaders in the social and cultural worlds was analyzed. No other band from the era has had as much influence on a generation, and the memoirs are a lasting representation of the Rolling Stones’ social, cultural and musical influence on London’s youth in the 1960s, and even to this day.

Works Cited

Pratt, Mary Louise. "Arts of the Contact Zone." Profession 91. New York, 1991. Print.

George, Diana, and John Trimbur. "Cultural Studies and Composition." A Guide to Composition Studies, ed. Gary Tate, Amy Rupiper, Kurt Schick. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.

Sardar, Ziauddin, Loon Borin. Van, Richard Appignanesi, and Ziauddin Sardar. Introducing Cultural Studies. Cambridge, UK: Icon, 1999. Print.

Jagger, Mick, and Keith Richards. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Rec. 12 May 1965. Out Of Our Heads (US). The Rolling Stones. Andrew Loog Oldham, 1965. Vinyl recording.

Lennon, John, andPaul McCartney. "She Loves You." Rec. 1 July 1963. The Beatles' Second Album (US). The Beatles. George Martin, 1963. Vinyl recording.

Wyman, Bill, and Ray Coleman. Bill Wyman, Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock 'n' Roll Band. London: Viking, 1990. Print.

Sanchez, Tony. Up and Down with the Rolling Stones. London: John Blake, 2010. Print.

Motown Record Corporation

A simple, straightforward essay on the beginnings of the Motown Record Corporation written back in March for one of my music classes.

            The mastermind behind the Motown Record Corporation was Berry Gordy who founded the Motown Record Corporation in 1959. Tamla Records, one of Motown Record Corporation’s record labels, initially recorded rhythm and blues artists such as Mable John and Mary Johnson. Gordy then produced the song “Bad Girl” by William “Smokey” Robinson. Following Robinson’s advice that Motown should distribute its own records, Berry Gordy decided to go national with his product, against his attorneys’ advice who claimed he would go bankrupt. Berry then co-wrote and distributed “Shop Around” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, which became Motown’s first number one single and established Motown as an important company.

During the next four years, Motown was able to cash in on the girl group craze, by recording artists such as Mary Wells, The Marvelettes and Martha and the Vandellas. Mary Wells found success with songs such as “Laughing Boy”, “Your Old Stand By” and “My Guy”, while The Marvelletes found success with tunes such as “Playboy”, “Please Mr. Postman” and “Someday, Someway” and Martha and the Vandellas with “Quicksand”, “Heatwave” and “Dancing in the Street”.

In 1964, during the civil rights movement, Motown tried to counter the negative image of African-Americans by grooming and cultivating streetwise teens from Detroit to make them acceptable to mainstream America, which gave young people an avenue of escape and hope. Berry Gordy hired Maxine Powell to prep his Motown performers, and Cholly Atkins, who was a dancer and worked with Maurice King, to teach the Motown groups to dance and move gracefully. His team managed to take young and poor African-Americans and teach them how to dress, walk, talk and dance like classy young Americans.

Berry Gordy and his team weren’t big fans of blues and rhythm and blues, instead they favoured music grounded by an insistent, pounding rhythm section, punctuated by horns and tambourines and featuring shrill, echo-laden vocals that bounced back and forth in the call-and-response of gospel. They decided to expand upon Phil Spector’s wall of sound and record songs aimed towards the pop market.  Motown’s song writing team consisted of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, who joined forces in 1962 and wrote songs for some of Motown’s biggest stars.  The rhythm section, known as the Funk Brothers, consisted of Earl Van Dyke, drummer Benny Benjamin, bassist James Jamerson and guitarists Robert White and Joe Messina.

Motown’s most successful female group was The Supremes whose biggest hits, written by Motown’s song writing team, were “Baby Love”, “Stop! In the Name of Love”, “Come See About Me” and “Back in My Arms Again”.  Motown’s biggest male group was The Temptations who remained on the charts with a series of songs including “Since I Lost My Baby”, “Get Ready” and “My Girl”.

Ultimately, Motown was extremely successful in achieving is goals. By the mid-1960s Berry Gordy had founded a music empire that included eight record labels, a management service, and a publishing company. During the years 1964 to 1967, Motown placed 34 number one singles on the charts, 14 on the pop charts and 20 on the R & B charts. Most importantly, 70% of Motown’s sales were to whites, which proved that they were able to break racial barriers, which was one of Berry’s main goals. In the end, Motown has proved to be the most successful African-American owned record company of all time.

Like a Rolling Stone

Essay on the Stones' influence on 1960s culture - written for my English class.

    The 1960s were a decade of change and revolution marked by teenage rebellion which was influenced by a number of factors, including rock and roll. Rock and roll, although first introduced in the 1950s, only reached the height of its popularity in the 1960s with the world’s greatest rock band: The Rolling Stones. Decades later, two memoirs were published, one by the Stones’ drug dealer, entitled Up and Down With the Rolling Stones, and one by Bill Wyman himself, entitled Stone Alone. Both memoirs explain the importance of the Rolling Stones during this period of change. The rise of The Rolling Stones’ popularity coincided with the rise of the social revolution of the 1960s, which made them influential leaders capable of inciting change amongst the youth of the time.

    The Rolling Stones were the epitome of the “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” lifestyle which became a popular lifestyle for teenagers in the late 1960s during the youth rebellion.  The Stones’ image, including their “hairstyles, their attitudes [and] their clothes”, was revolutionary and something that every boy from “the elegant, leisured aristocrats to [the] school boys barely out of short trousers” aspired to be (Sanchez 7). They revolutionized the “bad boy” image and were the first to broadcast it on a national level. The media portrayed the Stones as the antithesis of the clean-cut pop bands of the time, including The Beatles. They “carried a torch for individuality against conservatism” and weren’t afraid to go against the norm and become the poster boys of the sex drugs and rock n’ roll lifestyle (Wyman 5).

    Although less popular than The Beatles, the Rolling Stones were the most controversial and influential band who ended up becoming the unofficial soundtrack to the 1960s social revolution. Taking into consideration the innocent, clean-cut image most bands portrayed at the time, the Rolling Stones controversial and rebellious image were what teenagers could identify with the most. Both the Stones’ image and sound influenced the youth who then felt the need to break away from the social standards set by the previous generations. “No other musicians in history [ever] wielded such power for social revolution” (Sanchez 7). During the years of change and social revolution, “the Stones helped provide the soundtrack” with songs such as “Satisfaction” and “Street Fighting Man”, which were quickly adopted by teenagers as anti-conservatism, pro-revolution anthems (Wyman 5). No other band was or has been capable of influencing teenagers to revolt against society’s standards in the form of three minute rock songs.
   
    The Rolling Stones were responsible for changing the face of music and were the first to transcend social barriers and make it acceptable to be “different”, which was one of the goals set by teenagers at the time. In the 60s, it was unheard of for a musician to dress in slightly feminine clothes. In a world before David Bowie and glam rock, androgyny wasn’t common nor accepted by rock bands and society as a whole. It isn’t until Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones’ original frontman and mastermind behind the band “grew his hair longest [and started wearing] outrageously androgynous clothes [without anyone ever suggesting] that he looked anything less than masculine” that it became acceptable (Sanchez 7). Brian Jones, and later Mick Jagger’s image was revolutionary and since they were considered the “ultimate rock stars”, no one dared question their actions, and androgyny soon became a phenomenon. Their actions were constantly followed by the media and with their “anti-establishment attitude […] and experimentation with drugs” they became leaders in the fashion, drug musical and cultural world; worlds with which the youth could identify (Wyman 5).
   
    Fifty years since their formation, The Rolling Stones continue to be popular and relevant throughout the world. Their influence as a rock and roll band during the 1960s revolution remains unmatched. No other band has come close to achieving what The Rolling Stones have accomplished, and the memoirs are a lasting representation and documentation of the Stones’ influence on music, culture and life.

Works Cited:

Sanchez, Tony. Up and Down with the Rolling Stones. London: Da Capo, 1996. Print.

Wyman, Bill, and Ray Coleman. Stone Alone. London: Da Capo, 1997. Print.