HOW DID THIS HAPPEN SO SOON??!!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ very first gig, which took place at the now defunct Marquee Club, then one of London’s most popular jazz venues. Back in the day, the new R&B band featured singer Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Brian Jones (who used the stage name of Elmo Lewis), pianist Ian “Stu” Stewart, bassist Dick Taylor and future Kinks drummer Mick Avory.
According to ABC News and the RollingStones website, the Stones were reportedly encouraged enough by the audience’s response to continue with Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts signing on as bassist and drummer, respectively. Superstardom ensued and the rest is, as they say, history.
Author Christopher Andersen, whose just-published biography Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger has been garnering plenty of media attention, has done extensive research about the Stones’ early days, and he shared some interesting tidbits with ABC News Radio.
With regard to the band’s first concert, Andersen said that the Stones apparently didn’t overwhelm the Marquee crowd. He quoted Taylor as saying, “It was a case of instant dislike. The sight of us, and particularly Mick, was more than they could handle.”
Andersen also pointed out that since the Marquee was a jazz club, most of its clientele “didn’t like rockers,” noting, “There were a few people who did in the audience … and before long, people who were fans of rock knew this was the place to come.”
The author also said that the inspiration for Mick’s trademark stage moves, immortalized recently in Maroon 5′s chart-topping “Moves Like Jagger,” came from a surprising source. Andersen claims that according to Taylor, as well as some club owners from The Stones’ early days, “Mick told them he was doing a conscious parody of Marilyn Monroe when he was on stage — with the pouty lips, the mugging, the swivel-hip thing [and] the playful hair toss.”
Fans wanting to commemorate the Stones’ big anniversary along with the band can log on to RollingStones.com for a review of things to come. Last seen in public together at the Shine A Light premiere in 2008, their appearance at London’s Somerset House – 50 years to the day after their first gig at London’s Marquee Club on July 12th, 1962 is to be just the first in a series of events.
Charlie Watts confirmed to Rolling Stone that the band had been practicing again, although he said, “We’ve been playing, not rehearsing,” he said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Mick Jagger said he was pleased the band had made it through 50 years together.
Later, Jagger reminisced about that first show at the Marquee, which the band had “reconstructed” for a photo shoot the previous day.
“I remember it because of the trouble we had finding a rhythm section,” he laughed. Dick Taylor played bass that night, with the drummer either Tony Chapman or Mick Avory, depending on whose version of history you believe. The lineup was completed by Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitar and Ian Stewart on piano. Former bass player Bill Wyman did not come on board until later that year, with Watts joining in 1963.
But despite two years of apparent feuding since a row over Richards’ autobiography Life, Jagger and Lewis seemed as happy and relaxed in each other’s company as they did in many of the vintage photos on display.
Whether this harmony of the group will lead to either new recordings or another tour remains to be seen, although Jagger has hinted about at least one gig this year and Stones insiders expect further discussions to be held while the band are all together in London.
Watts, however, maintained that the reunion was really just business as usual.
So what does this have to do with Real Estate? It serves as reminder to those of us who actually DO remember the early Rolling Stones, that time passes far too quickly. My expertise in helping other Baby Boomers (yes, I am one myself) downsize or move on will prove the old saying that “a Rolling Stone gathers no moss”
Pun Intended.
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