After a chance meeting in the 1960s, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones have been raising hell, and for longer than most other rock artists.
The Stones have always represented the slightly sinister yet stereotypical side of rock and roll, which included sex, drugs and god knows what other escapades. Though they have countless hits, not every song remains a favourite to its creators and there are more than a few that the pair have grown to dislike over time.
Street Fighting Man for example, is a track that Jagger feels did not make sense over time. He told Rolling Stone: “I’m not sure if it has any resonance for the present day. I don’t really like it that much. I thought it was a very good thing at the time.”
It makes sense given that the late 1960s was very much a time for young man’s revolution to resonate with people more than in this modern age. However, Jagger’s ability to write honest lyrics has served him well, capturing the essence most disenfranchised kids feel at that age.
Hindsight is a funny thing and when reflecting back on some of their biggest hits Jagger and Richards recall the latter’s disliking for Satisfaction.
In BBC documentary My Life as a Rolling Stone, Jagger recalled: “I remember sitting with Keith and writing the song Satisfaction. Our manager Andrew Oldham said, ‘This is like a number one single, this is great!’ Keith was like, ‘I don’t really like it. It can’t come out as a single.’ And it went to number one instantly.”
Regardless of Richards’ feelings, the song was a huge worldwide hit and allowed fans to listen to something with a bit of edge, unlike what other bands like The Beatles were offering.
When looking back through their back catalogue, Jagger and Richards confirmed they don’t have the warmest of feelings towards their album Their Satanic Majesties Request. The band had tried to immerse themselves in psychedelics likely for ‘creative’ purposes, Jagger remembers the drugs getting the better of them in the studio most of the time, admitting: “Well, it’s not very good. It had interesting things on it, but I don’t think any of the songs are very good.
“It’s a bit like Between the Buttons. It’s a sound experience, really, rather than a song experience. There’s two good songs on it: ‘She’s a Rainbow’ and ‘2000 Light Years From Home’. The rest of them are nonsense.”
Either way, it is undeniable that each of The Stones’ records impacted the rock music scene for the better. Even if Satisfaction failed to satisfy Richards and Jagger is critical about Satanic Majesties it doesn’t change how the music made the fans feel at the time.