Advice for the Rolling Stones

There is but only "ONE" quintessential Stone's song for this Irishman from the suburbs of Chitown. "Paint it Black", as I can listen to that song over and over and always marvel at the sound, which is unique amongst the Stone's songs in my opinion. I like the Stone's (not as influential overall as say, The Beatles, who along with U2 and Radiohead, seem to get better almost with age), but that song is the song of songs to me. The rest just come off as... ::shrug:: good songs to listen to, but.... lack that special something for some reason. Their older stuff was their best, with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Ruby Tuesday" and "Time is on my Side" standing out, but... they still lack it compared to "Paint it Black" to me, for some reason.

I do have to agree though... since the mid-late 1970's, the Stone's been in a sort of tailspin, and their CD's haven't really brought forth anything to be remotely excited about compared to their early works. After the Disco-sound of "Start me up" (one of their few gems in later years), they've really been mediocre in my opinion. Then again, all things sooner or later have to come to an end, and the "genuine" aspect of just about any band dissipates. It's almost inevitable.

Case in point... how many "Last tours" has The Who had (probably one of my favorite older Brit bands), it seems they've had like 3 already and when I was at The House of Blues recently, they were coming into town for another show! I still think the ultimate one (for Brit bands) was when The Sex Pistols went out on tour to basically, make $; and openly admitted that was their intents (the ultimate raw-edge punk band sells out? Be like The Clash putting out a ballad).

All of these pale in comparison to what (America's) Metallica did... as there's more reason to cringe at the metal monolith for selling out to the man than any Napster bashing their drummer did. S&M has to be one of the most incredibly ludicrous CD ideas of all time. Toss a bunch of brash guitar strumming "speed metal" types in front of a symphony. True, some of their older works had a symphonic-level score, and some highly creative working with movements, using guitars for percussion, and allowing the drums to play in a more "ornate" fashion, but that still doesn't mean you should toss them out there with the Philharmonic and let someone like Aaron Copland (R.I.P.) or George Gershwin (R.I.P.) lead them forward. How often do you think of Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Beethoven, Bach, and Stravinsky in the same sentence? LoL

God I wished Napster had succeeded to turn the industry on it's ear, and bring the genuine article of "PASSIONATE" music to the forefront, unencumbered. Let the artists change as their tastes change, not just because the recording company had found a way to make more $ by watering down the chemistry, the creativity, the raw drive and passion that an artist working against the system had to work for. If they wish to change, let them do it for themselves... not for the almighty dollar. Makes me wonder what woodland minstrel's would've done with Sony Records looming over their shoulders...

Yeesh, Marcus, think you wrote enough? Your fingers must be numb, buddy.

The great thing about Marcus is that his fingers are actually bionic implants. So he can express his full opinion with zero pain. That's amazing!