Brian's Brainwaves: Stones Immaculate

I've been listening to the Rolling Stones a lot over the last few days. This year marks 50 years for Mick and the boys. It's pretty amazing that they've lasted this long...in more ways than one.

There's a moment in one of my favorite music movies Almost Famous--which takes place in 1973--where Jimmy Fallon, playing Dennis Hope, prospective manager for the fictional startup band Stillwater, is conveying the short life expectancy of any band. While doing an imitation of Jagger's signature moves, he says, "If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken."

Yes, that is Jimmy Fallon!

It's a funny line, sure, but what is it about the Stones that makes them endure while so many others fall by the wayside. The only other band from their era that still tours at all is The Who and half their members are dead. Obviously, it's not the original line-up of the Stones either, but who would have thought that Keith Richards would still be around today and not John Entwhistle (the Who's famously clean living bassist until he finally indulged in the rock-n-roll lifestyle in his 50's).

I think what it all comes down to, really, is the songs and the magic of their comeraderie. Sure there is the classic love-hate (or hate-love) dynamic that the sadists in us all like to see going on in the band, but it's always been the music that was the ultimate focus. Song after song, album after album, decade after decade, the Stones have delivered songs of amazing quality and sheer infectiousness from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" all the way up to "Don't Stop." This rauckus band famous for gritty songs like "Brown Sugar" and "Street Fighting Man" also gave us the moving "Wild Horses" (covered by Susan Boyle for goodness sake!) and the intellectual (for a 60's rock band) "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Gimme Shelter." The riffs are memorable,