telling me of a call from somebody. They didn’t
even introduce themself, just saying: “Hey,
Michael. Would you be interesting in an audition
for the Rolling Stones? ” I didn’t know what to say,
so I replied: “Let me call you back.” I didn’t even
ask for their number, and I hung up. I called my
brother Rudolf [of the Scorpions], who apparently
doesn’t remember the incident – though he does
recall everything he wants to remember – and he
said: “You have to make a decision, it’s your life.”
The more I thought about it, I was where I wanted
to be in life. I was in England and had just joined
a band. That felt like a big enough step. UFO wasn’t
famous yet, but this was England!
I was extremely nervous about the Rolling
Stones anyway. I had seen photos of them in
a magazine, looking for lice in each other’s hair.
Joining a band like that would be bad news.
I would probably have been dead within two
years. I couldn’t even call them back anyway, as
I didn’t have the number.
Michael SchenkerI can still remember buying it as a single. Bob
Dylan had already changed my life, but to me
Paint It, Black was magnetic. Although I was only
around fifteen, my mates and I were out in New
Cross, Lewisham and Deptford, and that song
was a dance-f loor filler. It’s the most energetic and
vibrant single the Stones ever made.
I don’t sing many covers, but last winter I went
to Athens to sing with a choir and 60 -piece
philharmonic orchestra right beneath the
Parthenon. Among the songs I sang in that
incredible setting was Paint It, Black. Let me tell
you, the place was swinging.Back in 2007, when we went out as an opening
act for some shows with the Stones, Mick took me
on stage for a couple of songs. That’s something
I’ll never forget.
Steve Harley, Cockney RebelLady Jane
(From Aftermath, 1966)T
hat’s a great deep cut. It’s from that period
just before they became this properly
nasty rock’n’roll band with Beggar’s Banquet
and all that. It’s one of Brian Jones’s songs, and it’s
got all these angular chords where the root note is
very gospel against the harpischord and the sitar.
I love Jagger’s vocal peformance. He sounds like
he’s wearing a cravat and has a gin and tonic in his
hand. Although they were snotty little gits, they
definitely had an air of Lord Byron about them.
The Beatles originally looked kind of posher, but
they were a lot rougher than the Stones.
Joe Elliott, Def LeppardHave You Seen Your
Mother, Baby, Standing
In The Shadow?
(Single, 1966)S
eptember 1966: “Turn that noise down! ” I’d
just turned fourteen and my world was in
turmoil. Hooked on the pirate station
Radio London, I’m hearing new and exciting
sounds whenever I tune in, though few quite as
brazen or shocking as this latest from the Stones.
Off-kilter, reverb-laden fuzz guitars giving way toa fanfare of wailing harmonica and trumpets
introducing the opening chorus: ‘Have you seen
your mother, baby, standing in the shadow...’ What
could it all mean?
The mystery became no clearer as the song
progressed: ‘The have-nots would have tried to freeze you
in ice’, sings Jagger, to the accompaniment of
a hammered piano and the devil’s own bass guitar.
Finally, a cacophonous climax, the record ending
with free-tempo distorted guitar chords rising
from the bowels of the earth. I was entranced; the
jeering, angry statement chimed perfectly with
my teenage frustration, and within weeks of
hearing it I’d bought my first electric guitar.
Credit for those extraordinary sounds must go
to the engineer the band worked with at RCA
Studios in Hollywood, Dave Hassinger. With the
Beatles’ new album Revolver occupying the
nation’s turntables, perhaps the Stones felt some
attention-grabbing mischief was called for. The
grainy monochrome promo film that
accompanied the release includes a cross-
dressing scenario, with the band kitted out as
GET their grandmothers; outrageous for the time,
TY
Rehearsing for the Eamonn Andrews
TV show, on which the Stones
appeared on February 5, 1967.CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 47