This song is dripping in atmosphere and attitude.
In a lyrical sense, just like Sympathy For The Devil
and Street Fighting Man, it’s quite scary. The guitar
intro gets my attention from fifty yards, and the
incredible screaming outro makes it a lyrical and
sonic masterpiece.
Philip Lewis, L.A. GunsYou’ve got to admire the longevity, catalogue and
bloody-mindedness of the Stones. And when they
hit the sweet spot, boy do you know it. For me the
tragedy of the Stones is that they remain infantile.
The triumph of the Stones, too, is that they
remain infantile. The two things go hand in hand.
After refusing for many years to go and see
them live, I finally did so not too long ago. I really
enjoyed it when I closed my eyes. They’re a garage
band, really, or in Aussie vernacular a pub-rock
band – and they’re a bloody good one. When you
stop looking at the lights, leotards and
leopardskin guitar straps, you realise, wow,
there’s something incredible happening here.
They won me over.
The Stones have a pool of around twenty great
songs. Gimme Shelter has all the Stones’
mechanisms at play, and there’s harp [harmonica]
all over it. It builds wonderfully, and fifty years
later it still sounds great.
Peter Garrett, Midnight OilGimme Shelter. That is the song. That’s it. Probably
one of the most powerful social commentaries.
And another lighting-in the-bottle moment when
Mary Clayton’s voice cracks and Mick goes: ‘Whoo!’
The guitar sound, too. It’s absolutely visceral.
John Rzeznik, Goo Goo DollsHonky Tonk Women
(Single, 1969)F
or my money, Honky Tonk Women is the
perfectly written song. I think it was the
first of their songs written in an open-D
guitar tuning to become a smash. After that
open-D became Keith’s go-to tuning.
I grew up playing hillbilly, bluegrass and
traditional country music that I learned from my
dad, but my mum liked the Stones, the Beach
Boys, The Beatles and Bob Dylan. She owned
a cassette of Hot Rocks 1964 –1971, the double-
album greatest hits record, and she played it all
the time. I was used to hearing all their hits fromthe mid-sixties, which were great. How could you
not like them?
But at the age of eleven my ears really started to
open. Honky Tonk Women grabbed me instantly. It
was sort of a revved-up, electrified country song
when you get right down to it. It’s three chords
and great harmonies. And that’s when it hit me.
It’s the same thing as Hank Williams, just louder.
Then it all started to make sense. That feeling
never left me. To this day, when I hear the first
crack of that snare drum, I’m hooked again and
I can’t turn it off.
Charlie Starr, Blackberry SmokeI was always more of a Beatles than a Stones man,
but Honky Tonk Women is such a great record. I love
the way it starts with the cowbell. The chorus is
absolutely great and so is the lyric. I would
imagine the words ref lected exactly what went on
to inspire the song. It’s like a serious song, but fun
at the same time.
Graham Gouldman, 10ccBrown Sugar
(From Sticky Fingers, 1971)A
h, man, give me a full album: Sticky
Fingers! But if it’s gotta be one song, I’ll
say Brown Sugar. It’s eight-track, it’s
amazing, it’s perfect, it’s one of the least mixed-
down tracks on any Rolling Stones record. Butyeah, Sticky Fingers is the best album, Brown Sugar is
the best song. But The Stones is a hard one. What
about You Can’t Always Get What You Want? The first
time I heard that, man...
Jon Harvey, Monster TruckWild Horses
(From Sticky Fingers, 1971)W
hen I heard Wild Horses for the first
time, I played it solidly on repeat for
about two days. It still gives me
goose-bumps every time I hear it. If you’re going
to write a ballad, then that’s the bench mark.
Ricky Warwick, Black Star RidersThe Stones are right at the top of the greatest
bands in the world. I’ve seen them four times and
they’re always fantastic. The side of the band I like
best is when they touch on American country
music. If I’m in a pub somewhere and people ask
me to sing a song for them, Wild Horses is what I’ll
usually go for. It’s just beautiful.
Geoff Tate, Operation: MindcrimeJoe Hottinger [Halestorm guitarist] and I decided
when we were nineteen to never get a normal job
again. So we worked up a four-hour acoustic
show to make ends meet. Wild Horses was one of
the songs we performed every night, five nights
a week. Then we’d book Halestorm gigs on theGET
TY(^) x 2
Jagger and Richards: one of the
greatest writing and performing
partnerships in music history.
Charlie^ Watts,^ Brian^
Jones and^ Bill^ Wyman^
with^ the^ Stones^ in^1968.
50 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM