Monday, July 16, 2012

Glass House

You know the old adage, so I won't be throwing any Stones around here. Not Mick, or Keith, even Ronnie. This is the Band That Would Not Die, with apologies to Brian Jones. It might be easy enough to assume that all that consorting with the devil brought that little bit of tragedy on, but it seems to have had a pretty positive effect on the rest of the group's experience. Getting a multi-album deal with the Prince of Darkness turns out to be just the kind of luck for which the Stones are most well-known.
There are plenty of other solo acts and parts of bands floating about that can trace their lineage back to the early sixties and before. Jerry "The Killer" Lewis has tour dates scheduled for this year, and he's still knocking over piano benches, though without some of the reckless abandon. Half of the Beatles continue tease the public with the potential of a reunion, but the difficulty of getting all two of them on the same stage doesn't seem as daunting as the chore facing the Stones' management team. Finding a bass player continues to be one such challenge. At least they know where their lead singer is.
Across the pond is another band that is giving the Stones a run for their money. The Beach Boys' endless summer has been resurrected in honor of their fiftieth year together, more or less. These American rock and rollers had their own brush with Satan, in the form of Charlie Manson, or maybe you prefer to discuss their association with John Stamos? These surfing legends match the output of their British counterparts, except when you start counting live albums, which the Stones seem to issue on a bi-annual basis.
So, in the end, maybe it isn't so much a contest as it is a matter of personal taste. Congratulations to both of these groups of groundbreaking artists, and look forward to 2023 and the golden anniversary of Cheap Trick.

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