The Cranky Bones

Recently a music critic that I like Jim DeRegotis got ripped in the Sun Times from readers for criticizing the recent Rolling Stones show at the United Center. He claimed that all the Stones are doing now is charging tons of money for their pension plan and putting out nothing more then a greatest hits show. Now, I was not at the United Center show so, I cannot really comment on that. I can however comment on what has become of a once great band.

There is no doubting their one time greatness or their importance in the realm of rock and roll. One could make an argument that they were the greatest band to come out of the English invasion of the 60’s. (I have always been more of a Beatles and Who fan but again you can make the argument.) The early Stones records are some of the greatest recordings in the entire history of rock and roll. No matter how much they have sold out and sullied their identity no one can take away just what they did and accomplished.

With that said the current incarnation of this once great band is in a word, pathetic. They have taken everything they've done and reduced it to rubble. With their endless line of very bland and generic music that they have put out since the early 80’s, they have continued down a slope towards mediocre. I mean they have been putting out music for the last twenty-five years and have not had one record worthy of praise.

From the 1981 release of Tattoo You until their latest release they have done nothing that is even remotely good. It’s like they put out these crap albums just so they have an excuse to go out on tour charge and arm and a leg for tickets and add more money to their already inflated bank accounts. I mean how much money is enough? Charlie Watts is 64 and Mick and Keith are 62. I think they may have finally attained some satisfaction.

Because of all of this, now the Stones are what they are. Their concerts are full of over aged rockers who think that attending a Stones show still makes them cool. I saw them in 1989, and even then the whole scene was very ugly. They say opening for the Stones is one of the most thankless jobs a band can have. I saw a band I really like, Living Colour get booed off of the stage in a shroud of racial slurs and insults that were frankly embarrassing.

So, when DeRegotis wrote about how much the Stones are now a caricature of themselves he was simply being honest. However, those stuck in the sixties gray beards went into attack mode to stand up for their fallen rock gods. It’s like these guys can never do any wrong. I mean they keep raising ticket prices on you and you keep shoveling money over to them. How many times do you need to hear Jumping Jack Flash live? Here’s a newsflash these guys are senior citizens. They are no longer rebellious young rockers who made that great, fresh, and original music. Tune your radio into something other then the classic rock station and you may just find something else that is worth listening to and spending money on.