To celebrate (i.e. advertise) the launch there have been many interviews with the performers, or at least Jagger, Richards and Watts. (Neither Wyman nor Taylor that I have seen.) It is amusing how differently they pretend to recall the recording sessions and how authentic the “bonus” tracks are (possibly not very, i.e. they may be more bogus than bonus). But this is good from Jagger, talking to the BBC:
Well, it’s all changed in the last couple of years. We’ve gone through a period where everyone downloaded everything for nothing and we’ve gone into a grey period it’s much easier to pay for things – assuming you’ve got any money.I hope they don’t. Have you seen Martin Scorsese’s 2008 concert film Shine a Light? I lasted five minutes. Tragic. They are too old. Please stop them.
Are you quite relaxed about it?
I am quite relaxed about it. But, you know, it is a massive change and it does alter the fact that people don’t make as much money out of records.
But I have a take on that - people only made money out of records for a very, very small time. When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn’t make any money out of records because record companies wouldn’t pay you! They didn’t pay anyone!
Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone.
So if you look at the history of recorded music from 1900 to now, there was a 25 year period where artists did very well, but the rest of the time they didn’t.
What about the future. Are you going to get back together and write more music?
I think that would be a very good idea. I’ve been writing quite a lot of music.
Is Keith keen to get the guitar out?
I’m sure he is. And I’ll be seeing him next week, so I’m sure we’ll get together and start doing that.
The only interesting Stones story left now is getting 'Cocksucker Blues' released; the documentary Mick has been able to suppress, in the same way Frank Sinatra stopped the first 'Manchurian Candidate' - the good one - cold.
ReplyDeleteYep - Shine A Light was totally shite.
ReplyDeleteAnd 'Satisfaction' was Rolling Stones Lite.
Wasn't intending a rhyming couplet
But ... Something something ...WTF rhymes with couplet?
Brian Eno made comments like that a few months ago:
ReplyDelete"I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn't last, and now it's running out. I don't particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you'd be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history's moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it."
From http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/17/brian-eno-interview-paul-morley