The Rolling Stones

            The Rolling Stones, a British rock group, were influential in bringing the blues to a worldwide audience during the blues revival of the 1960s and ‘70s. Made up of musicians who had started their careers in smaller blues and rock outfits, the Stones were one of the earliest bands to define the British blues scene. [1]   Subsequently, their trans-Atlantic popularity, like Eric Clapton’s, would contribute to a growing consciousness of the early blues style, and eventually lead to the transmission of early blues features into more contemporary musical styles. Guitarist Keith Richards articulated the group’s explicit intention to educate audiences in the blues tradition, saying “our aim [was] to turn people on to the blues. If we could turn them on to Muddy [Waters] and Jimmy Reed and Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker, then our job was done.” [2]

 The Stones covered several songs by Delta blues singers (including Robert Johnson’s Love in Vain and Reverend Fred McDowell’s You Got to Move) in their crusade to “turn people on to the blues,” but they also left a deep impression on the harder rock styles that succeeded them by integrating blues features into their original songs. [3]   For instance, You Got the Silver combines a Delta-infused slide guitar line with jazz and rock features like drums played with brushes and a psychedelic organ; this synthesis paved the way for later groups like The Who, Led Zeppelin, and others that adopted and advanced the blues-inflected rock style. [4]

      Bibliography

      [1]  Wald, Escaping the Delta, 239.       [2]  Keith Richards, quoted in Wald, Escaping the Delta, 244-5.       [3]  The Rolling Stones, studio recording of “Love in Vain” on Let It Bleed,   Decca, SKL 5025, 1969, compact disc; The Rolling Stones, studio recording of “You Gotta Move” on Sticky Fingers, Rolling Stones Records COC 59100, compact disc.       [4]  The Rolling Stones, studio recording of “You Got the Silver” on Let It Bleed, Decca, SKL 5025, 1969, compact disc.