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The Rolling Stones · S1 E7
The Anti-Beatles
Oldham tells them not to smile, not to wear matching suits, not to bow. The Rolling Stones will be the band your parents fear. It works immediately
1964. The question on every front page in Britain is the same: "Would you let your daughter go with a Rolling Stone?"
The Rolling Stones, Angry. Oldham's whole strategy in 1963 was to make the Stones look angry, sound angry, be angry. Sixty years later they released a song with that exact title, and it still sounds like they mean it.
The Headline That Built a Band
Andrew Loog Oldham doesn't fight the headline. He prints it on posters. While Brian Epstein dresses The Beatles in matching suits and teaches them to bow, Oldham tells the Stones to wear whatever they want, say whatever they want, and never apologize.
Sources
Oldham, Andrew Loog. "Stoned." Secker & Warburg, 2000.
Norman, Philip. "The Stones." Elm Tree Books, 1984.
TAP TO REVEAL: Were The Beatles and The Rolling Stones actually rivals?
“We were not the anti-Beatles. We were just the Stones. But Andrew made it a great story, and great stories sell records.”
— Keith Richards, in Richards, Keith. "Life." Little, Brown and Company, 2010
Angry -- The Rolling Stones (2023)
From Hackney Diamonds, produced by Andrew Watt. The riff is lean and sharp, stripped of any nostalgia or self-reference, and Mick's vocal sounds like a man half his age picking a fight. Listen for how the production keeps everything tight and punchy, just a two-and-a-half-minute burst of energy.
Sources
Richards, Keith. "Life." Little, Brown and Company, 2010.
Rolling Stone magazine, Hackney Diamonds review, 2023.
I Wanna Be Your Man -- The Rolling Stones
The Stones' second single, released November 1963. Lennon and McCartney wrote it and gave it to the Stones after the two bands met at the Crawdaddy. The Beatles recorded their own version for With The Beatles, but the Stones' take is rawer, louder, and meaner.
The Anti-Beatles: The File
What was the Rolling Stones' first UK number one single?
Oldham books five days at Regent Sound Studios on Denmark Street, a room so small that the walls are lined with egg cartons for soundproofing. The Rolling Stones are about to make their first album, and they will record it in conditions that make the Crawdaddy look spacious.
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To be continued
Season 2: Satisfaction
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