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RIP Charlie Watts

Spaceman Spiff

By Spaceman Spiff
in The Tailgate

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Dan T.

Dan T.

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He always seemed to carry himself with a bemused detachment from the mania surrounding the Stones - on stage and off - a steady hand in counter to the wildness of Mick and Keith.

 

One obit said he was married to his wife Shirley Ann Shepard for 57 years.  That's got to be an all-time rock and roll record.

Edited by Dan T.
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The Evil Genius

The Evil Genius

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28 minutes ago, Dan T. said:

He always seemed to carry himself with a bemused detachment from the mania surrounding the Stones - on stage and off - a steady hand in counter to the wildness of Mick and Keith.

 

One obit said he was married to his wife Shirley Ann Shepard for 67 years.  That's got to be an all-time rock and roll record.

 

He got married at 13? 

 

Edit..just checked. It's 57 years. He was 23. 

Edited by The Evil Genius
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Spaceman Spiff

Spaceman Spiff

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Of course, the Mick Jagger punching story is going around a lot today.

 

Quote

 

“It became clear how much earlier the plans had been laid. Mick was the big star, and Yetnikoff (President of CBS at the time) and others were fully behind the idea of him taking off on a solo career — all of which flattered Mick and encouraged his takeover plans. So the real purpose of The Rolling Stones deal was for Mick to ride in on top of it.”

Back in 1984, drunk in Amsterdam after a meeting, Jagger and Richards had gotten back to the hotel at five in the morning. Jagger decided to call Charlie Watts’ room, despite Richards’ protestations “Where’s my drummer”, were the indolent words that “Brenda Jagger” (affectionately nicknamed by Richards, after the British novelist) uttered into the phone.

A few moments later, there’s a knock on the door; as Richards describes in his book, “Charlie Watts, Savile Row suit, perfectly dressed, tie, shaved, the whole ****ing bit. I could smell the cologne! I opened the door, and he didn’t even look at me, he walked straight past me, got hold of Mick and said, ‘Never call me your drummer again.’ Then he hauled him up by the lapels of my jacket and gave him a right hook. Mick fell back onto a silver platter of smoked salmon on the table and began to slide towards the open window and the canal below it.” Jagger almost fell in, except Richards caught him at just the right time.

 

 

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/rolling-stones-charlie-watts-punched-mick-jagger-keith-richards-story/

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BleedBNG

BleedBNG

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As one famous story from the band’s heyday goes, Jagger once phoned Watts’ hotel room in the midst of an all-night party, asking, “Where’s my drummer?” Watts reportedly got up, shaved, dressed in a suit, put on a tie and freshly shined shoes, descended the stairs, and punched Jagger in the face, saying, “Don’t ever call me your drummer again. You’re my ****ing singer!” - Rolling Stone mag.

 

RIP Charlie

 

 

 

Edited by BleedBNG
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Spearfeather

Spearfeather

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Easily one of my favorite bands since  I was about 13 years old. I was lucky enough to have seen them three times in '89, '94,  and '99. Twice at RFK. 

Charlie was great.

Charlie's demeanor was like a statue compared to some others in the band, but I remember seeing him tear up in an interview one time when he was asked why he continues to play with the Stones after all these years.

 

" Because they gave me a chance ",, he said.

 

" I'll play with them anytime "

 

 

One of my favorite Charlie tracks.

 

 

 

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No Nonsense

No Nonsense

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2 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

I saw they play in RFK stadium around 1972 I think. Stevie Wonder opened for them.. I used to have pictures, taken from the upper deck so the Stones looked like ants!


That’s interesting that Stevie Wonder would be opening for the Stones. 

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EmirOfShmo

EmirOfShmo

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18 minutes ago, No Nonsense said:


That’s interesting that Stevie Wonder would be opening for the Stones. 

 

Music in the '70s was the ballz. Yeah, disco, but damn it was a fun ride.

 

When Stevie Wonder toured with The Rolling Stones: “The building was actually vibrating”

....

 

The STP jaunt was the Stones’ first American tour since their performance at Altamont Speedway in 1969. Wonder, as their opening act, was likewise trying to leave that decade behind, along with his image as the clean-cut teen phenomenon behind “I Was Made To Love Her” and “For Once In My Life”.

“Motown was trying to break Stevie bigger than he’d ever been,” says Chess. “It was a great thing for the Stones, because Mick and Keith just loved Stevie. It was a great thing for Stevie because it showed him to this whole other white audience, the Stones’ audience.”

 

Prior to the Stones tour, Wonder had faced some difficult audiences as he struggled to redefine himself, introducing longer, heavier, funkier songs to his setlist. “Sometimes we would get these gigs at supper clubs, and we’d show up in bellbottom jeans and fringe jackets,” recalls David Sanborn, who played saxophone in backing band Wonderlove. “Everybody else would be in tuxes and tails. Stevie was adamant about playing the new stuff, so it could get tense at times. Sometimes the audience was just not having it. They got restless because they weren’t hearing what they wanted to hear, what they had paid their money to hear. We understood that, so we did play ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours’ and ‘If You Really Love Me’. We always played the **** out of them.”

 

Winning over Stones fans wasn’t much easier, but Wonder drew on 12 years of experience – more than half his life – working crowds as part of Motown package tours with The Temptations, The Supremes, and other label acts. When the Stones were arrested in Rhode Island after Richards assaulted a journalist, Stevie and Wonderlove played a double set in Boston that night to calm the audience – who grew rowdy when the Stones looked like no-shows.

The STP tour was such a success and the chemistry between the two acts so palpable that they collaborated on a joint double live album, with one LP devoted to Wonder’s set and the other to the Stones. Even though the record never materialised, the tour did exactly what he needed it to do. “That’s when his popularity just jumped,” confirms Deniece Williams, who toured as a member of Wonderlove.

 

Edit - added this:

 

The Stones tour helped usher in a new imperial phase in Stevie Wonder’s career, as he transformed himself over a string of bold and progressive albums beginning with 1972’s Music Of My Mind album and culminating in 1976’s Songs In The Key Of Life. Together, these albums are as much about Wonder’s creative development as they are, from another perspective, about his attempts to defy the Motown assembly-line approach to writing, recording, and touring. “At Motown, Stevie never really got a chance to be himself,” says Robert Margouleff, who played a crucial role in Wonder’s transformation from teen idol to visionary rock star. “He was on a quest to be his own man.”

 

https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/when-stevie-wonder-toured-with-the-rolling-stones-the-building-was-actually-vibrating-129015/

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EmirOfShmo

EmirOfShmo

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8 Songs That Prove Charlie Watts Was the Coolest Rolling Stone

 

He was the least rock’n’roll member of the World’s Greatest Rock’n’Roll Band—which automatically made him the coolest one. Charlie Watts was the Rolling Stones’ resident Renaissance man: the impeccably styled, eternally blasé timekeeper who never really shared his bandmates’ voracious appetite for sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, preferring monogamy, illustration, and jazz instead. To say he approached his 58-year tenure as the band’s drummer like a job is no insult, but rather the highest of compliments. Like the pilot with whom you entrust your life whenever you board a flight, Watts was dedicated to making sure the Stones always got where they needed to go, on time and with minimal turbulence.

Watts’ unflappable backbeat—punctuated by his spine-cracking snare hits—provided the sturdy foundation upon which Jagger and Richards could prance and preen. (And as legend has it, the snare wasn’t the only thing he was good at hitting.) Whatever direction the Stones’ musical curiosities pulled them toward—blues, psychedelia, funk, reggae, disco—Watts was the engine of those transformations, with an effortless rhythmic dexterity that allowed the band to dabble in different genres with authority and panache.

When you’re in a group with the most famous frontman and most iconic guitarist in rock history, it’s easy to get taken for granted. But here are eight Rolling Stones songs where Watts refused to take the backseat.

 

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/8-songs-that-prove-charlie-watts-was-the-coolest-rolling-stone/

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