Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with rollingstones

Who'd you rather be; The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

Lorc — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:50:03 -0800

The song Gimme Sympathy by Metric has a line: "After all of this is gone, who'd you rather be; the Beatles or the Rolling Stones." What would you interpret that to mean? What characteristic of those bands is being contrasted here? Googling suggests that there was some Beatles/Stones dichotomy, but I'm not 100% clear on how it relates to that lyric.

I've sussed that the later lyric "play me something like Here Comes The Sun" is a reference to that Beatles song, so are The Beatles the "right" choice? Maybe?

Sorry for overthinking a plate of beans, but you know how when one line of a song sticks in your mind?

Full lyrics for the song are in the linked vid's description.

Recommendations for worst Rolling Stones live album?

Joe Beese — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:41:29 -0800

Recommendations for worst Rolling Stones live album? For a very long time now, what's happened is that I'll occasionally start paying attention to The Rolling Stones and remember "You know, those guys were fucking amazing" - but then stop paying attention again. So in the spirit with which some middle-aged men undertake to Finally Read Proust or something similarly enriching, I've decided to belatedly attend to their story with the thoroughness it deserves.

Regrettably, that story includes their deterioration as live performers. So in the interest of having a clear sense of how bad it eventually got, I wanted to listen to whatever their worst live album was - if there was any consensus on the matter.

AllMusic seems confident that it's Still Life from the 1981 tour - but I've been disagreeing with their ratings more frequently of late. Dave Marsh's account of the 1975 tour made it sound dreary enough to be a strong candidate. And then there was this comment in the blue about the No Security tour in 1999.

Keep on dancing!

umbú — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:27:21 -0800

What are some examples of "the show going on" under the threat of a riot? I am riveted by footage of the Rolling Stones performing at Altamont, pretending to enjoy themselves on stage so that utter pandemonium doesn't break loose, and James Brown performing in Boston in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King.

What are some other examples of musicians (or other performers) going on with their performances in the face of volatile and unfolding circumstances?

Toy Drums sets in popular recordings?

chillmost — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:14:01 -0800

What popular or well known recordings use toy drum sets for percussion? I'm contemplating doing the RPM Challenge next month and I was wondering what it would sound like to use a cheapo children's mini drum set on a few of the songs.

I heard that Charlie Watts supposedly used something similar, on Street Fighting Man.

This made me curious about what other recordings use toy drum sets for percussion. Street Fighting Man was the only example I could find, but there are probably more. Anybody know of any examples? I'd be eager to hear what kinds of different sounds are possible.

"Let's bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones..."

TheOnlyCoolTim — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:29:14 -0800

If you weren't dead in the 60s or know more than me, help me understand this "Beatles-Stones rivalry." Hopefully this isn't too much chatfilter: The best I can find on Google is a lot of passing references to it and a vague idea that it wasn't a rivalry between the bands like East Coast vs. West Coast hip hop, but a rivalry in the sense that people would argue that one band or the other was better and wouldn't listen to both. Also a little bit of wanking about how each band embodied a different social ethos something or other.

Importantly, from my born in 1985 hindsight it seems incredible to me that anyone would be on the side of the Stones, though I freely admit that I have no idea if the lasting greatness of the Beatles was as apparent when they were still active.

Rock You Like a Fully Orchestrated, Symphonic Hurricane ...

WCityMike — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:59:20 -0800

I'm seeking examples of a full orchestra backing up singers (not necessarily the original ones) doing famous non-classical (pop, rock, etc.) songs traditionally known without that orchestration. For example, "Hurricane 2000," or Symphonic Music of the Rolling Stones — although ideally responses would be publicly accessible links (i.e. Google Video, YouTube, etc.), it's not altogether necessary.