I think we’re more than all in agreement here that something very, very special took place during the middle 1960’s; a magical, monumental something in the air(waves) which gave rise to an undeniable socio-artistic upheaval courtesy of bards like Dylan, bands like the Beatles, filmmakers like Kubrick and, if I may push the issue quite thinly, television the likes of Get Smart and Green Acres to boot.
Still with me? Good. For soon came a glorious peak – stretching from Pet Sounds through Sgt. Pepper, roughly phonographically speaking – when Anything and Everything seemed possible, and a florescent-bright, fully-dimensionally-stereophonic future felt well within the fitful grasp of all who, well, believed. Believed in the magic of rock and roll, as was sung. Or, as those still-kinda-cute moptops advised the planet via satellite transmission one hot night in June, “All you need is love.”
But then came 1968, and shadows started to encroach upon everyone’s idyllic little Summer of Flowery Power. Time Magazine (and George Harrison even!) ruthlessly “exposed” the hippie movement, Blonde on Bob grew some whiskers, had a few more kids and went “country,” Brian Wilson forsook SMiLE for some lower-key’d Friends and, as if to drive the disillusionment even further home, MLK then RFK were mowed down, right there in once-living colour on our TV screens while the Viet casualties soared, inner cities roared, and college campuses the world over began to ignite.
Throughout this all and then some, the Rolling Stones, unlike most every single one of their Britpop contemporaries all those years ago, not only always seemed able to recognize such grit beneath our collective cosmic glory, but were able to capture it – some would even say glorify it – in their music, their outlook, and even upon their album covers. So when things started to really get kinda hairy in ’68, the Stones were more than prepared to meet the mess head-on and ride the road to ruin for all it was worth. For really, what else could those (poor?) boys do, ‘cept to sing out the jams in their rock and roll band.
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