The Rolling Stones: The Biography
You could argue that the Beatles had two distinct acts. In act one, the band played rock ‘n’ roll to screaming fans on ceaseless tours, with John Lennon as bandleader. In act two, the touring stopped, the songs got deeper, and Paul McCartney gradually supplanted Lennon. At the end of the 1960s, the play was over.
The Rolling Stones, by my count, had at least six acts.
In act one, Britain’s best electric blues band found its footing, led by the blonde-haired musical polymath Brian Jones. In act two, the Stones learned to write pop songs, and their authors took center stage: singer Michael “Mick” Jagger and Chuck Berry-obsessed second guitarist Keith Richards. Act three: An identity crisis led the Stones from pop to psychedelia and then back to American roots music, leaving Jones behind. Act four: The Stones hired a proper lead guitarist, Mick Taylor, and proceeded through a string of albums that latter-day fans would consider their best. Act five: Richards sank into heroin addiction, setting off an artistic decline. The proper lead guitarist quit, replaced by a lesser guitarist, Ron Wood, who was a better fit. And act six: After a stirring late-1970s comeback, the Stones settled into a contented dotage, releasing unremarkable albums and staging massively remunerative tours.
Bob Spitz’s The Rolling Stones: The Biography is the first book I’ve read that covers the whole play.
