Miss You was a single in the late spring of 1978. It's gone down in history as a pivotal Stones release, but what were your impressions at the time?

I took a little convincing at first, but that may be because of my age. (I was 13, and not much of a disco fan, and even though I was fascinated by the Stones, and desperate to investigate their back catalogue as pocket money permitted, I hadn't liked their previous British hit, Fool To Cry, and wondered if they were washed-up.) Annoyingly, I was too young to buy Love You Live, as much as I salivated over the adverts for it in NME and Sounds. So the release of a new Stones single in '78 was a really big deal for me.

Miss You... I recall I was listening to Radio Luxembourg one weekday night in April or May '78, with school the next morning, and the DJ kept promising he'd play 'the new Stones single' after the next news or weather bulletin. Midnight came and went. Then we were into the following morning.. 1 a.m., possibly 2 a.m. I was flagging, but determined to stay awake. Then it came.

Even over my tinny transistor radio, at quiet volume, it was possible to notice the bassline; it stood out. The Jagger falsetto seemed to keep a continuity with Fool To Cry (which I wasn't too sure about!), but there was a 'fun' aspect to the song that seemed infectious even though what I *really* wanted was a ROCK song.

So that was my first impression of Miss You. I wouldn't have thought 'oh, instant career revival', or anything like that, but I found it pretty different and interesting, if not quite what I was hoping for, and I looked forward to hearing it again.

Which obviously I did many times in the next few weeks.

You?

My reaction was similar to yours (I was 20). I thought it had a little bit of a disco feel, but with Jagger vocals and a bluesy harmonica, it still carried the Stones trademark. I was willing to indulge the obvious trend-grabbing as it was a good song.

Actually I was more aghast at "Hot Stuff" a couple of years earlier.

I loved it. It was exactly what we needed in Iowa in the spring/summer of 1978, being 17 years old, and I mean the entire record, not just Miss You. But with Miss You I think I was already sensitized to the Stones challenging my musical tastes.. ie, Hot Stuff, Fool to Cry. I think I probably thought at the time, "oh no, what are they doing!" (with disco). But it wasn't your average disco tune; it had an edge.

I was very surprised to hear this from them but I liked it, it was just amusing to have such a song on a record that was in part a response to punk music, and here they stick in a disco song....just to show they're tops at any genre they engage.

It came as a surprise. The Stones playing disco-blues. They explored a new path. A great tune that saved them somewhat. But the first hit where Keith is left on the side of the road. It's a song that is often played on the french radio, unlike some bigger warhorses. I would have never thought about this fact at the time. Capricious....

loved it!

Well it made me dance like an idiot but I got plenty of shags.

I hated disco at the time but my initial reaction to the track was that it turned disco on its head. I thought it sounded fantastic. Fresh and vital. I was of the opinion they sounded very heavy and dead on Black & Blue, like they were running out of gas, so the Some Girls tracks sounded like new life to me.

...in New York City it was without a doubt the song of the summer. It was everywhere all the time.

I heard it in a Merry-Go-Round (an American Mall clothing store chain for young people in the 70s) over some good speakers. The vibe was very humorous. I remember escpecially the Jagger rap about "Walkin' Central Park.........." I recognized immediately that they had made a great song, in the tradition of them bending the current trend to their needs. It was a great comeback single.

PHD: It was not the first time Keith was on the side, but the first in a while. Under My Thumb was dominated by Brian & Bill. Let's Spend the Night Together is a piano and drum song. (Maybe Keith played piano?) And there are other examples. But yeah, the first non-Keith guitar dominated single since JJF launched the second act of their career.

MISS YOU was on the radio regularly since I was a little kid long before I actually became a Stones fan at 14; sort of a "background" song. Then when I fell in love with the Stones for other stuff, I gave it proper listen and now love it.

I loved it from the very first time I heard it! But that must have been around '83 or '84 though...

Mathijs

I just loved it. It sounds just as fresh as it did in 1978.
I don't care what any jack-off says. That's not disco.

Loved it at the time,
. during the last concerts, it lasted too long.
just listened to it on my ipod, and it brouht back good memories.
great tune.
byeeee
jeroen

I absolutely adored it, and bought the 12 inch version as soon as I could.

I still think the 12 inch version of it is the greatest dance/crossover record ever

I thought it sucked then, and I still think it sucks now.

I was twenty when it was released. On hearing the first few bars, I recall thinking "what on earth are they up to now". A similar reaction two years earlier on first hearing Fool To Cry. Over time, I have come to love it. Bill, we MISS you.
Wish they had put the 12 inch extended version on the Some Girls lp. Still got my pink vinyl copy.

This was pre-fan for me.....about a year before I became a "fan". I remember riding in the care that summer with visiting cousins from the Valley (border town in Texas) and the song came on and they singing every word, dancing and grooving.....I thought they were cool and felt uncool because I didn't know the words.....
Its weird because I wasn't a fan, but it sounded so edgy that I couldn't help but be drawn to it. I would mimic Jagger's 'Aaah..aahh...' and made my sisters laugh...but I was kind of mocking it at the same time.
It really was that song that everybody knew, sang that summer.
In the summer of 80, I went to this summer bible camp (yikes) and we were in the area of the park where people gathered, played basketball etc.....and this song came on the radio and they turned it up really loud.
It's timeless, the Stones' last #1 and the last true Stones classic.

I was very disappointed, Stones go Bee Gees and Olivia Newton John. Then I was surprised that "Some Girls" was a hard rocking Stones album with great compositions. "Miss You" and "Emotional Rescue" (the song) were and are some of the weakest Stones efforts and a compromise with the disco crap of a time that are fortunately gone.

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Edith Grove
I thought it sucked then, and I still think it sucks now.

I second that emotion.

Loved it. It made me a fan. The first Stones record I ever bought. Look at me now.

I remember buying it on or around May 23, 1978, two or three weeks before Some Girls was released. I was horrified. I thought they had hit rock bottom. But it quickly grew on me, and I loved the hilarious Far Away Eyes B-side. Then, when I heard the rest of the album, and found that it was absolutely nothing like the single, I was thrilled, and totally psyched to see them play it live.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-06-17 07:08 by tatters.

Disliked it the first time I heard it in '78 (at age 25) and continue to dislike it today. When I hear the first few notes of it at a concert, it's my cue to go get a cocktail or hit the restroom.

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RobertJohnson
"Miss You" and "Emotional Rescue" (the song) were and are some of the weakest Stones efforts and a compromise with the disco crap of a time that are fortunately gone.

It's called soul...

Mick said the "four on the floor" time—a bass drum beat on every beat of 4/4 time—in MISS YOU is a disco beat, and a lot of people freaked when the Stones stooped to doing it. Charlie does "four on the floor" in the intro to DON'T STOP, too. (I love both songs.)

My VERY first thought was "Oh God, they're becoming the Bee Gees."

Some Girls had just been released. Days later I saw them perform it live at Greensboro, and became more of a fan hearing it in concert.

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carson99
Disliked it the first time I heard it in '78 (at age 25) and continue to dislike it today. When I hear the first few notes of it at a concert, it's my cue to go get a cocktail or hit the restroom.

Style!

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carson99
Disliked it the first time I heard it in '78 (at age 25) and continue to dislike it today. When I hear the first few notes of it at a concert, it's my cue to go get a cocktail or hit the restroom.

+ 100%

None. I was fully occupied with Clash Ramones and The Saints as I remember,,,liked
Faraway Eyes and Just my imagination thou...

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I thought it was great then although I don't think I have heard a good live rendition of it. I think it was the basis of that song alone that they sold millions of copies of Some Girls. So a master stroke by Jagger.