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Title5Take1
I read chunks of the Philip Norman book and skimmed the rest (it was a library book). The new Chrissie comments were interesting, but the rest was pretty dull and stuff I already knew. I hate when Stones/Beatles biographers rerun stuff, but try to make the old-hat stuff "new" by adding their own dopey extra verbiage. .
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proudmary
"Andrew Loog Oldham's accountant's father-in-law was startled to be asked by the 20-year-old Mick what he thought the pound would be worth on the currency market in a few years' time."
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stonesrule
Title5Take1
I am VERY disappointed in you...although at least you FINALLY owed up to inventing that "dorky sentence."
I have an excellent memory by inheritance, and that sentence you wrote did not ring a bell for me when I read Norman's book. Stil, I am shocked that you would present "that" sentence as truth to begin with. You would not want someone to do that to YOU.
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Doxa
Thanks Proudmary. I really appreciate your effort here.
- Doxa
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proudmaryQuote
Doxa
Thanks Proudmary. I really appreciate your effort here.
- Doxa
Thank you very much, Doxa
I like it when everything is organized and available in one place - when I was a kid I wanted to be a librarian
But what do you think of this slow but apparent revival of interest in Jagger? You think Life influenced that or some other factors?
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DoxaQuote
proudmaryQuote
Doxa
Thanks Proudmary. I really appreciate your effort here.
- Doxa
Thank you very much, Doxa
I like it when everything is organized and available in one place - when I was a kid I wanted to be a librarian
But what do you think of this slow but apparent revival of interest in Jagger? You think Life influenced that or some other factors?
That's a good question. I think as long as I remember, since becoming a fan in the early 80's, I've never seen so much good publicity for Jagger than during a year or so. Don't know how much LIFE affected to that - surely nothing to at all if we think of "Move Like Jagger", "Swagger Jagger", etc, but still I think that book didn't harm at all to his public image in the end. And I think it motivated at least partly the new biographies of him to be written, at least partly to defend him. The 'todgergate' was so stupid, that it only made Richards look worse. Also Jagger's own doings - the Grammy, White House, SNL performances, and altogether his vital presence wherever he appears might - have a role there. Besides, there haven't been any real moralistic scandals since Jerry Hall days, no one cares about the knighthood 'scandal' any longer.
But I think what is most remarkable that Jagger's significance, and his contributions to The Rolling Stones, had been recognized during the recent years better by Rolling Stones hardcore fans. For example, the atmosphere here in IORR has changed quite a lot (compared what it was, say, ten years ago). And at the same the blind Keith Richards worshsip has decreased quite a lot. There was a time almost no critical word of Richards were said here, and now that is a constant theme. I think that is healthy (if it doesn't go too extreme, what it sometimes feels like it is).
I think some of that is to do that Jagger and his status has always taken for granted. So granted that he has been so easy target to blame anything - distant, greedy opportunist - while Richards's has been like a down-to-earth "elder brother" of us all, like Spitz said of him, many fans easy to feel connected to. And this is very much tight to the understanding their artistic contribution. Maybe LIFE caused some of hardcore fans to realize that 'enough is enough', even Jagger criticism. It is time to 'defend' the guy and see his true importance. Perhaps some of us have been also grown a bit, and to see through the myths and standard interpretations made by 'critical' rock press (to whom Richards has always been a darling boy, and Jagger an enemy). It is not the 70's or 80's anymore, even though Richards made his best in his book to put us back there.
I guess it should be obvious that I also am one example of a fan changing an opinion, and doing some self-reflection here.
- Doxa
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Rockman
....kinda like Clark Kent would ya say bloomer????
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proudmary
There is an undeniable element of identification with the underdog in Anglo-Saxon/ European culture ( btw not the case with us, Russians, we love the winners). That was the source of love for Richards
But the criticism and antipathy to Jagger reached a critical point beyond which he became the underdog (as paradoxical as it may sound) and sympathy turned to his direction.
When I say Life helped reassess the role of Jagger, I mean that Richards criticism toward Mick seems excessive and sometimes inappropriate - as you said 'enough is enough'
and second, Keith opened himself too much - and it become clear that he is not a knight in shining armor or "the coolest cat on Earth"
Still this re-evaluation only happens among hardcore fans and rock critics. Let's say this passage( from the CH review in Uncut) was not possible a few years ago
"...For so long it seems like Jagger has been the less-preferred Stone: it’s always been about Keith, who continues to embody the piratical spirit of the band, while Jagger has been reductively painted as a micromanaging whip-cracker. But this will remind you of Jagger at his best. He is the one who makes the most sense of this colourful, chaotic narrative. And going back to the abundance of live material here, you can’t help but notice how he's grown into the role of frontman as the size of the venues increases. “You can’t be young forever," he says poignantly at the close of Crossfire Hurricane, 38 years old as the film ends."
Mainstream media is a different story. This is from the review on one more Jagger book - Eminent Elizabethans: Rupert Murdoch, Prince Charles, Margaret Thatcher and Mick Jagger by Piers Brendon
"It is hard to see Jagger as anything other than a comic figure. According to his mother, “his main ambition was to be rich” and he is portrayed here as a suburban social-climber with “child-bearing lips” for whom “the most important instrument was his electric calculator”.
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Rockman
and then tried to pretend like it's no big deal. Kind of like the rest of us.......heck yeah it's a part of life
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proudmary
"For 10 years, from 1962 to 1972, he rose to a stardom never before seen in showbiz: the posturing, narcissistic, androgynous rock star." The Independent
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slew
Show him the blade is kind of funny actually. It fits his image. Did he ever really show anyone the blade though? I mean really he is a skinny little runt that most people if he showed them the blade they'd disarm him and kick his arse if he was not Keith Richards!