Rolling Stones Q&A: 'This Juggernaut Is Almost Unstoppable'
by Paul Sexton, London | November 09, 2012

The first floor of London's Dorchester Hotel is crowded with security men, management staff and press assistants, all moving between various suites. Little sensing the comedy value, they dart through one door only to appear from behind another moments later to check a watch or make another call. The business of promoting a new compilation, a film and a handful of live dates is afoot, and the Rolling Stones are working hard.

On Oct. 19, halfway through an intense run of rehearsal days in Paris, they interrupted that schedule to fly home for the London premiere of "Crossfire Hurricane" -- the documentary directed by Brett Morgen, produced by Mick Jagger and executive-produced by the rest of the Stones -- and a day of interviews. Ronnie Wood looks bleary-eyed, but enthusiastic to a fault. Charlie Watts is laid up at home with the flu. Keith Richards cackles as amiably as ever, noticeably without the omnipresent drink near at hand. Jagger is purposeful but animated.

Billboard shared separate suites with Jagger and Richards to get the word on the film, the "GRRR!" compilation (due Nov. 13 in North America on ABKCO/Universal) and 50 years in the Stone age.

When did a reunion begin to look possible?

Keith Richards: We did some rehearsals in New Jersey [in the spring]. To me that was the acid test, and when Charlie Watts clicked in, then I knew that the juggernaut would continue. We were rocking, and everyone's going, "Yeah, the energy's there." Music takes you over and above any of the petty little things, the bickering and all that crap.

Did you expect to record the new songs ["Doom & Gloom" and "One Last Shot"] for GRRR!?

Keith: They were making this compilation, and at the last moment they tell us, "Oh, it'd be nice to have an extra track or two." So Mick and I say, "Oh, great, we've got a month. Just like that, huh?" I said, "I've got one," and he said, "I've got one"-it was probably the quickest Rolling Stones recording sessions that I can remember, ever. We cut two tracks in three days, boom. And to me just taking one step back, to watch the band playing, just as an observer... whoa, man, these cats are hot.
Mick Jagger: I knocked out "Doom & Gloom" in very quick time, did a quick demo of it, and it didn't come out a million miles away from that, to be honest. Everyone's saying good things about it, so I can't be happier. "One Last Shot" is a song that Keith wrote mostly. I wrote some extra lyrics for it. It's really good.

The retrospective film "Crossfire Hurricane" is quite dark, especially in its coverage of the Stones' '60s history. Was that the intention?

Mick: It is quite dark. Not as dark as it was in one cut. [We said], "Wait a minute, Brett, you've gone too dark! Come back into the light now, you can have a bit more funnies." If you lean too heavily on the dark bits, you can drag people down too much. I think it's a good balance now. Several people said, "I know the story, but I couldn't stop watching it. I still found new things in it."
Keith: Brett Morgen did an amazing job of keeping the story on track. He didn't get hung up with the chicks, which is a difficult thing to do. Also he found some amazing footage.

RELATED: Rolling Stones Doc Captures Band at Early Peak

There's been controversy about your ticket pricing for the London and New Jersey shows. What's your take on that?

Mick: I don't think there should be a secondary ticket market. I don't think it should be legal. To my mind, there has to be a better way of doing it, but we're living, really, with the way the system functions. We can't, in four shows, change the whole ticketing system. You might say, "The tickets are too expensive"-well, it's a very expensive show to put on, just to do four shows, because normally you do a hundred shows and you'd have the same expenses. [laughs] So, yes, it's expensive. But most of the tickets go for a higher price than we've sold them for, so you can see the market is there. We don't participate in the profit. If a ticket costs 250 quid [$400], let's imagine, and goes for 1,000 quid [$1,600], I just want to point out that we don't get that difference.

What sort of shows can we expect?

Keith: We'll have Bobby Keys in for a few horn things but we're not carrying sections. Charlie said, "We should have the stripped-down thing." I said, "Charlie, you realize how much pressure that puts on the guitar lineup?" But at the same time, it's a challenge, and he's right. The fact is that what we try and do onstage is deliver what's on the record, and there's a lot of horns and a lot of voices. OK, you want the blues band, you want the rock 'n' roll, stripped down? You're going to get it. It's going to be fun, man.

Do you see the 50th anniversary as a cause for celebration?

Mick: It's like a big birthday -- you come to it and then you move on.
Keith: There's a sort of sense of timing with this band that you can't really put your finger on. There's a sort of scratch and an itch that comes up, and I suppose the 50-year thing is an added spur.

And 2013? Keeping options open?

Mick: I suppose you could say, yeah.
Keith: This juggernaut, once it gets rolling, is almost unstoppable. "Oh, an extra gig," or, "Let's play somewhere you've never played before." So things go on. Right now, I'm just happy to have the thing rolling and moving. It'll be great, playing London and New York. The rest of it, it'll happen. Don't worry about it.

[www.billboard.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-14 14:27 by proudmary.

'It got really sour in the 80s. I've been the repair man'

By MARK ELLEN

SPIKE-HAIRED, bright-eyed and tirelessly entertaining, Ronnie Wood replaced Mick Taylor in 1975 and has been part of the superstructure of the Rolling Stones ever since.
He’s added rough-hewn guitar textures and been a crucial part of the glue that’s kept the Jagger- Richards partnership together.
Ron has a powerful attachment to all the tracks on the new hits compilation, GRRR!, partly because he used to see the band when he was still at school.
But he is brutally honest about their most difficult time, the 1980s — “there was a certain amount of hatred floating in the air and it was not good!”
And he still describes himself as “a big fan of the band”, the institution he’s helped sustain, and believes we need the Stones now more than ever.

YOU have just released two new tracks. How does it feel to be back in the same room recording together?

We did one track on a Tuesday, One More Shot, then Doom And Gloom on the Wednesday and on Thursday we were doing overdubs. It would have taken us six months to do that in the old days. We kept it simple, kept it rough and ready, and let nature take its course. The new efficient Rolling Stones are happening!

Why have the Stones lasted so long?

Because we never know what’s coming next. And whenever we get together, lots of time has gone by, so there’s a lot of catching up on news, and the chemistry between us gets ignited again. It’s a bit like an Aga — the little pilot light never goes out but it ain’t half hot in that oven!

What do you think the other three contribute to the Stones? What’s the key element they bring?

Whatever it is I don’t think they’d be able to explain it, especially Charlie — “I don’t know what I do!” — but it works. As regards the two guitars, Keith says “whatever we do in our ancient form of weaving seems to work”. We don’t want to examine it too far otherwise we might overwork it. And Mick adds that magic. It all comes from his harmonica-playing too. When we get back to our roots we can go anywhere.

Did you ever imagine when the offer came that the Stones was a job for life?

Oh yeah. Somebody asked me yesterday, what would I change? Nothing. It’s a continuing adventure. I never thought “I’ll do it till then and then I’ll stop”. This is what I do and will carry on doing.

How envious was every other guitarist you must have known at the time when you got the job in the Stones?

I didn’t think about that. I just thought the chemistry was so right for me — and it seemed right for them — that I didn’t look back. I have tremendous respect for every other guitar player who can play much better than me but they have to live with these guys!

What have you brought to the Stones in the last 37 years?

A bit of humour. It’s a bit like a balm to ease their gaping wounds. There were quite a few gaping wounds that were there when I first came in! And watching the Crossfire Hurricane film I think I came in at the right time. Whatever I did, people seemed to cheer up!

Mick and Keith’s relationship has been described as “a marriage”. What’s your relationship with them?

I’m probably the Foreign Diplomat — or the Cockney Diplomat — that came in to heal the bridge that may be crumbling! I’m the repair man.

If you could have a word today with your 20 year-old self, what would you advise him?

“This looks like a good adventure, Ron, let’s go for it! This looks like a good job!”

Do you think there’s any part of the Stones that’s been misunderstood?

Oh, good question. No, because we never wanted to say anything that took a deep amount of thought. We wanted to make people forget their troubles and lighten up.
I think we’re happy that we make people happy, and when we get together en masse with the crowds our way of giving back is we give our 200 per cent, to try and pay them back for being so dedicated and loving the music. ’Cos I’m a big fan of the band and I wanted to keep this institution going. I think it’s very necessary for these modern, horrible times we live in, these warring times.It’s an awful world out there. You’ve got to make people happy.

So you must have seen the Stones before you were in the band...

Oh yeah, I was still at school and I used to run home after and go, “Yep, there’s my boys, that’s my band!” My dad used to say, “This is Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones!” when I joined them. He was so proud of me.

Is there a song you couldn’t leave off a greatest hits package as it simply wouldn’t be the Stones without it?

I like the real nitty-gritty stuff like Midnight Rambler, a fantastic opera of a blues. (It’s only on the deluxe edition.)

I’m told that nothing is as good as the sound of 80,000 people applauding. Is live performance addictive?

Yeah. Because when we’re not on the road, we’re like fish out of water and it’s a very awkward feeling to adjust to everyday life. “Live” is what we do and it’s a strange juxtaposition to go home after a concert — “what the hell is going on?” No matter how many years go by between tours, every night at eight o’clock I feel like I should be doing something!

Can you think of any other bands that might make it to 50 years?

No. They’ve all got to try, though. And not argue. Or let personal problems get in the way.


Were there any bands you thought were ever rivals to the Stones?

No.

Did you ever feel the band was defeated? “We can’t get out of this? We’ve come to a dead end?”

No, but I knew at certain times during the history, especially during the Eighties, that it was really sour times and something had to be done. Especially when the main members lose their link. A big conduit. It has to be reconnected. Which is hopefully what I did.

Well, Mick effectively left the group from ’82 to ’87.

Yeah. There was a certain amount of hatred around, floating in the air, and it was not good! And somebody had to go, ‘Come on, what’s it all about? This is ridiculous! You didn’t mean that.’ ‘Well, no, I didn’t but I’m not going to back down if he doesn’t.’ And you’d go, ‘Just f****** get on with it, will you? I’m going to put you two together, now sort it out!’ ‘Right. Oh, it’s all sorted, there was no problem anyway!” Often, with these things, if you look into it there’s not really a problem, just a misunderstanding taken other places by other people.

And presumably Charlie is part of that glue in the relationship too?

Yeah. In a semi-unaware way because he’s not the interfering type. He’ll think, if something’s crumbling, “Okay, it’s crumbled.” He won’t say, “I’ve got to stop this!” Whereas I make a stand and I go, “Come on, this ain’t gonna happen! This has got to stop!”

What do you think teenagers would get out of going to see the Stones for the first time now?

Hopefully they’ll get the same kick I got when I was a teenager. It’s only music, after all. And it’s only a good feeling. And if you can’t get behind a good feeling then there’s something wrong with you. You want to feel good and, if you don’t take drugs, take music. And if you want to get high, go on stage! You don’t need anything else.

What about people who’ve been seeing the Stones for 50 years. What do you think they’re getting from this?

Them too. They come back for more ’cos it’s like a fix. Their grandparents and their kids and their kids’ kids and their kids’ kids’ kids, they all get the same fix hopefully, in different ways.

So what can we expect from these shows in November?

A plethora of “new old” material! We’ve rehearsed 80 songs so far, about 20 of them we’ve never played before so it’s going to be a surprise for us as well. There’s some good old stuff that we’ve uprooted.

Songs you’ve never performed live before? Can you reveal what some of them might be?

I don’t think anything’s a secret. We may have a go at I Wanna Be Your Man, which is a great piece of Stones history. When Lennon and McCartney presented Mick and Keith with an idea back in the Sixties — “Here we’ve got a song for you boys!’ and they go, “Oh, really? We need one, we’ll have a go at it!”
That kind of thing we’re bearing in mind. It’s like people want to know about the Stones’ history — here’s part of it. Whether or not we play it is another thing but we’ve rehearsed it and it’s really good.
Otherwise... little visits to key moments of the blues and rock ’n’ roll, tributes to howlers over the years, great singers, great influences on the band from Chuck Berry to Otis Redding to Little Richard. All the people we love we put into our music somehow.

Is there one song you never get tired of playing?

Yeah, the ever-changing Brown Sugar is fabulous because it’s part of the diet. Every time we play it we always have a little snigger — like “you’d think we’d be fed up with that song by now” — but it always takes on a different form. We just rehearsed it last week again and it’s very intriguing. Keith turns round to me and goes “It’s not a bad song, you know, is it?” and I go, “Actually, you’re right!”
’Cos we’re looking at things more focused as well and these songs are like gifts coming out of the sky. Whether it’s You Can’t Always Get What You Want or something, there’s always a different view and a different way of presenting the song. Hopefully like the original record.
We were playing Street Fighting Man last week and I said to Mick, “Can I hear the original record?” And he went, “No! No referring to the original record!” And I was like “OK, I’ll play it then.”

How will you guarantee value for money at the shows as there’s a bit of controversy about the ticket cost?

We’ve already spent a million on rehearsing in Paris! And the stage is going to be another few million! And the lights! We feel no bad thing about ticket prices. We’ve got to make something. Keith was told “do you realise how much they’re charging for tickets?” and Keith said, “Sounds about right.” You’ve got to treat yourself, haven’t you? I know I would lash out!

What are you planning for the 60th anniversary?
We take it as it comes, really. I’m still getting over the 25th.


Read more: [www.thesun.co.uk]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-09 15:59 by proudmary.

Stripped down without horns eh? Well, that sounds promising at least. All i want to hear are guitars vocals and drums from the stones. That's when they sound their very best to me. Sorry chuck.

Quote
arthritis
Stripped down without horns eh? Well, that sounds promising at least. All i want to hear are guitars vocals and drums from the stones. That's when they sound their very best to me. Sorry chuck.

Yes but Chuck will be there.

Quote
leteyer

Quote
arthritis
Stripped down without horns eh? Well, that sounds promising at least. All i want to hear are guitars vocals and drums from the stones. That's when they sound their very best to me. Sorry chuck.

Yes but Chuck will be there.

Rolling Stones without piano? Impossible for me.

I like the back to basics idea. They must be pretty confident they can pull it off.

Quote
proudmary
Rolling Stones Q&A: 'This Juggernaut Is Almost Unstoppable'
by Paul Sexton, London | November 09, 2012

The first floor of London's Dorchester Hotel is crowded with security men, management staff and press assistants, all moving between various suites. Little sensing the comedy value, they dart through one door only to appear from behind another moments later to check a watch or make another call. The business of promoting a new compilation, a film and a handful of live dates is afoot, and the Rolling Stones are working hard.

On Oct. 19, halfway through an intense run of rehearsal days in Paris, they interrupted that schedule to fly home for the London premiere of "Crossfire Hurricane" -- the documentary directed by Brett Morgen, produced by Mick Jagger and executive-produced by the rest of the Stones -- and a day of interviews. Ronnie Wood looks bleary-eyed, but enthusiastic to a fault. Charlie Watts is laid up at home with the flu. Keith Richards cackles as amiably as ever, noticeably without the omnipresent drink near at hand. Jagger is purposeful but animated.

Billboard shared separate suites with Jagger and Richards to get the word on the film, the "GRRR!" compilation (due Nov. 13 in North America on ABKCO/Universal) and 50 years in the Stone age.

When did a reunion begin to look possible?

Keith Richards: We did some rehearsals in New Jersey [in the spring]. To me that was the acid test, and when Charlie Watts clicked in, then I knew that the juggernaut would continue. We were rocking, and everyone's going, "Yeah, the energy's there." Music takes you over and above any of the petty little things, the bickering and all that crap.

Did you expect to record the new songs ["Doom & Gloom" and "One Last Shot"] for GRRR!?

Keith: They were making this compilation, and at the last moment they tell us, "Oh, it'd be nice to have an extra track or two." So Mick and I say, "Oh, great, we've got a month. Just like that, huh?" I said, "I've got one," and he said, "I've got one"-it was probably the quickest Rolling Stones recording sessions that I can remember, ever. We cut two tracks in three days, boom. And to me just taking one step back, to watch the band playing, just as an observer... whoa, man, these cats are hot.
Mick Jagger: I knocked out "Doom & Gloom" in very quick time, did a quick demo of it, and it didn't come out a million miles away from that, to be honest. Everyone's saying good things about it, so I can't be happier. "One Last Shot" is a song that Keith wrote mostly. I wrote some extra lyrics for it. It's really good.

The retrospective film "Crossfire Hurricane" is quite dark, especially in its coverage of the Stones' '60s history. Was that the intention?

Mick: It is quite dark. Not as dark as it was in one cut. [We said], "Wait a minute, Brett, you've gone too dark! Come back into the light now, you can have a bit more funnies." If you lean too heavily on the dark bits, you can drag people down too much. I think it's a good balance now. Several people said, "I know the story, but I couldn't stop watching it. I still found new things in it."
Keith: Brett Morgen did an amazing job of keeping the story on track. He didn't get hung up with the chicks, which is a difficult thing to do. Also he found some amazing footage.

RELATED: Rolling Stones Doc Captures Band at Early Peak

There's been controversy about your ticket pricing for the London and New Jersey shows. What's your take on that?

Mick: I don't think there should be a secondary ticket market. I don't think it should be legal. To my mind, there has to be a better way of doing it, but we're living, really, with the way the system functions. We can't, in four shows, change the whole ticketing system. You might say, "The tickets are too expensive"-well, it's a very expensive show to put on, just to do four shows, because normally you do a hundred shows and you'd have the same expenses. [laughs] So, yes, it's expensive. But most of the tickets go for a higher price than we've sold them for, so you can see the market is there. We don't participate in the profit. If a ticket costs 250 quid [$400], let's imagine, and goes for 1,000 quid [$1,600], I just want to point out that we don't get that difference.

What sort of shows can we expect?

Keith: We'll have Bobby Keys in for a few horn things but we're not carrying sections. Charlie said, "We should have the stripped-down thing." I said, "Charlie, you realize how much pressure that puts on the guitar lineup?" But at the same time, it's a challenge, and he's right. The fact is that what we try and do onstage is deliver what's on the record, and there's a lot of horns and a lot of voices. OK, you want the blues band, you want the rock 'n' roll, stripped down? You're going to get it. It's going to be fun, man.

Do you see the 50th anniversary as a cause for celebration?

Mick: It's like a big birthday -- you come to it and then you move on.
Keith: There's a sort of sense of timing with this band that you can't really put your finger on. There's a sort of scratch and an itch that comes up, and I suppose the 50-year thing is an added spur.

And 2013? Keeping options open?

Mick: I suppose you could say, yeah.
Keith: This juggernaut, once it gets rolling, is almost unstoppable. "Oh, an extra gig," or, "Let's play somewhere you've never played before." So things go on. Right now, I'm just happy to have the thing rolling and moving. It'll be great, playing London and New York. The rest of it, it'll happen. Don't worry about it.

[www.billboard.com]

Best news this year so far besides "Charlie is my Darling" and "LA Friday".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-09 18:06 by RobertJohnson.

It should be '013, not '13.

What sort of shows can we expect?

Keith: We'll have Bobby Keys in for a few horn things but we're not carrying sections. Charlie said, "We should have the stripped-down thing." I said, "Charlie, you realize how much pressure that puts on the guitar lineup?"

Really? Like it did in the 1960s? Or the 1970s? Or 1981-82?

Stripped down sounds exciting! And of course Chuck will be there. Who's ever heard the Stones play without piano/organ?

Quote
Slim Harpo
Stripped down sounds exciting! And of course Chuck will be there. Who's ever heard the Stones play without piano/organ?

Here's a stripped down band with another piano player I would recommend:

Thank you for posting!

Only Bobby Keys in for a few horn things- That's it - I can't wait!! I always wanted to see them without horns...

I often prefer the demo versions of stones songs because the freaking horns absolutely ruin songs for me. My ears detest the sonic range horns inhibit. Horns belong in automobiles and used for emergencies only. My view is that any passage they feel is that integral to the song should be played on guitar instead of horn in the first place.

Great . return to No Security stripped band
I agree with Mick about the ticket price system. And since they prove generosity with Trabendo and last night rehearsals for fans


"we know it's a bit late but we hope you don't mind if we stay"

Thanks proudmary,great read.

So it was UME's idea for the extra tracks on GRRR!, huh? They did them because their record company said, 'It'd be nice,' and so on, just like ordering a pizza? Oh, so that's how they work. OK, there'll be a new album in 2013--but only if UME requests it....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-10 01:21 by stonesnow.

Which they won't since it's not in their contract...hopefully they can accomoate Mick's wishes t record a new album!

THanks proudmary for a great read.

Thank you proudmary, interesting read.

Keith: We'll have Bobby Keys in for a few horn things but we're not carrying sections. Charlie said, "We should have the stripped-down thing." I said, "Charlie, you realize how much pressure that puts on the guitar lineup?" But at the same time, it's a challenge, and he's right. The fact is that what we try and do onstage is deliver what's on the record, and there's a lot of horns and a lot of voices. OK, you want the blues band, you want the rock 'n' roll, stripped down? You're going to get it. It's going to be fun, man.


Yes and yes. God Bless Charlie Watts. Really interested to see how the show sounds. Keith and Ronnie have their work cut out for themselves.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-11-10 04:30 by Justin.

Quote
Justin
Keith: We'll have Bobby Keys in for a few horn things but we're not carrying sections. Charlie said, "We should have the stripped-down thing." I said, "Charlie, you realize how much pressure that puts on the guitar lineup?" But at the same time, it's a challenge, and he's right. The fact is that what we try and do onstage is deliver what's on the record, and there's a lot of horns and a lot of voices. OK, you want the blues band, you want the rock 'n' roll, stripped down? You're going to get it. It's going to be fun, man.


Yes and yes. God Bless Charlie Watts. Really interested to see how the show sounds. Keith and Ronnie have their work cut out for themselves.

yes this is really something, the real deal i would say of these 4 shows, and i wonder the setlist as i see that in paris they rehearsed a lot of songs that have horns on record or that they used to do with horns in the last tours...

i mean are we going to get Out of control without trumpet, all down the line and tumbling dice without horns...??? also satisfaction, brown sugar and honky tonk women, ycagwyw... it's been a long time they've been playing this with long horns codas... hapy and before they make me run?!?!

that will be really something to see and i wonder if this is just for these four shows while next year tour, if there will be one, the big band will be back

also gimme shelter without lisa?! again ycagwyw basically with just mick (and bernard?) on vocals...

i really cant wait to see... and hear ;-)

Charlie Watts - the man who gave Keith Richards pressure.

Thanks PM!

No horns is awesone. That really is great news. Hey we should stop whining. Maybe just maybe these four shows will turn back the clock and sound like classic Stones. That would be fantastic!

With the stripped down version of the band being presented live, this means that the next Stones release will actually be a live album, likely taken from all 4 shows. However, because of the stripped-down format, it will be a live album worth hearing!

Rolling Stones look back and ahead on 50th anniversary

The band is marking the occasion with dates in London and Newark, plus a book, greatest-hits album and an HBO documentary


Time is still on their side. After a half-century, the Rolling Stones remain a powerful, transfixing and lionized force in pop culture. You can't say the same for tape cassettes, the Telstar satellite or The Jetsons, which also made an entrance in 1962.

Fifty years ago this month, the newly formed British band was touring the U.K., ranked third on a bill behind the Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley. Before long, they were cranking out hits to challenge The Beatles' grip on global charts.

Rocking and rolling ever since, the band is marking its golden anniversary with sold-out concerts, a book, a documentary, its umpteenth compilation album and possibly a 2013 tour.

Nobody is more surprised by the Stones' shelf life than singer Mick Jagger, who in his 30s proclaimed he'd rather be dead than sing (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction after turning 40. He's now 69 and rehearsing tunes that span the band's entire catalog.

"It would have been very foolish to think it was going to last a long time," Jagger says by phone from a rehearsal venue in Paris. "The world around us was pretty crazy. You're battered by the winds of the wild times we lived through.

"Of course, I don't know the answer to our longevity," he says. "One of the important things is that we always had such amazing appreciative fans. If they didn't exist to keep this afloat, the Rolling Stones wouldn't exist."

Guitarist Keith Richards chimes in, "I don't think anybody in their right mind thought we could carry on. When our first record hit the charts modestly in England, we thought, we've got two years. That was the life span. After that, we got carried away along with everyone else."

He credits much of the band's durability to undiminished drive.

"The boys are very tough and they really love what they do," says Richards, 68. "We're having a ball and hopefully we'll translate that on stage."

Fans snapped up every ticket to a short run of arena shows, dubbed The Stones — 50 and Counting, despite some seats selling upward of $800. The band will perform Nov. 25 and 29 in London's O2 Arena and Dec. 13 and 15 in Newark's Prudential Center. The final concert will air live at 9 p.m. ET as a pay-per-view special, One More Shot, distributed by WWE to cable and satellite outlets.

The 50th salute also brings Tuesday's release of GRRR! Greatest Hits, a classics collection with new songs Doom and Gloom and One More Shot, and newly published coffee-table book The Rolling Stones 50 (Hyperion, $60), curated and narrated by the band and packed with 1,100 illustrations that include rare photos, posters and memorabilia.

Crossfire Hurricane, a Stones documentary directed by Brett Morgen, makes its U.S. debut Tuesday at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York before premiering Thursday on HBO. The 111-minute retrospective chronicles a raucous transition from rebel outsiders to commercial titans.


Documentary 'Crossfire Hurricane' "is an exciting ride, but I can't say I was surprised by any of it,' says Mick Jagger.(Photo: Carl Court, AFP/Getty Images)
"It wasn't a goal in life to become an institution," Jagger says. "If you stick around long enough, you tend to become one. It wasn't our master plan."

The rockumentary introduces the band in shambolic club dates packed with screaming girls and closes with aerial footage of 1981's record-setting American Tour.

It halts at midcareer "because we ran out of time," says Jagger, Crossfire's producer. "Brett's excuse was that it was an interesting place to end, but we really needed another nine months to do Part 2. It's a good place to drop out, and we could always do Part 2 later.

"I should have started two years before because it's quite time-consuming. I thought about it two years before but didn't do much. It was rushed, and yet we got a very decent film out of it. This is the best (Stones doc) I've seen for a long while. This and (Martin Scorsese's) Shine a Light are two of my favorites."

The voices of the players (Jagger, Richards, drummer Charlie Watts, guitarist Ronnie Wood and two former members, bassist Bill Wyman and guitarist Mick Taylor) are heard over archival footage drawn from TV clips and such films as Gimme Shelter and Charlie Is My Darling. Scrappy live versions of Street Fighting Man, Jumping Jack Flash and Paint It Black are spliced with key scenes from the Stones age.

"My intention was to not have too many talking heads, in fact, none," says Jagger, who is co-producing a James Brown biopic. He felt more engaged as Crossfire's architect than its subject. The film "is an exciting ride, but I can't say I was surprised by any of it. I'm quite familiar with the story. For me, it's about how the narrative unfolds, what you give prominence to, avoiding certain side roads."

In the film, the young Jagger appears witty and astute amid the chaos and self-possessed through the hysteria at early shows, drug busts, Brian Jones' death, even 1969's horrific free concert at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco, where 18-year-old Meredith Hunter was killed by one of the Hells Angels serving as security. Was he as cool as he seemed?

"It's hard to say," Jagger says. "You can say the whole thing is a façade, a fantasy. No matter how crazy it was, you manage to keep going. There was no training for that. There was no school for rock."

Richards' reaction to footage of himself as a teen rock anti-hero: "It's amazing to see it walk and talk."

He's impressed by Crossfire's laser focus on the band's core and its exclusion of "girlfriends and blah-blah-blah peripheral stuff. It's fascinating, even for me, and I was there. It's very Marx Brothers in a way. Those crazy shows in the early '60s where riots broke out in the first minutes — the main problem for us was how to get in and how to get out. With the Stones, you never knew what was coming around the corner."

Often, it was the authorities. He faced a long jail term when charged with heroin trafficking in 1977 in Toronto, but got a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to possession.

"For some weird reason, we never had any fear that we wouldn't get out of it one way or another," Richards says. "I've got to put that down to the fans. It was hardly worthwhile putting me away, was it? Half the stuff I was accused of was bull. The judges saw through the prosecution. I thought, well, God's on my side and we'll win out."

He was less placid about Altamont, "the one show I'd rather not have been at. It was all done a bit on the wing. We had the Grateful Dead set it up, and they did free shows all over the place using the Angels as security, no problem. We just waltzed in expecting another Woodstock, and apart from that terrible incident, it was.

"Obviously, it was the dark side of what can happen at those things," he says. "I was amazed that Meredith was the only casualty. It's a shame the guy died, but he wasn't an innocent bystander. (Hunter rushed the stage and later pulled a gun before being stabbed.) People said the cat was asking for trouble. You don't screw with the Angels, and they were already antsy."

Crossfire doesn't whitewash controversy, misbehavior or, as Jagger describes the 1972 U.S. tour, the band's "ill-disciplined hedonistic binge." At one point, Jagger is glimpsed snorting cocaine from a knife blade.

He resisted censoring such scenes "because it's all so long ago, and there aren't any great secrets," says Jagger, known for ferociously guarding his private life. "You can't let it all hang out there. I can't, anyway. You have to fend things off to some extent. When an inevitable invasion takes you by surprise, it is upsetting, and you learn from that mistake. I have to cope with it better and protect myself better."

On July 12, 1962, the "Rollin' Stones" played their first gig at the Marquee Club in London. Since then, they've performed before more people than any band in history, graduating from club brawls and bad-boy headlines to full stadiums, high-tech productions and box-office bonanzas.

"It's stupid to make out that you're rebellious your whole life," Jagger says. "People in the French Revolution wanted it to go forever, but other people got fed up with it. You move on to the post-revolution, which is what we did. It doesn't mean you get comfortable and end up fat in front of the fire with a big cigar. I still like to get out there and bust it up.

"I am the same person," he says. "I'm doing all the same songs, hopefully with the same aplomb and enthusiasm. You can't be a lead singer without having a certain forceful ego. You have to have a ton of ego or you'll have a nervous breakdown. It's not for shy people."

Rehearsals have unearthed rare nuggets "and an awful lot of different songs," Jagger says, declining specifics. "The last song we rehearsed is one I did when I was 16."

So what can fans in Newark and London expect?

"The band fantastically, completely and utterly different from what it's ever been," Jagger jokes. "It's the Rolling Stones onstage. We do things we just wrote and things we did in 1963."

A recent pair of small Paris club shows "felt like being back home," Richards says. "We've been away too long. We know we're ready. Now it's just a matter of polishing the chrome. We want to oil the new ones, and we're really digging deep through the reportoire and may be playing stuff that nobody's heard for a long time. Everyone's in top form, and I'm really looking forward to laying it out again. It's been a long layoff."

Getting the Stones rolling again entailed repairing his bond with Jagger, in particular apologizing for barbs in his 2010 memoir, Life. Richards says that reports of strain are "terribly overblown" and that the pair's shared sense of humor incorporates trading insults.

He adds, "It's no big deal. I can understand how it's taken out of context by people who don't know us, but as far and Mick and I are concerned, we're rocking."

And that has intensified buzz about a 2013 tour. The 2007-09 Bigger Bang global trek, which grossed $558 million, was history's biggest outing until U2's 360 marathon from 2009 to 2011 pulled in $736 million. Few question the Stones' ability to eclipse that peak, should they take the plunge.

The band hasn't lost its muscle or pull, says Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone contributing editor, noting, "Onstage the Rolling Stones long ago earned their reputation as 'the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world.' But whatever the size of the venue, the Stones still play like a band in a club on a Saturday night, ripping, scratching and tearing at their bottomless catalog of hits as if they still had everything to prove. That's why fans turn out to see them in such huge numbers. They're legends who in performance burn as hot as ever."

A 2013 tour has yet to be confirmed.

"One thing at a time, baby," Richards cautions. "It's taken me a year or two to get it this far. I do know that once this juggernaut gets rolling, it's hard to stop. Without being able to promise anything, I have a feeling there's definitely going to be something going next year."

A farewell tour? Jagger is similarly fuzzy about the band's exit.

"All good things will come to an end, children, but I can't foresee when that will be," he says.

Meantime, "the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world" isn't ready to relinquish its title.

"I haven't seen anyone else dare to take it from us," Richards says. "Remember, we've never said that. Other people have called us that. The greatest rock 'n' roll is probably played by a different band in a different part of the world every night. I'm very happy people think that of us. It's something to live up to."

[www.usatoday.com]

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stonesnow
So it was UME's idea for the extra tracks on GRRR!, huh? They did them because their record company said, 'It'd be nice,' and so on, just like ordering a pizza?

Yes! EXACTLY like ordering a pizza!

I bet the Stones wished they'd never done Time Is On My Side. How awful that that is always used in these articles.

It halts at midcareer "because we ran out of time," says Jagger, Crossfire's producer. "Brett's excuse was that it was an interesting place to end, but we really needed another nine months to do Part 2. It's a good place to drop out, and we could always do Part 2 later.

In other words, "I'm not going to bother, this is good enough, and really, it's not that interesting after that other than we made a ton of money touring, which was fantastic! And frankly, nobody really cares anyway. I know I don't. I mean, sod it, we made a TON of money so why bother."

"I should have started two years before because it's quite time-consuming. I thought about it two years before but didn't do much. It was rushed, and yet we got a very decent film out of it. This is the best (Stones doc) I've seen for a long while. This and (Martin Scorsese's) Shine a Light are two of my favorites."

Huh. It's not like he was busy. Why can't he do this stuff seriously? He wasn't doing anything else. The Martin movie is is other favorite? Wow. Has he actually seen the movie? Sure he enjoyed making it and doing it but...

Thanks. I've just printed them off. Now I'm off to work where I'll read them. During breaks, of course. (No, really!)