So when did you discover you were infact a 'Die hard Stones Fan'?

My moment came when I actually DID listen to all 60 takes of Citadel (twice)....

Needles to say I never did it again!

Since I heared Paint it Black for the first time (From Tour of Duty)

I'm going to have to say when I met you nice folks.

My interest in the Stones was much like many other aspects of my life....I fill it with lots of neat stuff. So my Stones experiences were just great moments in an already great existance ( I like a little sex and drugs with my R&R). I have been a Stones fan since the begining but it was listening to you fans and all the retrospect comments on tours, albums, song versions that helped me make a true appreciation of all those experiences.

Now I knew I had an addiction problem. Subtle signs were there....stress over getting tickets from as far back as 72, loss of sleep...you know what I mean.

You were probably looking for that moment or song but for me it was the awakening of a life of Stones bits given new meaning by you fellow fans....thanks.....now how do I get rid of those stress symptems.

I discovered it basically when I noticed that I know much more about the Stones than any of my friends, that I buy bootlegs of questionable quality and just recently I'm sure that I'm really a hardcore fan as I pay more money than I can actually afford to see just one Stone (Ronnie) in London.

yeah..and trust a complete stranger like me to have a ticket for you!
see you Sunday!

Since the first time I heard the Stones (Paint It Black)

In 1964 I was 11 years old and just gettin' into rock & roll. Exposure to new music and bands was limited to AM radio - resticted to top 20 tunes only. At that time it was all about the Beatles. At one point during that year they commanded the top 4 or 5 positons on the charts.

During 1964 I recall going over to my buddies house one day. His older sister had "England's Newest Hitmakers" on the turntable. It was gutsy, driven, bluesy rock & roll like I had never heard previously. I can still remember how the sounds of "Not Fade Away" and "Tell Me" just had my attention riveted.

Needless to say within a few days I went out and purchased my own copy (for about $2.99 U.S. in those days!). Although I already had 3 or 4 Beatles lp's at the time, I never bought another one. For me there was only one "greatest rock & roll band" and that was the Stones. My opinion on that fact has not wavered for the last 41 years!

The first time I saw them live. Philly 3/15/99. They made a great entrance, and played an awesome show, including many songs that I had heard, but didn't really know. From then on I've been a die hard.

Raise your glass to the good and the evil, Let's drink to the salt of the earth.

1963, Stones singin Come On.

"I Don't Regret Nothin'" (KR)

It's all over now, pointed out my fanhood of this little "beautiful" band.
What a title to start with.
Everyone around me told me they wouldn't last for long.
These days I keep sending textmessages on the mobilephone saying "I could have told you this a long time ago"

Let's hope the new album is a Beggars Banquet Revisited, with great R & B & R & R songs. Lots of guitars, horns, harmonica and sexy and sweaty lyrics.

They're the only ones to do it!

HJofSweden

It just sort of built up from first album (1978), first concert (1982), first bootleg (1983) and kept going.

First time it must be when I was sitting on the bus to Gothenburg Sweden one day in late 1973 to attend a Rolling Stones show at the arena Scandinavium. Back then you did not cross countries or even travel to see live music. It was a real die hard bus of die hard Stones fans.

Then there has been many times I have realized I am not normal vs. the Stones, like when I have been sitting in a hotel lobby for hours, or hanging outside a place for days, just to catch one of the Stones. But all of this have been paid off many times, by meeting them all eventually, of course.

Bjornulf

Today when I went to this vintage store downtown and bought a Stones shirt from '74 for $50!!! Beautiful shirt though, doesn't matter if I'll be starving myself until my next paycheque...

GW: remember to dry clean it only !!!!!

I became a fan by pure osmosis, so to speak, I fell in love with a Stones fan in 83, and from the first day onwards had to listen to them 24 hours a day. Unsurprisingly, they grew on me...At the last tour I flew to 5 other countries besides the one I live in,just to see them, but in the early days I could only see concerts I could hitchhike to within Europe, as I was just a poor student...As so often in life, the love for the boyfriend faded away after a few years, but the love for the Stones remains strong.

bv: surely there are different degrees of fandom, I myself have a very strong sense of privacy, perhaps because my job intrudes into my private life to such a great extent, so when I saw all of them , completely on their own and seemingly unrecognized by anyone else at Gatwick in 93, with kids and children in tow, just about to catch a plane to Ireland, I thought about it for a split second but didn't allow myself to go and say hello or ask for autographs. Recently I went to a pub and who was sitting there having a quiet pint? Charly. No, I didn't go up to him either. I suppose a lot of you would say I'm crazy, but it's the sort of thing I simply wouldn't do to anyone, makes me very uneasy, I feel like a stalker....I'm also not interested in emulating the way they look, which I find a bit unsettling in other fans, the whole hanging around in hotel lobbies makes me cringe, it's like stalking, in a sense, and I simply do not do hero-worship....But I love their music. So, I guess I'm not diehard, and perhaps a bit more normal than you. But who is entirely normal on this board????? I'm afraid that would be an oxymoron.

I remember well: I saw the Simpsons Episode "How I spent my Strummer Vacation". It ended with Homer burning principle Skinner, and simultaneously Keith Richards struck the first few notes of "Rip this Joint". It was perfect rock & roll: I've discovered many Stones songs since then, but none moves me as much as Rip this Joint.

Jo: I don't think you're crazy. Think you made the right decision not to harrass them when you saw them at the airport with the kids in tow. That's respect man. Its sometimes hard to restrain yourself as a fan, but it is important to be able to separate their image and realize they're just people yo at the end of the day.

that being said: I'd still buy my $50 shirt all over again, and pay for the drycleaning bill!

As a young boy, the first time I heard "Tell Me". I've been hooked my whole @#$%& life....

What else you hooked on, Saturn?

Whoa, that's a loaded question! Too simplify: Good music, Good Women & Good Times.....

And that's a loaded answer!

Yep

It's so very lonely, you're 2,000 Light Years from home

1966 Between the Buttons

Paint it black/Long Long while single at the wrong speed (too slow) - that did it for me and then Love you Live (Fanfare for the common man and the first chords of Honkey tonk Women and SFTD) and then Midnight Rambler, studio version, and finally IORR-the whole album over and over and over. Before that I did listen to their first album and Out of our heads but I wasn't hooked then. The magic wasnt there until Paint it black.

When I busted my head open (I hit a TV set) after jumping up and down when Miss You came on the radio in June 78.

Stage one - cirka 1974 (?) hearing wellknown tune "Satisfaction" in Norway,
on the state radio...

Stage two - 1982, interrail, weird disco, German millionaire son served us drinks from the free bar; me and my bud went bärsärk over JJF on the dancefloor...

Stage three - 1988, Down the boozy, hazy lane... Ol´ friend hippy spliffer forgot his GHS-copy by my place (I still have it)...

Stage four - thru the radio shows I made I got to here...

Does diggin' The Stones for the last forty odd years qualify one as a die hard fan..?

ROCKMAN

I'd say so, Rockman, and that goes for me too! when you anticipate a new CD and tour, a chance to see them, maybe a few times, like I'm sure everyone on this board does, that is beyond just 'being a fan'. The Stones inspire a recognition of honesty and substantial music rooted in very old folk traditions that makes this kind of admiration possible.

Yeah we should all be thankful we have The Stones supplying the soundtrack to our lives...I mean imagine life if Green Day was your band...!!!


ROCKMAN

Good post, interesting replies.
1964, during the "British Invasion" of the U.S. I was "a bit" older than 11 (elmolewis) I already had the albumn "Meet the Beatles", saw them on "The Ed Sullivan Show", thought they were very "sweet". Bought "ENGLAND'S NEWEST HIT MAKERS ROLLING STONES". I was then in love or lust or something like it. When I saw them on "Ed Sullivan" I became more and more intrigued. I thougt they were rude, crude and ugly and definetly NOT "SWEET"! That was ok by me and their MUSIC, compared to Motown, which was my favorite at the time.....well youknowhatI'mtalkin'bout!
Still intrigued, no longer think they are ugly and not any more rude or crude than this old hippie has seen.
Good reading y'all Regards

In the 80's i recognized that all the pop punk & techno couldn't let me 'fly away', always had to put in GS JJF and so on...
The shows since '82 did the rest, days before nothing could bother you anymore you only have one thing in mind and put all your efforts in organising this properly, never put so much efforts into other private or professional things.
Even got real pissy when i asked good friends to come along and get some stupid answers like, oh no too tired, auntie is here, exams on Monday.... (They lost a lot in my mind)
Seen many nice shows, but only on a Stones Show even after the 10th time within month you still get the chills.