Ahh, don't forget Ronnie's just a kid at 58. Unlike a lot of others on this board and elsewhere I try not to dwell on their ages but instead on the new album, tour, etc. BB King still tours at 80 and there are others as well that are enjoying themselves at older ages (Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash, etc.) out on the road and in the studio. So if I want to refer to them as boys (they sure as hell aren't girls) I will. I'll pass on the "old cronies, has-beens, greedy old men, etc" remarks. Long live the Boys!
----------------------------------------------------- Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away
The Stones have always been referred to as the THE BOYS as far back as I can remember. At parties when I was out with friends back in the late 60's-early 70's when it was time to put on a new record, we simply said "put on the boys". It was understood that this could only be the Rolling Stones. If a particularly irritating album was being played, we would loudly protest by saying disdainfully to the party thrower to once again "put on the Boys". We could get obnoxious about this at times, but we didn't care. We were big fans, and it always perked up parties anyway.
Haha LOL Potted Shrimp just HATES it when you call the Stones "The Boys". That is funny. There are a couple of violent pet peevs I have myself on the Board. Maybe one day we should have a "clearing-the-air" kind of thread where evrybody lays it on the line without resorting to attacks. You know like one of them therapy groups.
We may be older, but we ARE still boys in our hearts and minds. The mirror may disagree, but really it is true. So yes, the Stones will always be The Boys to me and many other fans. It is an affectionate term.