seen a claim by mr wood himself that he saved the stones in the 70,s.

anyone agree with this, and where would the stones have went if he hadnt come on board taking into consideration that the best years were already behind them,

who would they have brought in instead, would it have worked, what if they couldnt find the right person both musically and of the right personality for the lifestyle, would they have just called it quits late 70,s and faded into obscurity.

and if they finished in the 70,s what would the bands populatity and legacy be today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-25 02:05 by buttons67.

sorry meant to say did ronnie save the stones, pressed wrong key.

Of all things associated with Ronnie's association with the Stones and from everything I can ever gather, discern, and glean from the others....yeah I think he get to legitimately make that claim. Because he was such a fan of the band I believe that he loved the band so much that he inserted himself as the bridge between Mick and Keith and did it well.

As much as I prefer the Mick Taylor Stones and the Ron Wood Faces guitar player he was in that band to his role in the Stones...I am pretty sure that his value in maintaining the band could never be under-estimated.

Bill Wymnan more or less said so many many times over the years....

I too would guess there is some truth to the claim, both Bill and Charlie have either out right said so or strongly insinuated he was a unifying force.

But regardless of what happened in the 70's, Ronnie has certainly done a great and important job in 2015 of keeping the train on the tracks, musically speaking. As one of his biggest critics in years gone by I have come full circle concerning the man. I watched him working from up close on the Zip Code tour and I concluded it was mostly his steady hand that kept the guitar onslaught working. Solid player these days.

As far as speculating what their popularity and legacy would be had they quit so long ago, one only has to look at bands like Zeppelin and even Paul McCartney (Beatles) to see that it would have remained very high. Their best work was in the can, the most important part of the legacy already golden.

Of course how they moved forward with their solo careers obviously would have some effect on the legacy but the Rolling Stones as a complete entity might even be more popular than today...want what you can't have sort of thing. And certainly the set lists these days shows that they themselves are really just still cashing in on their creativity legacy from decades ago. I doubt either Keith solo or Jagger solo would have done enough on their own to eclipse the Stones but who knows? Probably a good thing we never had to find out.

Credit to Ronnie, but he was in the midst of a giant haze of drugs around that time, so don't know how much help he could really give.
I remember reading an interview around '82, and he himself said he'd been doing massive amounts of freebase and booze.
Glad he eventually got it under control, but after Tattoo You it was pretty much all downhill studio-wise anyways.
Whose to say the Stones may not have been better and more productive with a different guitar player...something to ponder, but nothing to dwell on.

If the Stones had called it quits in the '70's, their legacy was already sealed with greatness.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

YES. He did.

Rock music was changing fast by the mid 70's. The heavy blue rock was on the way out. They needed a more versatile guitarist and thankfully got a great one that unified the band and acknowledged each member.

Absolutely he did.

Well he didn't save "Dirty Work"!

"You Can't Cut The Mustard" (a RW demo that became "Had It With You" ) is the worst outtake ever in the Stones unofficial discography.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-25 18:31 by dcba.

I thought it was in the '80s that Ronnie saved the Stones.
So if he saved them in the '70s too, that's two saves. Thanks & praises

In the 80s indeed.

Yes, for some aspects. He is the right person for the Stones since 1975.
In part things change if we consider the musical aspect. In the sense that Ronnie could be used better. I mean it did not change the sound of the band or else.Anyway he is one of my favourite guitarist and he played so well on Sticky Fingers live also on Sway. I prefer his approach to Mick Taylor's one on Sway when played live.

He absolutely saved the band.

I read Eric Clapton wanted the job after Mick Taylor left, but that his ego prevented him from letting it be known. Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. I wonder where that would have gone?

I'd go with 'saved the stones'.

If you think about it, without Ronnie being the new glue, Mick could easily have gone solo at some point very soon after and probably made it monstrous with Miss You all on his own.

The massive success of course would have went to Mick's head and ended any chance of the band getting together again for at least a decade.

Well I guess.......... his enthusiastic and fun didn't harm the Stones to continue in the 70's....................

__________________________

I think he did a great job keeping the band together, becoming the glue between Mick and Keith. I think his humour and positivism sure would lighten up everything between the bandmembers. Although he had his drugs and drinking problems, he has cleaned up, and he is a great contributor to the band's live sound nowadays. I know he isn't a Mick Taylor kind of player, but I like his funky ness playing and he is a good weaver with Keith. The times had changed when they had to replace Mick T. and getting a same kind of player would have been the end of the band maybe. At least less succesfull IMO

Quote
1969Fan
I read Eric Clapton wanted the job after Mick Taylor left, but that his ego prevented him from letting it be known. Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. I wonder where that would have gone?

Interesting! Where did you read that?

yes

are you being for real ???

Quote
buttons67
seen a claim by mr wood himself that he saved the stones in the 70,s.

anyone agree with this, and where would the stones have went if he hadnt come on board taking into consideration that the best years were already behind them,

who would they have brought in instead, would it have worked, what if they couldnt find the right person both musically and of the right personality for the lifestyle, would they have just called it quits late 70,s and faded into obscurity.

and if they finished in the 70,s what would the bands populatity and legacy be today.

as in WTC. opps



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-25 20:13 by 06230.

as in maybe and its a big maybe... he helped keith just by being his mate . however ronnie is a stone. no one could say that he was not born to it. born on the river..our boy from london town

Quote
MacLaurens

Quote
1969Fan
I read Eric Clapton wanted the job after Mick Taylor left, but that his ego prevented him from letting it be known. Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. I wonder where that would have gone?

Interesting! Where did you read that?

I've heard Ronnie talk about it - I think he mentions it during the 1999 Chris Evans interview, for example.
Eric to Ronnie: 'I could've had your job!'
Ronnie to Eric: 'Yes but then you'd have to put up with these ... people!'

Bill Wyman has said that Mr Wood indeed saved the Stones...Good on yer Woody !
Mr Wood was given songwriting credits on several albums though since "Dirty Work" appears to have been reined in by the Jagger-Richards partnership...Since Bill left he has also been made a full-time Stone and deservedly so....

As far as I recall Ronnie takes the credit of 'saving the Stones' during the 80's, during the World War Three, being the messanger boy between the fighting fronts. Could have some truth in that but I have always taken him being buried in the process, with the result of him having not so big role creatively in the band any longer (despite having the full membership later). Or was that the result of him being more involved with Keith (especially in DIRTY WORK), that the bound between him and Keith needed to be broken in order to maintain the power balance in the band. He kind of sacrified himself. Who knows.

As far as the 70's go, like mentioned here both Bill and Charlie have made comments that Ronnie gave them fresh air and the atmosphere in the band became more relaxed, friendlier and funny. They even started congratulating each other after the shows... Probably it was good to have a member in the band full of big egos having almost not an ego at all ... Was that necessary for them to go on? Who knows. They already had Charlie, but probably Charlie wasn't such a funny, easy-going guy...

Then there are the musical contributions - the clicking with Keith ('weaving' and all that); him sparring Jagger for quintessential SOME GIRLS; offering songs and ideas - but pretty hard to imagine those were so essential that the band wouldn't have existed without them. It would have been some other guitar player instead.

Today as far as The Stones are seen as a guitar band, Ronnie's importance is, of course, fundamental. If it is true in the speculation that Jagger's motive for choosing Wood back then was based on not filling Taylor's shoes, but even bigger ones, that of Keith's, just in case... (and Keith actually was worried that Wood's style is too similar to his) - decades later that plan seem to have worked...

The history of the Stones is many times a series of contingent, but damn happy accidents, and probably picking up Ronnie is one of them... Were they just so damn lucky or were they really so talented, conscious, rational, visionary agents being able to make right decisions at any given time, who knows...

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-25 21:16 by Doxa.

yes,

and in return The Stones have saved Ronnie many times ....



ROCKMAN

I recall an interview Charlie saying that Ronnie was a great funny guy, but didn't really add anything musically to the band.
I believe it was in the context of praising Mick Taylor's guitar playing and sudden departure.


Tried to find the interview, but so far no luck.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Quote
Rockman
and in return The Stones have saved Ronnie many times ....

It's been a symbiotic relationship for sure.