My 'overdrive' Stones fandom sprung out of my Beatles one (when I was 12-14). I already liked them and had Hot Rocks on cassette.
I read a MUSICIAN magazine around which had interviews of all 4 Bealtes, Mick, Keith and Bill over the years. (came out in 87-88).
It had stats for both bands, incl. dicsographies. I saw the number of Stones lps and thought 'whoa'.
During the interviews, they always slagged GHS, and marked it as the beginning of their 'decadent' or 'meaningless' phase. Same with mags like Rolling Stone, always knocking this LP, calling it 'sub par', like TSMR.
While I agreed (and still do) about TSMR, I remember finally getting GHS early '89. I had Rewind on video and cassette. I thought Angie was moving, and Heartbreaker was cool and funky 70's. I knew @#$%& already because I had Love You Live. SO I thought - I like those 3 songs a lot, and it came out the year I was born.
After hearing it for the first time, I thought - what the HELL are the people knocking it TALKING ABOUT??? I loved it. And so began my mistrust of critics, and even bandmember themselves about material. I mean, how could GHS take such a beating, while Steel Wheels was supposedly the second coming???
It still remains one of my favourites, and I rank it just below the Big Four. Most friends my age agree. In fact, some I know prefer it over Exile.
Us Gen-Xer's view the musical advice of the Boomers with many grains of salt! We love our 'Jimmy Miller' period. We weren't even born then, but it's undeniably their greatest era - including Goats Heap Soup!
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