The 500 - #213 - Tattoo You - Rolling Stones

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #213
Album Title: Tattoo You
Artist: Rolling Stones
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock
Recorded: At various studios, from1972 - 1981

Released: August, 1981
My age at release: 16
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Slave

One of my favourite things about teaching students in the "Transition Years" (Grades 7-8, Ages 12-14) is that they are (to nick a line from a well-known Green Day song) "walking contradictions". They are also a "work in progress" and regularly subject to change. A teacher can witness a student who begins Grade 7 decked out in a Pokémon shirt and eager to share their obsession with Minecraft or their favourite basketball team. By the time that same lad walks across the stage at graduation, he is a skateboarding goth-kid who loves Japanese animation and is now an outspoken vegetarian.

Sometimes, their changing and contradictory nature can be frustrating for adults. The once co-operative, up-tempo, responsible kid who always finished their work and volunteered in class can seemingly overnight, transform into a sullen, poorly-regulated teen who refuses to complete assignments. It's at times like this when I find it helpful to think back on my contrary teen-age years. After taking a reflective pause, I try to extend the same grace to my students that I would have wanted as a contumacious adolescent – unnecessarily obstinate and headstrong.

Me vs. Life in my teenage years - blissfully unaware that I was the jackass.

My "love them/hate them" relationship with the Rolling Stones is a cogent example on which I can reflect when it comes to dealing with newly-minted teens. I discussed my misguided and tribal-based decision to dislike 'The Stones" in my August, 2021, post about their record Between The Buttons (#357 on The 500).

Between The Buttons record cover from Rolling Stones

My staunch animosity toward the already legendary British rock group was further fueled when a high-school classmate, whose name escapes me, committed the unforgivable error of criticizing my favourite band -- Rush. I distinctly remember him, decked out in his Rolling Stones' concert shirt -- a wildly popular bit of merchandise at my high school that year because The Stones had performed in nearby Buffalo (Orchard Park Stadium) and Detroit (Pontiac Silverdome). 

Promotional poster for Rolling Stones 1981 American Tour.

The skinny-kid, long hair in his face leaned over in French class, looked at my Rush regalia (likely my Moving Pictures concert tee or the many pins I had collected) and flatly said: "Rush sucks."

What other choice did I have but to respond with the less than clever retort: "The Stones suck". What followed was a terse exchange of insults about each other's taste in music, punctuated by erroneous condemnation of the talent possessed by the members of Rush and The Stones.

Images of vintage Rolling Stones and Rush Concert Shirts that 
match the ones we wore. (Found online).

It's my personal example of misplaced anger and one that I still witness with the students today. Several months ago, two boys were in a heated debate about the superiority of basketball stars Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Rather than engaging in a statistical comparison or accepting that both players were generational talents, the agitated teens looked for ways to disparage each other for their "misguided" choice. The goal is winning -- not engaging in reasonable discussion.

If I could go back in time, not only would I have let the "Rush sucks" comment slide. I would also have suggested that my classmate put his Stones T-shirt away for safekeeping. That shirt currently sells on EBay for $275.

Back of The Stones 1981 Tour shirt.

Despite my hostility toward the band, it was tough not to like the tracks I heard on Tattoo You when it was released in the summer of 1981. The lead single, Start Me Up, with its undeniably catchy opening guitar riff, was a huge hit on local radio -- reaching #2 on the Canadian charts. Privately, I liked it a lot.

Cover and label for Start Me Up single from The Rolling Stones

Then, when I heard their second single release, Waiting On A Friend, I was riveted by the soulful saxophone jam. I later learned that it was played by legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Rollins also contributed to two other tracks on the record – Slave and Neighbours. As a hobby saxophonist, I envy Rollins’ seemingly effortless playing and rich tone.

Sonny Rollins.

Waiting On A Friend was originally recorded by The Stones in 1973 while they were completing sessions in Kingston, Jamaica, for their 11th studio release, Goat's Head Soup. It did not make it on that album but, with the addition of Rollins' smooth, tenor saxophone melody the song was a wonderful choice to end Tattoo You. In a 2009 interview, Stones' singer Mick Jagger said:

"I had a lot of trepidation about working with Sonny Rollins. This guy's a giant of the saxophone. (When he arrived to play) Sonny said, 'You tell me where you want me to play and DANCE the part out.' So I did that. You don't have to do a whole ballet, but sometimes that movement of the shoulder tells the guy to kick in on the beat."

The music video for Waiting On A Friend was also omnipresent in the early ‘80s,  airing regularly on television. Shot in New York City, the video’s narrative matches the song's lyrics, with Jagger waiting on a door stoop for his friend, guitarist Keith Richards, who is ambling through the busy Manhattan streets.

The building where Jagger waits, and sings, still stands at 96-98 St. Mark's Place near the East and Ukrainian Village regions of Manhattan. It has become an iconic location for music fans because it is also the same building featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album.

Album cover for Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti - St. Mark's Place
Waiting For a Friend was shot on the steps to the left.

My wife and I have visited New York City many times (in fact, we married--  at the Big Apple’s City Hall in 2006.) I try to make my way to St. Mark's Street on every visit and, in 2018, I snapped a couple pictures of the building and the "Stones steps" for posterity.

My wife, white shirt, can be seen walking toward
me with the building and steps behind her.

The iconic steps from the Waiting For a Friend video
easily identified by the garbage can stencil.

As you may have guessed, I am now a huge fan of The Rolling Stones and, with seven more records on The 500, I look forward to revisiting a catalogue of music that I foolishly resisted in my youth.

It seems being a strong-willed, pigheaded teen is a rite of passage. If there’s one in your life, think back to your youth and maybe go easy on them.

Addendum

As an aside, Rush and The Rolling Stones didn’t share the animosity that my high-school classmate and I did. In fact, the members of Rush cite The Stones as a defining influence.

On July 30, 2002, a benefit event was held in Toronto to help revive the local economy following an outbreak of S.A.R.S. (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Initially called Molson Canadian Rocks For Toronto, it was soon referenced by the clever nickname, SARStock.

The Stones were the SARStock headliner, with AC/DC, Rush, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake and 9 additional (mainly Canadian) bands as the warm-up acts. Rush even performed a brief instrumental version of the Stones classic Paint It Black during their set, as a tribute to their rock heroes.

Rush performing at SARStock.

Rush drummer Neil Peart once shared the story of meeting Stones' drummer Charlie Watts backstage at the event – immediately before the Canadian percussionist walked out to perform in front of an estimated 500,000 people:

“He (Watts) asked if we were going on soon, and I said yes, any minute, and he said, with a twinkle, 'I'm going to watch you!'

"I suppose if I could have felt more pressured, that might have done it, but I was already at maximum intensity - there was no time to think of Charlie Watts and the Rolling Stones. I had watched them on The T.A.M.I Show or Ed Sullivan when I was twelve-and-a-half. I remember hearing Satisfaction snarling down the midway at Lakeside Park, seeing Gimme Shelter at the cinema in London, (England), listening to Charlie's beautiful solo album, Warm and Tender, so many times late at night in Quebec. I couldn’t be distracted by the other million times Charlie Watts and his band had been part of my life.”

 A short video of that encounter can be seen here.

We said goodbye to both of these drumming legends recently. Peart passed in January, 2020 and Watts in August, 2021. Rest In Peace.