Words Of Another Stones Fan

OK, so I know I said I'd be posting on the Stones, then seemingly ran out of steam quickly. Hey, circumstances unexpetedly changed a bit. So, I'm going to buy some time by borrowing the words of a passionate music fan. He posts under "WaldoQ" on a Neil Young fan list to which I'm subscribed. This was one entry in a recent Beatles vs. Stones debate, and was, at least in part, a response to someone who was somewhat dismissive of the Stones while describing the music of the Beatles as "GREAT ART" (in all caps).

"...As for the product- you may not consider the Stones' music great art (even in lower case); you may consider Salt of the Earth, or Dead Flowers to be only entries into the great book of songs; Jumpin Jack Flash and Gimme Shelter to be rollicking good tunes, and no more. I, for one, am grateful to the Stones for what I consider to be GREAT ART, because they went places the Beatles (and nearly anybody else with a major public image to lose) didn't dare go.

The Stones got down to the core- they embodied raunch, lust, sexuality, dirt, sweat, and fire- in short, rock n roll. They did not keep the gloves on, and they still don't. They took risks that the Beatles never dared take. And while the Beatles may have been able to sit in a glass booth for weeks and hammer out a nice piece of art that they could then put on display, the Stones created much of what came to define rock n roll: they gave it swagger, they gave it grit, they gave it defiance, they gave it honesty, and they kept giving it these things in person. Their live shows are STILL excellent. The Beatles preferred to stay at home. Didn't somebody say something about live music being better(1)?

Of all the things we know the Beatles were into, all the drugs and sex, all the political and social causes they cared for- how often did they brazenly put songs about those things on their albums, or even talk about them in public? The Stones sang "Let's Spend The Night Together" in 1967, they sang about drugs, they sang about sex, they sang about activism- they didn't ride the line. They made music about what mattered to them and to a lot of people without couching it in anything, and I've gotta say that music still sounds great 40 years later, even the newest of it. The Stones are the most pure form of rock- more than Elvis, more than Berry, more than the Beatles. They are it, in my opinion. The Stones ROCK!"

And, Haahnster says, "WELL PUT!!!"

(1) As this was posted on a Neil Young list, this is clearly a reference to Neil. For those who are unaware, Neil Young has repeatedly stated that live music is better. In fact, in the song "Union Man" on the Hawks & Doves LP, he uses the line "'Live music is better' bumper stickers should be issued."