“No, I don’t want to go see The Rolling Stones / I’m sick of empty ritual, sick to my bones”

                                                   from Where All This Crosses, © 1993 Ricki C.

I have to say: the passing of Charlie Watts hit me hard, harder than I ever would have suspected.  When Debbie interrupted her workday to come down and tell me of Watts’ death (after a text from our main rock & roll bearer of bad news, my buddy Kyle) I admit I very nearly cried, which was odd to me.  I’ve liked The Rolling Stones from 1965 on, but they were never my favorite band: that would have been The Who from the first time I heard “I Can’t Explain” until sometime around the release of Quadrophenia in 1973, when my Rock & Roll Planet shifted out of 60’s mode and my world began to turn around Mott The Hoople, The New York Dolls and Elliott Murphy. 

The Dolls didn’t last long, but I dearly loved the original David Johansen Group (featuring future Watershed A&R man Frankie LaRocka, among others).  And still to this day in 2021 Ian Hunter (original lead singer of Mott The Hoople) and Elliott Murphy are – along with Bruce Springsteen – my three favorite singer/songwriters.  And Hunter and Murphy continued to release new material and tour right up until the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic: Hunter’s most recent record was Fingers Crossed in 2016.  Murphy’s latest is The Middle Kingdom (2020), a spoken word release with musical accompaniment by Murphy’s longtime musical associate Olivier Durand recorded – due to French pandemic restrictions – separately in Paris and Le Havre by the two men.  Previously Prodigal Son – a record of all new material – was released in 2017 and Ricochet (an album collection of largely previously unreleased tunes) in 2019.  By contrast, the Stones haven’t released an album of new original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge the Stones a penny of the tens of millions of dollars they’ve made over the last 50-plus years as “The Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World.”  I do, however, kinda begrudge the fact that they can’t be bothered to come up with more than a song or two here and there.  (“Ghost Town”?  Really?) And maybe I begrudge the fact that they’re touring as “The Rolling Stones” with only two original members, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards.  And yeah, they’re two pretty fuckin’ important members being the songwriters and all, but still.  If I’m gonna call out my formerly BELOVED Who for only consisting of Roger Daltrey & Pete Townshend, I’m gotta do the same with the Stones.  (I’d almost give the Stones a pass if they brought back bassist Bill Wyman for this tour, at least then they would have a QUORUM of original members.) 

So what am I asking for in this blog?  I guess I’m just asking that maybe the rock & roll audience – if such an animal still exists – as a whole realize that everything isn’t about SUPERSTARS: that maybe they could seek out some music from the 81-year old Ian Hunter, or the 72-year old Elliott Murphy.  These people aren’t gonna be with us forever, and – as the previous 20 years or so of rock & roll culture has shown us – we are NOT likely to see their likes again.      

If you’d like to read more about Elliott and Ian, check out these links from my former blog, Growing Old With Rock & Roll: On Elliott Murphy’s Birthday and Ian Hunter & the Rant Band: The Greying of Live & Roll.  And for your viewing pleasure, here’s five videos from each of the guys; from the beginnings of their careers to very close to the present day………

MOTT THE HOOPLE (with IAN HUNTER), 1969

MOTT THE HOOPLE, 1973

IAN HUNTER (featuring MICK RONSON), 1980

IAN HUNTER & THE RANT BAND, 2012

IAN HUNTER & THE RANT BAND, 2017

ELLIOTT MURPHY, 1974

ELLIOTT MURPHY (with Mick Taylor on lead guitar), 1977

ELLIOTT MURPHY, 1984

ELLIOTT MURPHY, 2016

ELLIOTT MURPHY, 2020

Murphy & Hunter backstage at a Ian Hunter show in Stockholm, Sweden a few years back. (photo courtesy of Elliott Murphy)