The Stones since '89

[Dr. Who]

How do you guys feel about the Stones career since their reunion in 1989? I feel like they got back together for the worst reason--money only. It's obvious Jagger and Richards haven't been able to stand each other for a long time and that Charlie doesn't care either way, but tour as the Stones because on their own they couldn't hack it. Does anyone else feel that the Stones career--both live and in terms of studio output--has felt very artificial beginning with Steel Wheels?

I mean, consider the '89-'90 "Comeback" tour...For guy who were only just about 50, not very old yet, the performances were overdone and lacking in any real energy or chemistry, compared to their live peak from the early '70s through early '80s.

[Satanisk_Slakt]

I'm glad I got to see them 2005 or if it was 2006, I had a great time and it was one of the very best concerts I've ever been to. They should stop making new music though because all the new stuff sucks. Same could be said about a number of bands. AC/DC, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath... They should just tour and play their old material, people don't want to hear the new stuff anyway. It's just to have an excuse to tour.

[ShadowOfTheWave]

Yeah, there's very been very little inspiration from Steel Wheels on. Ticket prices are disgusting. The best thing to come from them in the past 25 years was Thru and Thru which was put to great use on The Sopranos.

[DieselDaisy]

I'm glad I got to see them 2005 or if it was 2006, I had a great time and it was one of the very best concerts I've ever been to. They should stop making new music though because all the new stuff sucks. Same could be said about a number of bands. AC/DC, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath... They should just tour and play their old material, people don't want to hear the new stuff anyway. It's just to have an excuse to tour.

They basically have (last album, 2005), sans the odd single for Greatest Hits releases.

It is for the cash which I find distasteful, Jagger in the counting office after the show. It is however a good spectacle I suppose - I saw them on the Babylon tour at the old Wembley. Would I see them again, with the prices they charge? Probably not. But I am glad I saw them before they eventually retire - or expire! They will probably still be skeletons rocking out on stage in fifty years time haha.

I actually quite like the modern Stones albums. Voodoo Lounge had some great 'Keef' numbers on there, 'Thru and Thru' and 'The Worst'. Babylon had some exceptional material, 'Out of Control', 'Saint of Me', 'Flick the Switch' (great Keith riff in that), 'Low Down'. A Bigger Bang was poor; the only song I liked on there was 'Let Me Down Slow'; 'Dangerous Beauty' is not bad I suppose. I remember it being full of slick Jagger ballads. I have the album but it did not hang around in my player for very long. On the whole, I would say Steel Wheels-Bigger Bang has been superior to Emotional Rescue-Dirty Work, Tattoo You aside. Of course, neither comes close to their 1963-73 output, or Some Girls, probably the last bona fide Stones masterpiece.

[Powerage5]

They're still a great live band. I've enjoyed the shows I've seen between 2012 and now much more than I did the first time I saw them in 2005. And I only paid an arm and a leg for one of the shows I've seen over the last two years.

[Facekicker]

I saw them on the Licks Tour and they were absolutely incredible.

[Sixes]

Saw them on the Steel Wheels tour...that was very much meh.

Saw them on the Licks tour and they were on fire.

Saw them on the Bigger Bang tour and they were on fire again.

I'd rank the albums from 1989-now as such:

1. Exile On Main St reissue bonus disc

2. Some Girls reissue bonus disc

3. Bridges To Babylon

4. A Bigger Bang

5. Voodoo Lounge

6. Steel Wheels--this is among their worst albums

[tomfriend]

Still a good live act. A Bigger Bang had some good moments. Can't see them ever making another album though.

[Sixes]

Trim off maybe 4 songs from A Bigger Bang and it would be a more solid album

Driving Too Fast

Look What The Cat Dragged In

It Won't Take Long

Dangerous Beauty

take them off and it's a much much better album as a whole

Edited December 1, 2014 by Sixes

[DieselDaisy]

Dangerous Beauty is one, of only the two songs, I liked.

[Len Cnut]

The Stones songwriting has just completely gone to bollocks. It's just a bunch of cliches even more so than ever. But it's just really really ham-fisted now. I mean look at those titles, 'look what the cat dragged in', they are literally fully-formed cliches of the English language.

[Strange Broue]

I'm glad I got to see them 2005 or if it was 2006, I had a great time and it was one of the very best concerts I've ever been to. They should stop making new music though because all the new stuff sucks. Same could be said about a number of bands. AC/DC, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath... They should just tour and play their old material, people don't want to hear the new stuff anyway. It's just to have an excuse to tour.

speak for yourself asshat

The Stones songwriting has just completely gone to bollocks. It's just a bunch of cliches even more so than ever. But it's just really really ham-fisted now. I mean look at those titles, 'look what the cat dragged in', they are literally fully-formed cliches of the English language.

they always used cliches since the 60's...

btw look what the cat dragged in? that's a poison album amirite?

Btw Doom and Gloom is cool

Much better than Mick Jagger's entire solo career

Edited December 1, 2014 by Motivation

[Len Cnut]

True man but they were at least like, crafty with it, there was a sort of a wink and a nudge cheekiness to it. I suppose there's only so long you can shag those blues cliches.

[Sixes]

I also saw them in Lincoln Center when they announced the Bigger Bang tour...they did 3 songs. Oh No, Not You Again was one of them. Can't remember the other 2 but they were probably Brown Sugar and Start Me Up

I would love to hear a new Stones album and also hope they continue to open the vaults like they did for Exile and Some Girls..those bonus discs were fantastic.

And I hate their setlists. Same old tired songs. After awhile, they all blend together and sound the same. At least when they have a new record out, you're gonna hear new music

[Powerage5]

I also saw them in Lincoln Center when they announced the Bigger Bang tour...they did 3 songs. Oh No, Not You Again was one of them. Can't remember the other 2 but they were probably Brown Sugar and Start Me Up

I would love to hear a new Stones album and also hope they continue to open the vaults like they did for Exile and Some Girls..those bonus discs were fantastic.

And I hate their setlists. Same old tired songs. After awhile, they all blend together and sound the same. At least when they have a new record out, you're gonna hear new music

I half agree about the setlists. They have so many hits and they insist on playing all of them at every gig. In the other hand, they've got about a quarter of the set nowadays not completely set in stone; in the 3 gigs I've seen since 2012 there's been at least 5 songs per gig that not only weren't played at any other gig I've seen, but for the most part weren't played at all on the rest of each respective tour. And I've gotta give them credit for that. I mean, at the Brooklyn gig in 2012 I saw the first live rendition of I Wanna Be Your Man since 1962. That's pretty fucking cool.

[DieselDaisy]

I also saw them in Lincoln Center when they announced the Bigger Bang tour...they did 3 songs. Oh No, Not You Again was one of them. Can't remember the other 2 but they were probably Brown Sugar and Start Me Up

I would love to hear a new Stones album and also hope they continue to open the vaults like they did for Exile and Some Girls..those bonus discs were fantastic.

And I hate their setlists. Same old tired songs. After awhile, they all blend together and sound the same. At least when they have a new record out, you're gonna hear new music

I half agree about the setlists. They have so many hits and they insist on playing all of them at every gig. In the other hand, they've got about a quarter of the set nowadays not completely set in stone; in the 3 gigs I've seen since 2012 there's been at least 5 songs per gig that not only weren't played at any other gig I've seen, but for the most part weren't played at all on the rest of each respective tour. And I've gotta give them credit for that. I mean, at the Brooklyn gig in 2012 I saw the first live rendition of I Wanna Be Your Man since 1962. That's pretty fucking cool.

1965 haha,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py5-WxCypvI

[Sixes]

I also saw them in Lincoln Center when they announced the Bigger Bang tour...they did 3 songs. Oh No, Not You Again was one of them. Can't remember the other 2 but they were probably Brown Sugar and Start Me Up

I would love to hear a new Stones album and also hope they continue to open the vaults like they did for Exile and Some Girls..those bonus discs were fantastic.

And I hate their setlists. Same old tired songs. After awhile, they all blend together and sound the same. At least when they have a new record out, you're gonna hear new music

I half agree about the setlists. They have so many hits and they insist on playing all of them at every gig. In the other hand, they've got about a quarter of the set nowadays not completely set in stone; in the 3 gigs I've seen since 2012 there's been at least 5 songs per gig that not only weren't played at any other gig I've seen, but for the most part weren't played at all on the rest of each respective tour. And I've gotta give them credit for that. I mean, at the Brooklyn gig in 2012 I saw the first live rendition of I Wanna Be Your Man since 1962. That's pretty fucking cool.

Hearing I Wanna Be Your Man is cool but I have to say, it's about #200 on the list of songs I'd like to hear the Stones play. They have so many great songs in their canon..play some of them for fuck sake!

Edited December 2, 2014 by Sixes

[ZoSoRose]

Some great tunes since then and a ton of amazing and hostorical tours

Plus i got to see them

[ZoSoRose]

And i thjbk doom and gloom is an amazing tune

[Sixes]

And i thjbk doom and gloom is an amazing tune

no love for One More Shot?

[Georgy Zhukov]

After Aftermath, Out of Our Heads, Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. Goats Head Soup, Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, Tattoo you and others I forget to mention, they can do whatever the fuck they want.

[Powerage5]

I also saw them in Lincoln Center when they announced the Bigger Bang tour...they did 3 songs. Oh No, Not You Again was one of them. Can't remember the other 2 but they were probably Brown Sugar and Start Me Up

I would love to hear a new Stones album and also hope they continue to open the vaults like they did for Exile and Some Girls..those bonus discs were fantastic.

And I hate their setlists. Same old tired songs. After awhile, they all blend together and sound the same. At least when they have a new record out, you're gonna hear new music

I half agree about the setlists. They have so many hits and they insist on playing all of them at every gig. In the other hand, they've got about a quarter of the set nowadays not completely set in stone; in the 3 gigs I've seen since 2012 there's been at least 5 songs per gig that not only weren't played at any other gig I've seen, but for the most part weren't played at all on the rest of each respective tour. And I've gotta give them credit for that. I mean, at the Brooklyn gig in 2012 I saw the first live rendition of I Wanna Be Your Man since 1962. That's pretty fucking cool.

Hearing I Wanna Be Your Man is cool but I have to say, it's about #200 on the list of songs I'd like to hear the Stones play. They have so many great songs in their canon..play some of them for fuck sake!

Well yeah - not exactly saying it's top of my list either, but I was justing using it as an example that it's not like they won't do anything out of the ordinary. Out of the four times I've seen them, these are all the "unusual" songs I've seen them do (I'm counting songs I've only seen them do once, just because I know some of these do get played live quite a bit more often):

She's So Cold

Rough Justice

Back Of My Hand

Night Time Is The Right Time

The Worst

Infamy

Oh No, Not You Again

I Wanna Be Your Man

The Last Time

Wild Horses

Going Down

One More Shot

Before They Make Me Run

You Got Me Rocking

Angie

Street Fighting Man

Emotional Rescue

You Got The Silver

Let's Spend The Night Together

Streets Of Love

Respectable

Out Of Control

Can't Be Seen

That right there is easily a full setlist's worth of songs I've only seen them do once, not too bad for a bunch of geezers. But I do agree that some of the warhorses should be retired, because other than those unusual songs, the rest of the set was near identical other than the order.

And i thjbk doom and gloom is an amazing tune

no love for One More Shot?

I prefer One More Shot, but I think Doom & Gloom was better live.

[Daedalus]

I saw them 6 months ago and they were amazing. Their live sound is really something special and they seemed to have a good time on stage. Plus, Mick Taylor was there too, so it is the best version of the Stones since mid-70s.

Talking about the music, I think they've released more than just a few great tracks since '89.

- Almost Hear You Sigh

- Wish I'd Never Met You

- How Can I Stop

- Losing My Touch

- Streets Of Love

- Saint of Me

- Doom And Gloom

- ...

+ a bunch of solid ones: Don't (Stop), You Got Me Rocking, Out of Control, Mixed Emotions, Highwire, Anybody Seen My Baby, Rough Justice, Already Over Me, Under the Radar...

[DR DOOM]

I'm not going to pretend I'm really familiar with the last few albums, but Thief In The Night is at least one great song off them.

[Mr. Dude]

How do you guys feel about the Stones career since their reunion in 1989? I feel like they got back together for the worst reason--money only. It's obvious Jagger and Richards haven't been able to stand each other for a long time and that Charlie doesn't care either way, but tour as the Stones because on their own they couldn't hack it. Does anyone else feel that the Stones career--both live and in terms of studio output--has felt very artificial beginning with Steel Wheels?

I mean, consider the '89-'90 "Comeback" tour...For guy who were only just about 50, not very old yet, the performances were overdone and lacking in any real energy or chemistry, compared to their live peak from the early '70s through early '80s.

I agree 110%. The art, the muse has long since fell by the wayside. The Stones haven't made a good record since Some Girls if you ask me. There have been a sprinkiling of decent songs, singles and whatnot, but as an artistic entity they clearly closed up shop 30 plus years ago. They're strictly performers now- and that's cool. They had a great run. Not as long as Neil Young's, but they did pretty good for themselves.