The Rolling Stones – Highway Child – Unreleased 1968 Song


I like it. Chug chug. It sort of motors along. Nobody plays this way anymore. Nobody makes rock. I think to make rock you have to enjoy being an asshole and you have to look around at the world without worrying about being a good person. You also can’t commit suicide if you want to be good at rock. If you commit suicide, it means you wanted to be nice but couldn’t. Nice people get eaten. They don’t become rock stars. It’s not an anger thing. If you’re mad at something, you can’t do rock either. I think you’ve got to enjoy the anger, drift above it, relishing it, mocking it, using it for an advantage, but you can never let anger be your thing… like the punks. Only funny punks are worth listening to. The mad ones suck because ultimately they’re only mad about ice cream. Jagger is a laughing little bitch punk who wins every song he plays.

Robert Frank Film of The Rolling Stones

It’s all very confused and mysterious. In 1972, the Rolling Stones hired photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank to make a film about their American tour. He made something wonderful called ‘Cocksucker Blues,’ which immediately angered the Stones because it actually showed them to be the ultra coolest and baddest band in the world. They sued him to keep the film out of circulation. Go figure. Why would you sue a guy for making the one absolute piece of evidence that you are what you say you are: ‘The greatest rock & roll band in the world?’ Well I don’t know the answer. Drugs and addled minds perhaps. This short film is actual footage taken by Frank on Super 8 cameras. It’s been edited by someone called Videodrumz on YouTube and put together with ‘Rocks Off’ from the ‘Exile on Main Street’ album. It’s good. It works. The footage is absolutely recognizable as Frank’s.

Charlie Is My Darling: 1965 Documentary Film About The Rolling Stones

This is a 1965 film by Peter Whitehead that follows the young Rolling Stones around on a tour of Ireland. The film is ragged and jittery, catching odd moments on trains, in rehearsal rooms, in cars and on stage. There’s a fascinating bit where Brian Jones talks about wanting to make a surreal film about love. The general sense I get from watching this is of these magnificently talented young guys becoming aware of what they actually are. They are awakening to the fact of what they are doing and they are working out all the little moves. Jagger looks in every scene to be crafting in masterful detail exactly how Mick Jagger will move and talk. It’s a fascinating glimpse at artists creating the very personas they will present to the world.

There’s more about the film at Dangerous Minds.