JimFormation

When I was 10-years-old or so, my father gave me a box of his 8-track tapes. In the box included Rick Wakeman’s “The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” and Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung.” I played the hell out of those two tapes. Certainly they influenced my musical tastes.

Fast-forward to high school where real musical influences formed and I was deep into The Beatles. The Beatles were my main musical influence — things branched off from there. But I wonder what would have happened if, instead of The Beatles I’d glommed onto The Rolling Stones.

Truth is The Rolling Stones are more up my alley. By and large, I like my music gritty, dirty, and unpolished. The Beatles were ultra-polished and The Stones, well, Keith Richards — need I say more.

And The Beatles wanted to hold a girl’s hand. The Stones wanted to make love to her.

I wonder who I’d be if I was a Stone and not a Beatle.

That  said, I decided to make a list of my favorite Rolling Stones songs. I can’t grab many deep tracks, because I’ve never owned a Rolling Stones album. This is just stuff I’ve heard on the radio over the years.

My 10:

1. Sympathy For the Devil
2. Gimme Shelter
3. Sway
4. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
5. Angie
6. Start Me Up
7. Shattered
8. Ruby Tuesday
9. Brown Sugar
10. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg