Today Iapos;m reminding myself of how much I love the Stones. I hate making broad, sweeping generalized statements, but I honestly feel like they were the most innovative of their cohort. And itapos;s amazing how they lodge themselves so firmly in the space between blues and rock apos;n roll: plunging recklessly into the future by elevating the styles of the past. Theirapos;s is(was?) not a hollow experimentalism. Lennon complained that the Stones always ripped off whatever new sounds they were working with. But the Stones always imbued such raw energy and enthusiasm to their experimentalism-- so it never came off as lifeless, and their music never ever alienated the "masses". They were not high-brow in any sense of the word, which is amazing considering their attention to freshness, to being different and unique, against the grain.
I think itapos;s interesting that the Stones were so heavily influenced by the "black bluesmen" tradition, at the same time that they were one of the most relevant precursors to American rap music. I mean, if you look at American music history, innovation has almost always started with the African-Americans. Jazz, blues (then rhythm and blues), rap. And the BEST rock apos;n roll and pop music also originated from African-American blues traditions (shoot, Elvis Presleyapos;s fame came from mixing "black" sounds with "white" sounds... And then thereapos;s Michael Jackson, the "king of pop").
But Iapos;m sorely disappointed by what I call the commercialization of rap music-- it has gone from being this entirely fresh, innovative, counter-culture to a hollow MTV phenomena for bored suburban boys who think it must be cool to be a "gangsta" and get lots of ass. This doesnapos;t negate the fact, though, that rap, like rock apos;n roll in the 1950s, emerged as something raw and new and different, something that was so decidedly against the mainstream of increasingly bland and superficial rock/pop music (this is another thing-- do all the old styles eventually become bland and over commercialized, so that new innovations can emerge)). Anyway, itapos;s funny that innovation in American music comes from an historically oppressed group. Maybe there is something to the saying that the best art comes out of oppression? There has been a lot of writing on African-American spirituals, which were basically "work songs" for the slaves, as the roots of modern American music.
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