Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode will be on a band that perfectly typifies the phrase “sex, drugs and rock n roll” and that is, The Rolling Stones. Formed in London in 1962 they are one of the most successful and enduring bands of all time. They helped form the “British Invasion” alongside the Beatles, they have won numerous awards along the way and they form a huge part of music history.

Today’s mnemonic will be on the Rolling Stones band members, original and current.

So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

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Wikipedia Summary

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years, Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the band's songwriters and primary creative forces, alienating Jones who developed a drug addiction that, by 1968, interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully.

Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, becoming identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. They then found greater success with their own material, as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Get Off of My Cloud" (1965), and "Paint It Black" (1966) became international number-one hits. Aftermath (1966) – their first entirely original album – is often considered to be the most important of their early albums. In 1967, they had the double-sided hit "Ruby Tuesday"/"Let's Spend the Night Together" and experimented with psychedelic rock on Their Satanic Majesties Request. By the end of the 1960s, they had returned to their rhythm and blues-based rock sound, with hit singles "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) and "Honky Tonk Women" (1969), and albums Beggars Banquet (1968), featuring "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man", and Let It Bleed (1969), featuring "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter".

Jones left the band shortly before his death in 1969, having been replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor. That year they were first introduced on stage as "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World". Sticky Fingers (1971), which yielded "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" and included the first usage of their tongue and lips logo, was their first of eight consecutive number-one studio albums in the US. Exile on Main St. (1972), featuring "Tumbling Dice", and Goats Head Soup (1973), featuring "Angie", were also best sellers. Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood in 1974. The band released Some Girls in 1978, featuring "Miss You", and Tattoo You in 1981, featuring "Start Me Up". Steel Wheels (1989) was widely considered a comeback album and was followed by Voodoo Lounge (1994). Both releases were promoted by large stadium and arena tours, as the Stones continued to be a huge concert attraction; by 2007 they had recorded the all-time highest-grossing concert tour three times, and as recently as 2021 they were the highest-earning live act of the year. From Wyman's departure in 1993 to Watts' death in 2021, the band continued as a four-piece core, with Darryl Jones playing bass on tour and on most studio recordings, while Steve Jordan became their touring drummer following Watts' death. Their 2016 album, Blue & Lonesome, became their twelfth UK number-one album.

The Rolling Stones' estimated record sales of 200 million make them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The band has won three Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone have ranked the band as one of the greatest of all time.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones]

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Mnemonic

The Rolling Stones - Band Members Mnemonic – RoCK MoBB

(Picture the groupies of the Rolling Stones forming a group called the Rock Mob that follow The Rolling Stones everywhere they go)

1. Ronnie Wood - Current member

2. Charlie Watts - Original member

3. Keith Richards - Original & current member

4. Mick Jagger - Original & current member

5. Brian Jones - Original member

6. Bill Wyman - Original member

Five Fun Facts

1. The Rolling Stones logo known as “Tongue and Lips” or “Hot Lips” is inspired by Kali, the Hindu goddess of everlasting energy and was designed by John Pasche.

2. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards went to primary school together at Wentworth Primary School in Dartford, Kent England.

3. Mick Jagger likes to keep fit with some running, swimming, Pilates and yoga. And he has also added ballet to his regime, probably due to his girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, who is a professional ballerina.

4. The Beatles actually wrote a song for The Rolling Stones. The song was “I Wanna Be Your Man” and was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

5. In 2006 The Rolling Stones played a free concert at Copacabana Beech in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a crowd of 1.5 million. They spoke to the crowd in Portuguese and played for two hours.

6. Bonus Fact: Keith Richards apparently went nine days without sleep. In his autobiography he said and I quote “I fell asleep standing up, eventually. I was just putting another cassette back on the shelf, and I was feeling great, and I turned round and fell asleep. I fell against the edge of the speaker. Woke up in a pool of blood, wondering, Is that claret?”

He went to hospital the next day and got checked out and had some blood tests. And the results, were shocking, finding blood in his drug stream!