Like A Rolling Stone

I recently read Keith Richards’ 2010 biography, Life — a sordid tale of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, and debauchery in equal measure. Keef is an admitted degenerate drug addict, and remarkably, he’s still among the living.

Had we pulled the same stunts with heroin, cocaine, guns, and knives, we’d be dead or doing time. Then again, we’re not rock stars, crackerjack guitarists, or pirates.

Though I’ve been writing personal essays here at Medium and on my blog, there’ll be no memoir telling tales of my wasted youth not to incriminate myself, even if the statute of limitations has expired. Besides, as I often say, I had my heyday in college.

That’s Life

That said, Richards’ bio is a fascinating read. Based on notebooks he kept over the years, hammered into shape with the guided hand of co-writer, journalist, and long-time friend James Fox, Life tells the story of a cat with nine lives and then some.

While Keith gets a bit longwinded at times (how many drug episodes do we need?), dishes on other bandmates, and has some bold opinions about music, Americans, and many other things, the bio should interest any Stones fan, rock-n-roll enthusiast, anyone who’s played in a band and written songs, or curiosity seeker who hasn’t read it yet.

While some of these stories have been well-documented by music journalists, police reports, and court records, Keith tells you everything you want to know about the Rolling Stones openly and honestly.

When Richards writes about how he and Mick Jagger collaborated on classic cuts like Satisfaction, Brown Sugar, and Jumping Jack Flash, “Life” shines, particularly the making of Exile on Main Street.

He also riffs on his approach to songwriting and how he discovered open C tuning from the blues masters, which changed the trajectory of his playing.

Keith is also frank about the longstanding tension between him and Jagger that came to a head in the 1980s and almost split the band, attributing Mick’s big giant head to LVS (lead vocalist syndrome).

Richards’ comments on Jagger, ranging from highly complimentary — a front-man like no other — to not flattering, “egomaniacal,” are a brutally honest take on his brother. His revelations about his personal and family life and decade-long run as a junky are a cautionary tale.

Life may not appeal to everyone, but I highly recommend Keef’s memoir. If nothing else, you’ll learn where the nickname came from and why Richards isn’t dead (yet), and neither is rock-n-roll.

Let It Rock

In a recent blog post titled Long Live Rock (here), I riffed on the demise of rock-n-roll. Written shortly after the Grammys, it was a satirical look at the state of rock, given that Hip Hop and Pop dominate the Billboard charts.

An old friend out west commented that there’s still plenty of rock around, even if you must turn over every rock to find it. The data supports that statement.

ChartCipher, a Georgia-based data analytics company that uses AI to track trends on the Billboard Charts, recently released a report on streaming trends for 2023. The report contains several segments, including “Primary Genre.”

The analysis showed that Hip Hop and Pop still dominate the charts at 27percent, followed by:

• Country — 20%
• Rock — 19%
• R&B — 9%
• Latin — 6%
• Dance/electronica — 3%

The report is interesting, showing a significant shift from 2019 to 2023. In 2019, Hip-Hop represented 57 percent of the top songs on the Billboard Charts. The current 27 percent share represents a decline of over 50 percent.

People may’ve gotten bored with Hip-Hop, trap beats, and gutter language.

Pop’s share has stayed relatively the same, ranging from 25 to 30 percent. Notably, Country music has seen a significant bump, from 8 percent in 2019 to its current 27 percent, a whopping 150% increase.

Perhaps that explains Beyonce’s foray into Country. Her team may have relied on these or similar analytics. But to her credit, Texas Hold ’Em is a hit if not a calculated move.

Rock music also rose, up 58 percent during that period. The current charts feature a mix of older and newer artists, and the top-grossing concert tours in 2023 — outside of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour — were mostly rock artists.

Another segment of Chart Cipher’s report is “Instrument Prevalence.” The guitar has prominently risen as the prevailing instrument over the past decade — up 58% — while the piano has significantly declined. That is likely due to Country’s surge and Rock’s reemergence.

Contrary to my post (I’m not taking it down), rock is far from dead. When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. While its current share of 19 percent still lags behind Hip-Hop, Pop, and Country, we may be in the early stages of the second (or third, or fourth) coming of Rock-n-Roll.

Songwriters Anonymous

No. This part of the narrative is not about a 12-step program. And I’m not a recovering rocker, nor do I have the look. But I’ve been hooked on songwriting since my epiphany years ago (read about that here).

After playing in a band with some salt-of-the-earth cats from Brooklyn for a few years, I left New York when my career hit a snag and drifted down to the Washington D.C. area, where my sister lived, to reset.

I found a place of my own a few months later up the road from a dive bar called “Whitey’s.” Don’t get the wrong idea; it wasn’t a Klan watering hole — the original owner of the joint was named Whitey.

I played my first solo acoustic open Mic and debuted some original numbers there. No one listened except my brother-in-law, Patrick, who was and still is an enthusiast of my creative endeavors, even gifting me with guitars to help on the way.

Upon returning to New York, I started playing open mics and poetry readings in the City and on Long Island. That led to gigging out as a solo performing songwriter and playing in various combos with other songsters at dive bars, coffee houses, and church basements.

Trust me, my goal was not to be a performer. My guitar-playing skills and singing abilities are limited at best. I wanted to get my songs into the public domain and collaborate with other musicians.

Recording and sending demos and shopping for gigs in NYC was challenging in the days before recording and uploading songs to SoundCloud, where thousands of tunes go unheard unless you’re Billie Eilish and Finneas.

My adventures spanned a decade plus, and more often than not, I played ‘concerts for the crickets.’ One gig, in particular, stands out. I was playing at some joint on West 3rd Street and had a decent turnout; quite a few people from some crappy temp job I had and folks from my hometown showed up to cheer me on as I struggled through two sets.

All night long, two drunk ass guys at the bar kept yelling, “Shut up,” and “You suck,” over and over. I played through it nonetheless.

Afterward, people asked, “How’d you keep playing with those guys yelling like that?”

A better question was, “Why didn’t you tell them to knock it off?”

I met many talented musicians and singers during my days on the circuit. Of all the people I met, though, only one “made it,” a virtuoso electric violinist who went on to play in Joe Jackson’s band some time ago.

The odds of success are slim indeed.

And there were plenty of hopped-up poets, songwriters, actors, dancers, and other misfits on the circuit; running into someone doing bumps in the bathroom was not uncommon.

One night after an anti-folk gig in the East Village, some shady guy hanging with other songsters says, “Hey, we’re going back to my place to boot some dope. Wanna come?”

Of course, I’m not Keith Richards, so I declined. Partying in college is one thing; snorting smack at some Flat in the Village is a dead end and a ticket to hell. To hear Keef tell it, cold turkey is not a delicacy.

That’s A Wrap

Despite the madness, I’ve fond memories of those times, even if I never made much headway with my songwriting and recording efforts. After a while, however, the Z-rated scene grew tiresome.

I remember the night I knew it was time to wrap it up.

While playing at 22 Below Cabaret, a performance space in the basement of a church in Murray Hill, halfway through my set, I could only think, “My feet hurt.” It was all over.

Shortly after, I hung up my rock-n-roll shoes.

Today, however, I continue honing my craft, playing concerts for the crickets and writing songs anonymously in my back room. Something may or may not be coming on SoundCloud soon.

In the meantime, I know how it feels to be a complete unknown, like a Rolling Stone.