Your top 20 favorite Rolling Stones songs!

[JohnRogers]

I like shit like She's a Rainbow, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Paint It Black, Sympathy For the Devil, Mother's Little Helper, Street Fighting Man, Ruby Tuesday...that kind of shit.

You sound like Bathory.

I am a bit of a misanthrope.

[Lorraine]

I like shit like She's a Rainbow, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Paint It Black, Sympathy For the Devil, Mother's Little Helper, Street Fighting Man, Ruby Tuesday...that kind of shit.

You sound like Bathory.

I am a bit of a misanthrope.

Now you're talking shit.

[Rick N. Backer]

The only lock here is Angie at number one. It's in the running for my favorite song of all time. After that, I tried to think of songs I fell in love with the very first time I heard them. There are at least 50 other songs by the Stones I absolutely love. Exile is my favorite Stones album, but only one song from it cracks my top 20 right now.

 

1. Angie

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

Star Star

Sweet Virginia (I have to prove my "real fan" bona fides :))

Brown Sugar

Bitch

Gimme Shelter

Monkey Man

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Sympathy for the Devil

Miss You

Before They Make Me Run

Emotional Rescue

Waiting on a Friend

It's Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

We Love You

Under My Thumb

Love is Strong

Live with Me

[JohnRogers]

I like shit like She's a Rainbow, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Paint It Black, Sympathy For the Devil, Mother's Little Helper, Street Fighting Man, Ruby Tuesday...that kind of shit.

You sound like Bathory.

I am a bit of a misanthrope.

Now you're talking shit.

Oh yeah, Gimme Shelter. I like that shit.

[Turbine Freight]

I like shit like She's a Rainbow, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Paint It Black, Sympathy For the Devil, Mother's Little Helper, Street Fighting Man, Ruby Tuesday...that kind of shit.

You sound like Bathory.

I am a bit of a misanthrope.

 

Edgy with it too.

[Turbine Freight]

Play With Fire

Lady Jane

Gimme Shelter

Torn and Frayed

Wild Horses

Brown Sugar

Fool to Cry

Miss You

Monkey Man

Almost Hear You Sigh

Gunface

Angie

Emotional Rescue

Stray Cat Blues

All Over Now

Sway

Tumbling Dice

Doom and Gloom

Beast of Burden

The Last Time

[Krystal]

Factory Girl - I worked at 2 different factories when I was in college. It's like that song was written for me.

Play With Fire

Wild Horses

Angie

Ruby Tuesday

Paint It Black

Miss You

Start Me Up

Love is Strong

Mixed Emotions

Shattered

Tumblin Dice

The Last Time

Let's Spend the Night Together

19th Nervous Breakdown

Jumpin Jack Flash

Get Off of My Cloud

Under My Thumb

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Waiting on a Friend

[Timbale]

Play With Fire

Lady Jane

Gimme Shelter

Torn and Frayed

Wild Horses

Brown Sugar

Fool to Cry

Miss You

Monkey Man

Almost Hear You Sigh

Gunface

Angie

Emotional Rescue

Stray Cat Blues

All Over Now

Sway

Tumbling Dice

Doom and Gloom

Beast of Burden

The Last Time

 

 

Doom and Gloom! A rare example of a late-career song that actually kicked!

[condemned2bfree]

Play With Fire

Lady Jane

Gimme Shelter

Torn and Frayed

Wild Horses

Brown Sugar

Fool to Cry

Miss You

Monkey Man

Almost Hear You Sigh

Gunface

Angie

Emotional Rescue

Stray Cat Blues

All Over Now

Sway

Tumbling Dice

Doom and Gloom

Beast of Burden

The Last Time

 

 

Doom and Gloom! A rare example of a late-career song that actually kicked!

 

Really thought this was a great song. So late in their career too. Stones have major material, hard to choose.

[Timbale]

Love all eras of the Stones (up to about 1981), but my fave is the Mick Taylor years - I easily could have just listed songs from Goat's Head Soup, Exile and Sticky Fingers. But...

 

Street Fighting Man

Gimme Shelter

I Am Waiting

All Down The Line

Under My Thumb

Angie

Can't You Hear Me Knocking

Moonlight Mile

Coming Down Again

Waiting On A Friend

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Miss You

Salt Of The Earth

Happy

Mother's Little Helper

Shattered

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)

She's A Rainbow

Ruby Tuesday

Heaven

[laughedatbytime]

Brown Sugar has been taken out of the set list for the upcoming tour due to controversy over the lyrics.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Brown Sugar has been taken out of the set list for the upcoming tour due to controversy over the lyrics.

 

I've always thought those lyrics were crossing a line too far. Don't get me wrong, it's a classic song, and I'm not gonna act like I don't sing along to it in the car. Mick's fun to sing along to. But those lyrics... gah. There's really no reason for them.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Brown Sugar has been taken out of the set list for the upcoming tour due to controversy over the lyrics.

 

I've always thought those lyrics were crossing a line too far. Don't get me wrong, it's a classic song, and I'm not gonna act like I don't sing along to it in the car. Mick's fun to sing along to. But those lyrics... gah. There's really no reason for them.

 

Nah, I'll add this too. There's a pretty easy viewpoint to take with the lyrics that mostly redeems them, and I've read Keith take it before, even though Mick's the one who's said to have written them. It's this: all of the things described and alluded to in the song are obviously horrible, in fact so obvious that it doesn't even need to be said in the lyric how atrocious they are. And to anyone who's just taking the song at face value, they're not recognizing that no sane person would write a song glorifying rape or slavery. Obviously the song is about the horrific state of affairs, especially for young black women and children, that existed only a century ago in the United States. The counterpoint though I think is more than fair, and it's this: if you mean to condemn these things in your song, it's not fair to set them to an infectious dancing groove and sing about how "brown sugar tastes so good." It sounds like a party song. It has all the hallmarks of a party song, the major key, the energetic groove, the elated-sounding vocals, even a horn line. So without any lyrics in particular that clue the audience in to this being some kind of satire or condemnation of the things Mick's singing about... it's pretty easy to take it at face value.

 

I think the real issue here is context. In the context of the early 70s, in which I did not exist and I can only speculate, I'm guessing most people saw it more or less the way Keith sees it. The Stones are a rebellious rock and roll band, known for pushing the envelope lyrically and breaking into taboo subjects (Sympathy For The Devil for instance), but everyone knows it's obviously for show. It couldn't be otherwise. It's just rock and roll, it's being provocative, it's not always meant to be taken seriously. But in the context of the modern day, things are different. The Stones aren't rebellious anymore, they have become the very status quo their image and music railed against. The rock and roll movement has largely dried up, and hip hop has largely taken its place. Now it's the misogyny and abuse and murder of many (not all! not even close to all, just many) rap lyrics that goes largely uncriticized, because "that's just rap." It's not meant to be taken seriously all the time. It's obvious the things they rap about are horrible, but they're just putting on a show, just spitting the bars that will get them the most attention and make them sound cool. Ah but who knows... in 50 years time, when the context has again shifted, and some other genre becomes the zeitgeist, will it be Lil Wayne under fire for his lyrical choices?

 

So what's the answer? Am I upset Keith and Mick feel it's time to (at least temporarily) retire Brown Sugar? No. They've played it for 50 years, and they have so many more classic songs they can play in its place that it shouldn't even make a difference. Am I upset that they seem to have come to this decision due to very vocal critics outside the band who (like me) probably weren't alive when the song was first released? ...no. It's up to the artist, and the artist in this case understood the criticisms, thought long and hard about it, and came to their own conclusion. If there were some court case or outside organization absolutely forcing them to remove it from their setlist, yeah that might get me thinking about censorship and Mark Twain not being read in schools. That would be a different story to me, even though I don't like the lyrics either. We're talking about art now. Culture. In my opinion censorship is almost never the answer. But this isn't censorship, it's an open dialogue between two very old rock stars and a more discerning public than they used to interact with. Do I think they should say "screw the public opinion" and keep on playing it? It is a great song musically speaking, and a classic one at that. I wouldn't mind if they kept it in the setlist... but I'm a part of rock and roll culture. And I've been a part of rock and roll culture for half my life. I do understand what Keith is getting at when he says it should be obvious it's an anti-slavery, anti-rape, anti-violence song. Most of the world isn't like me anymore, they're looking from the outside in, and that doesn't register for them. And I think that's more than fair, because literally speaking the lyrics alone make no attempt at qualifying the morality of their contents. I've never liked the lyrics myself, specifically because they don't qualify their subject matter. If I were Mick and Keith, I would be seriously considering a compromise of some sort. Maybe even a rewrite of the lyrics, or just a line or two added two give them some perspective. But I'm not Mick or Keith and I don't have any say in those decisions, and that too is fair, because this is art we're talking about, not law. The old rule will always apply: if you don't like it, don't listen to it.

[Rick N. Backer]

Brown Sugar has been taken out of the set list for the upcoming tour due to controversy over the lyrics.

 

When does Maiden disavow Run to the Hills?

[RUSHHEAD666]

Play With Fire

Lady Jane

Gimme Shelter

Torn and Frayed

Wild Horses

Brown Sugar

Fool to Cry

Miss You

Monkey Man

Almost Hear You Sigh

Gunface

Angie

Emotional Rescue

Stray Cat Blues

All Over Now

Sway

Tumbling Dice

Doom and Gloom

Beast of Burden

The Last Time

 

I'm cranking "Power And The Glory" by SAXON right now.

 

I have no favorite Stones songs. The Rolling Snoozes

[laughedatbytime]

Actually, I've probably heard the first verse of Brown Sugar a thousand times and never known what most of the words here (what I thought they were isn't actually what they were).

[goose]

Actually, I've probably heard the first verse of Brown Sugar a thousand times and never known what most of the words here (what I thought they were isn't actually what they were).

I'd never heard them correctly either, a read them for the first time from your link. I can see why tge Stones are setting it aside.

[pjbear05]

No order:

1. Satisfaction
   
2. Not Fade Away
   
3. 19th Nervous Breakdown
   
4. 200 Light Years From Home
   
5. In Another Land
   
6. On With The Show
   
7. Tell Me
   
8. Shattered
   
9. Harlem Shuffle
   
10. Emotional Rescue
    
11. Happy
    
12. Little Red Rooster
    
13. Street Fighting Man
    
14. You Can't Always Get What You Want
    
15. The Under Assitant West Coast Promo Man.
    
16. Some Girls
    
17. Bitch
    
18. Mother's Little Helper
    
19. One Shot To The Body
    
20. Beast of Burden.
    

[Mr. Not]

So, I have to try and pick my favorite 20 out of the thousand songs they've recorded? That could take a while. I will say that Paint It Black is probably number one though.

 

do they really have that many?

[Mr. Not]

my favorite off the top of my head is shattered, it's uniquely stones... probably not a bad choice to go with immediately based off of my gut.

[Mr. Not]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14UaKYCoFQs

[goose]

my favorite off the top of my head is shattered, it's uniquely stones... probably not a bad choice to go with immediately based off of my gut.

Great tune.