Exile On Lex Street

It is official, I am clinically obsessed about every thing to do with “Exile on Main Street.” Love the album, reading the book, read the “Rolling Stone” article, saw the documentary.

In a nutshell, while recording “Exile on Main Street”the Rolling Stones were literally exiled from England to France because they had more taxes due than money in the bank.

What makes it so fascinating is that all of the epic coolness of the Rolling Stones recording and partying in a former Nazi mansion in Nice occurred during an otherwise graceless era of popcorn ceilings, powder blue polyester shirts, Nixon’s sweaty upper lip and avocado green shag carpet.

What sticks out is the amazing relationship Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had. Stealing drugs, cigarettes and women from each other in a psychotically competitive, jealous and tempestuous dysfunctional pairing, they still managed to make great music. Maybe they made great music because of their utterly insane relationship.

Nobody on the planet is more obsessed and worried about their image and status than Mick Jagger. Someone described Mick as an actor who is playing the role of somebody they don’t really like, but for a lifetime instead of a movie. Keith Richards once said you think it would be a lot of fun being Mick Jagger, but Mick constantly worries himself sick about being Mick.

Whereas, with Keith Richards, there is nobody on the planet who could care less about their image or status than Keith Richards. This is the essence of Keith Richards’s coolness: Keith simply does not give a f**k about anything other than getting wasted and playing the guitar.

When Keith Richards flops shirtless and tan on top of a luxurious India-cotton-sheet bed with the bed curtains billowing in the Mediterranean breeze while eating slices of apple off the tip of his Moroccan dagger and slugging down gulps of Jack Daniels from the bottle, it’s because that is what he wants to do, his royal Keefers isn’t trying to be cool, he just is cool.

When Mick Jagger does the same thing, he is aping Keith Richards for dramatic affect.

From all that I have read, the creation of rock and roll is like law and sausage: if you want to continue to enjoy them, don’t see how they’re made. The tedium and repetition of recording and touring is mind-boggling. Just the description of mixing individual vocal, drum, guitar, base, piano, saxophone track upon track on to the final master tape can make your eyes glaze and cross. It is that tedium that often is the main blame/excuse behind so much substance abuse.

During the making of “Exile on Main Street” in the scary beautiful and creepy ocean-front mansion called Nellcote, the Stones averaged recording one song in the crypt/sauna basement every two weeks.

There are two ways of looking at that. A, one two-and-a-half minute song for every two weeks? That is an epic amount of drugging, boozing and sexing with little to show for it.

The other way to look at is, B, what classic piece of timeless art have I contributed to in the last two weeks? A “Paris Hilton is a giant slut” joke? Compared to the Eagles schedule, one song in two weeks is a torrid pace.

There is a rumor circulating that the dank, dark and hot and creepy basement used to record “Exile on Main Street” was used by the SS in WWII to torture prisoners. There are a lot of creative and stylish myths that stalk the Stones like this one. There are so many gloriously intriguing myths and rumors engulfing the Stones you begin to grow suspicious this myth-creating is the secret behind their well-manicured intriguing and mysterious public persona.

Take Mick Jagger’s dabbling into cross-dressing and rumors of bisexuality. In fact, it turns out Mick is not only the straightest man who ever lived, he is one of the horniest straight men who ever lived. Mick could not meet a pretty woman and not try and “do” her.

And yet Jagger was so enamored of the vague coolness and mystery behind the obsessed followers of David Bowie, Jagger adopted that same campy, over-the-top style. Jagger adopted this feminine foppishness much to the discomfort of lovers of the straight macho rock and roll that was/were the core of the Rolling Stones fans.

That one music video the Stones did dressed in campy sailor suits with swirling stage fog was the stupidest marketing mistake Jagger could have possibly done given the homophobia demographic of his fans, but the Stones were so bulletproof they survived it. As stupid rock public relations mistakes go, that ranks up there with Dixie Chick, Natalie Maines, calling country music fans stupid red necks.

Like most people in this world, the Rolling Stones were their best when they were just being themselves: a bunch of talented and cool guys playing music and having fun. And that is what made “Exile On Main Street’ so powerful. Despite all of Mick's marketing posturing, "Exile" captured the Rolling Stones being the Rolling Stones almost by accident.

When I talk to the few people in the TV business I talk to, without any intention of disrespect or rudeness on their part, you can’t help pick up their “What is so great about famous people?” vibe. Part of it is it’s their job to be around famous people and part of it is that not all famous people are all that interesting or nice.

The more I am fascinated with learning about rock and roll in LA during the Sixties and Seventies – the Stones finished mixing “Exile on Main Street” in L.A. – the more I realize luck, timing and creating a popular image has more to do with being a famous musician than anything else, including talent. One word: Kiss.

Music industry insiders say every member of the band Crazy Horse was far more talented than Neil Young. But because of Young’s fame coupled with his ability to write popular songs, nobody remembers Crazy Horse for being anything other than Neil Young’s backup band for a couple of albums.

Using the Neil Young example, the more I read about the people and the music of this incredible era, the more I learn that, to continue to enjoy the music, you simply have to separate the song from the musician as well as the subject. “Cowgirl In the Sand” and “Cinnamon Girl” are epic rock love songs despite the fact Young wrote them about two of the most murderous and drug-addled Manson Family women.

Although the Rolling Stones are good musicians and are extremely talented song writers, their true gift is their timing, luck and ability to create a fascinating image.

Being able to create an interesting image and actually being interesting are two different things. As different as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.