Word: touring
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Just look at these guys. Giants. Golems. Geezers with a quarter-century of history together, "a long shadow," as Keith Richards says, "that we drag around." Their tour starts Aug. 31 in Philadelphia; when the New York City shows were announced, some 300,000 tickets (at an average price of $28.50) were sold in a record six hours. The band, which fussed over choosing photos and picking among twelve different covers for their new record, knows it's no longer got the look knocked. Image is vital, and taking the stage will be a severe test...
Paul McCartney issued a sprightly new album, Flowers in the Dirt, on which he collaborated with Elvis Costello, and announced a world tour to begin Sept. 26 in Oslo. And Ringo Starr, fresh from an alcohol rehab, hit the road backed by a peerless band of studio all-stars. Strawberry Fields forever...
...separately pursuing extra-Stones interests, playing the Bickersons in the rock press whenever they were queried about the plentiful tensions within the band. It was tough to pin down, even when the sniping drew a little blood, precisely what the boys were bitching about. Keith wanted to tour, Mick wanted to cruise the night life; individual ambitions ran contrary to the good of the band. Whatever it was, it seemed likely that they had been together too long -- 27 years, to be exact. So when Slipping Away begins and the husky fragility of Richards' vocal takes instant hold...
...Slipping Away. Easy, too, to hear such a stalwart pro lose patience with all this fretting about age and nostalgia. That may be the better way. Play the music, keep it up front and don't sweat the future. "Talent will survive," says Aretha Franklin, who mounted a successful tour herself this summer. "People with true talents and gifts will stand the test of longevity, with good business management." Right. Leave the fretting to everyone else. There is, indeed, a good measure of concern to go around...
Rock's been a megabusiness for much of its adult life. In 1973 there was $2 billion worth of record and tape sales in the U.S.; in 1988 total sales (including CDs) were $6.2 billion. Bucks like that encourage uncivil marriages of commerce and creativity such as tour sponsorship (the Stones are going out under the aegis of MTV and Budweiser -- careful driving home from the show, now) while discouraging the innovation, the sheer recklessness, that rock music needs in abundance...