You know, it’s hard to say at this point whether Keith Richards’ guitar riffs sound like honest-to-goodness Keith Richards guitar riffs or like the just barely off-the-mark copycat versions guitar store employees have been writing for decades. But on “Doom and Gloom,” the first new Rolling Stones song in seven years, he seems to be getting it right. That unmistakable stuttering shuffle is there right off the bat, and he continues to understand better than almost anyone the impact empty space can have on a song.
Mick’s in especially fine form here too, snarling his way through a lyric about how everything’s so fucked up that he’s having dreams about flying planes and killing zombies and shit, and it’s totally bringing him down. The line “We’ll be eating dirt, living on the side of the road/There’s some food for thought/Gonna make your head explode” is a serious clunker, of course, but we’ll forgive him. We always have.
The song will be appear on a greatest hits collection called, oh god, Grrr! (exclamation very much theirs), due out on November 13th.
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No one likes the classic Stones more than I do, but this is terrible. Which is not surprising, because they haven’t made a great song since 1981 or even a decent one since 1994.
Ditto yo yo pa. Saw the Stones three times way back when they truly rocked my world. But for a while now, they’ve been annoying me, and their style has evolved into something truly awful. Could not watch any of “Shine a Light” concert film because it SUCKED even while being directed by Martin Scorcese! This song sucks too. A couple of years ago, the band even released a re-mixed version of Exile on Mainstreet in a real money grab. I decided right then and there not to put another cent in their coffers. They continue to sell the better part of their catalogue to commercials or soundtracks. They don’t need the money certainly. Why cheapen yourselves and sell out like this when you have nothing to say?
Hell, the doom and gloom will never, ever touch them!
Seems like a tip of the tongue to Dylan… this is a rockin’ tune, despite what others may say. I had all but given up on the Stones and never was a big fan, but this makes me feel better about getting old. Perhaps there’s a little left in all of us nearer the end.