Listening to modern-day rock music means listening to musical references from yesteryear. Rock music has a long history stretching back to 1950s rock and roll, which was in turn influenced by blues, country music, gospel, and African American culture. And as much as these early styles of music are still present in modern rock, it’s music from the late 1960s and the 1970s that has had a stronger, more palpable influence on current rock bands.

One of the most obvious similarities between current rock bands and rock bands from the 60s and 70s is the focus on guitar. The guitar has been a central element of rock music since it replaced the piano as the core instrument of 50s rock and roll, but it was in the 60s and 70s that guitar really experienced its Golden Age of innovation. In this period, the guitar became more than just the central element of the band; it became the heart and soul of rock. Virtuosity and guitar soloing reached new levels with the likes of Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck.

Guitar innovations by companies such as Gibson, Fender, and Marshall created a classic sound that has continued to define good guitar tone. If anything, the progress of electric guitar technology over the last few decades has often taken the guitar away from this classic sound to something more manufactured, digital, and artificial.

Something which blatantly demonstrates the importance and influence of 60s and 70s rock music on today’s artists is the many revival acts that currently fill the airwaves. The garage rock revival of the early 2000s brought us bands such as The Strokes and The White Stripes — bands which are heavily influenced by musical styles that have already come and gone. Post-punk revival bands such as The Killers and Franz Ferdinand also demonstrate how older genres have influenced the current state of rock. And while revival bands have built onto 60s and 70s rock in new ways, their reference to this Golden Age is so strong and obvious that there is no alternative but to call them “revival bands”.

Perhaps the greatest difference between modern rock bands and the bands of the 60s and 70s is that while there is still a strong focus on the guitar, these days there is much less focus on virtuosity and soloing. Besides hard rock and heavy metal bands, the focus of modern rock music has largely been on creating short, catchy, distorted, power-chord-based music. While it’s true that the current state of rock music is a varied thing, the guitar virtuosity of the 60s and 70s is not matched by many of today’s artists, and most artists and audiences don’t seem to be interested in this happening.

One last thing to remember is that many great bands from the 1960s and 70s are still active and in the charts today. Consider The Who, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Rush, Iggy Pop, and The Rolling Stones. The longevity of these bands isn’t surprising considering their classic sounds, which are highly relevant even today.

- Axel

And what a life he has lived so far. They say every woman wants him and every man wants to be him. I don’t know why he’s an ugly son of a bitch. Nevertheless, he has lived an extraordinary life and it was of great interest to me to get it all from the horse’s mouth as he so eloquently writes on the back cover of his book, “This is the life. Believe it or not I haven’t forgotten any of it…..”

I find it quite remarkable that Keith Richards had such a normal upbringing, in such a normal loving family, to whom he pays tribute many times throughout his autobiography. In fact he opens and closes the book writing about his family. Actually, I found the chapters about his family quite boring to read as I wanted to get to the good stuff but I think the reader has to understand that Keef was a normal boy raised by good normal people in a normal environment. So what happened to him?

Keef lets it all hang out in this  biographical work. There are no holds barred. I must say that his writing style leaves a lot to be desired albeit he had a ghost writer. Keef writes the way he talks; he rambles, he gets off track as if he was having a conversation. This makes the book slightly harder to read but there is so much juicy stuff in there and so many answers to so many questions that although I found myself getting bogged down on occasion, I read on with anticipation. One of the interesting quirks to his writing was using cameo authors; from his son Marlon to Ronnie Wood to Anita Pallenberg and even Mariane Faithfull recounting little stories that Keef says they could remember better than himself.

Keef does provide a lot of detail: From the drug taking to smuggling his stash between countries and also about being busted several times it’s all in there. The truth about Brian Jones, the problems between he and Mick Jagger and even what really happened when he fell out of the palm tree in Fiji last year, its all in the book.

What interested me the most were his thoughts on song writing: According to Keef, “Great songs write themselves. You’re just being led by the nose, or the ears. The skill is not to interfere with it too much. Ignore intelligence, ignore everything; just follow where it takes you. You really have no say in it, and suddenly there it is.” And this coming from one of the most prolific song writers in history.

The chronology of the autobiography once the Stones start recording is based on the albums. A lot of time is spent writing about “Exile on Main Street” where the stones were recording in the basement of Keith’s house in France. This is where he developed many of his ideas on recording which is a holistic approach. Keith likes to record the whole band together as if they were performing live rather than one instrument at a time. He likes to record the sound of the room and the vibe that the musicians generate together. According to Keef “…. This idea of separation is the total antithesis of rock and roll….. It’s the sound they make together not seperated. This mythical bullshit about stereo and high tech and Dolby, it’s just totally against the whole grain of what music should be…… You can’t get these indefinable things by stripping it apart. The enthusiasm, the spirit, the soul, whatever you want to call it, where’s the microphone for that.”

Keef also goes into great detail about the writing of several songs off each of the albums. He discusses the inspiration for the song and how Mick and he collaborated to put it down. And the tunings. Known for his alternate tunings, Keef discusses these different tunings and the songs that were written and played with such tunings in great depth. He even writes that in some tunings he removes the lower ‘E’ string and just uses five strings on the guitar.

It’s all in there, pretty much everything you wanted to know about the Stones but were too afraid to ask. If you are a fan of the Rolling Stones or a rock ‘n roll history buff this book is a must read. Along with all the information listed above plus tons more there are heaps of photos, song lyrics and even Keef’s recipe for bangers and mash!

So if you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor. It’s just been released in paperback so you can pick yourself up a cheap copy.

Axel.

We have all had that annoying hum coming out of our amps whilst rehearsing, playing live or recording. I have listed a few tips to minimize the unwanted noise below.
Leads are the most common cause of buzzing, clicking and humming. Leads break that’s a fact, they either break in the middle or at the end. Either way they will cause you grief. Ensure that you use heavy duty cable for your leads and good jack plugs, the gold ones are the best. Always use straight cables not curly ones, you can’t fix the curly ones if they break.  If you are making the leads yourself ensure you do a good job on the solder.

Guitars are often a cause of that dreaded hum. Ensure the volume and tone pots are clean by exposing the underlying pot and spraying some WD-40 (or some other electrical lubricant) on it.

Also general guitar wiring can cause problems too particularly if there are dry solder joints or bad connections.

Pickups can be an issue as well particularly single coil pickups, which generally have their own hum. You might want to use Fenders noiseless pickups if you want the sound of a single coil or go straight to Gibson’s Humbuckers if you want more grunt. Gibson designed these to actually get rid of the unwanted noise, to buck the hum.

One other issue with guitars is the female jack plug that you plug your lead into, these often become loose or the solder joints become dry there too.
Foot pedals are another cause of unwanted noise. Ensure the batteries are adequately charged or add a power supply to your foot pedals.  For hassle free effects get a digital multi-effect processor. If you are running lots of foot pedals be mindful of the leads and connections between these pedals as this too can cause noise.

Amps can also cause their own problems of unwanted noise so always ensure your valves are not too worn and get your amp checked regularly by a technician. You should ensure the female jack plugs in the amps are not loose as well.
Finally AC power will always give you that low 50 hz hum. There is not much you can do about that. If you are in an area that has particularly dirty (noisy) power you can get a power filter which should suppress most of the noise. I wouldn’t bother with this unless you were recording.
So there you have it. If you follow the tips above you should minimize that unwanted noise and enjoy your playing so much more.

- Axel