{"id":170364,"date":"2021-08-24T15:55:47","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T19:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=170364"},"modified":"2021-08-25T11:43:47","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T15:43:47","slug":"r-i-p-charlie-watts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=170364","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Charlie Watts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nSuch an interesting man, so separate from the CRAY-CRAY that were the Stones as an entity, but so essential<\/i> to the Stones being the Stones. They all acknowledge it. The most interesting part of this is that he was a jazz drummer. Still is. He was already doing jazz gigs, and actually making a little living at it when the Stones reached out to him. The joke is is that they couldn’t really afford him at the time. Smarter people than I (in re: jazz, at least) can speak about what Watts’ jazz background brought to the Stones. I am sure those conversations are fascinating. Watts continued to play jazz, in various quartets over the years. He never got caught up in the whole Rolling Stones “thing”, which is a feat worthy of Superman if you think about it.<\/p>\n

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\nWatts battled a pretty horrific addiction, but that was a little bit later than the rest of them. He wasn’t all about the party and the girls. He was married when he joined the Stones, and the marriage remained intact throughout. She has just been widowed after over 50 years of marriage. It’s fascinating that someone can be in a band like The Rolling Stones and somehow remain separate from the experience, keep perspective, keep the personal non-Rolling-Stone life operational AS the band fills stadiums around the world. I don’t know how he did it. Not too many people can pull it off. He said he thought fame was rather “silly”.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. He didn’t go. His drumming has been influential to multiple generations at this point. Lars Ulrich, Metallica’s drummer, referred to Watts’ career as a “road map”. <\/p>\n

I’ve linked to this piece<\/a> before but it seems particularly a propos today. Bill Janovitz, lead singer of Buffalo Tom, wrote a wonderful piece on his site where he breaks down “Gimme Shelter” on a minute to minute basis. It’s fun to listen to the song, and stop it at the points Janovitz does, just to focus in on his specific observations.<\/p>\n

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