(Credits: Mark Seliger)
Sun 7 December 2025 17:30, UK
The Rolling Stones never hid the fact that their music was inspired by American music.
From the early blues days of Muddy Waters and BB King, to the soul and funk of James Brown, Sam Cooke and The Temptations, the evolution of America’s music history can be traced through the discography of The Rolling Stones. At the very heart of that, though, was the blues. The foundation of American rock that ultimately inspired The Rolling Stones, and more specifically, Keith Richards, to pick up an instrument.
In fact, he once boldly claimed, “If you don’t know the blues… there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.”
Their dedication to that style of music allowed them to express a sense that perhaps their abilities may have been limited. Because in Mick Jagger, they had a charismatic front man and performer, no doubt, but by no means a technician. Unlike his soul influences, Jagger couldn’t express the sentiment of whatever song the band were performing through emotive range, but instead a sense of character that was backed up by his band’s ability to write a blues composition.
It’s why songs like ‘Gimme Shelter’ became so goddamn iconic for the band. Because Merry Clayton brought all of the power to the chorus line, but rather than completely overshadowing Jagger’s stabby vocals in the verse, she helped contextualise them, and highlight how the angular style of his voice could impact the storytelling of the band’s music.
Clayton’s performance certainly highlighted one thing, and that was the band’s appreciation for soul and R&B. Sure, they got to collaborate with Clayton on that track, but they admired some of the true greats from afar and none more so than Aretha Franklin.
The ‘Queen of Soul’ was consistently a reference point for the band, who marvelled at her ability to share the characteristic traits of someone like Jagger, while boasting all of the technical superiority of a Clayton. She had power, skill, range and character all in her armoury and used them throughout her music.
It was an honour for the band then, when she decided to perform ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ in 1986. With the help of Richards and Ronnie Wood, Franklin delivered a triumphant rendition of the song, further mining the bluesy feel of its composition.
For Richards, the honours continued when, a year later, he was given the opportunity to induct Franklin into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now, Richards is lost for coherent words at the best of times, but the intoxication of honouring an artist he’s regularly considered the greatest singer of all time, took his inarticulateness to new depths.
“The dictionary has been used up, there’s no superlatives left, and there’s nothing to read anyway,” Richards said, bumbling his honorary speech but somehow managing to display his indescribable respect for the musician. While I would have probably been a bit more colourful in my description of her genius, in this once-in-a-lifetime context, I can’t deny that I wholeheartedly agree with Richards when he says there are no superlatives left to describe her greatness.
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