Let me
reproduce you a recent chat that I had with my mom last week. It happened in
Buenos Aires, in a not very glamorous bar located in the suburbs. Me, an evil
dude, had a smooth strategy to get away with a totally selfish plan.
-
British
rock has its glories, mom. Don´t you know?
-
I
don´t like rock music.
-
Well,
but at least let me introduce them, would you?:
-
....
-
I´ll
take that as a “yes”. There´s “The Who”, a music quartet that began in the
sixties doing some catchy psych-beat tunes, then started with rock-operas and
finally faded away in the late seventies. These guys really did their best on
stage and are considered as the “best live act” ever.
-
I
really don´t have a clue of what you are talking about
-
Wait,
wait. Then, we have Led Zeppelin. Four guys really influenced by american music,
like blues and folk. They named their albums by roman numerals. When reached
the fourth one, Zep created some symbols and confused pretty much everyone.
-
I
don´t know them. And I don´t see where you´re going with all these meaningless
talking.
-
You´ll
see. Let me finish.
-
(sighs)
-
Finally,
we have the Stones.
-
The
band with the huge mouth that sings?
-
Yes!
Did you like them when you were young?
-
I´m
still young.
-
Well,
not THAT young...
-
My
god. Well, when I was YOUNGER than today, I...
-
(interrupting) You almost name an album by The
Byrds! Though it´s called “Younger than yesterday”.
-
(...)
-
Sorry,
mum. You were saying..
-
I
was saying that in my twenties, I bought a record by the Rolling Stones.
-
Wow!
You never told me! Did you like it?
-
Well,
no. It was so noisy.. The guy from the record shop told me that I´d love it.
But I was looking for something softer.. like BeeGees for example.
-
Oh,
sorry to hear that. For me, they´re the greatest band ever. Unlike The Who and
Zep, they managed to get through all decades, especially the eighties. While
all artists coming from sixties or seventies crashed themselves into techno,
The Stones absorbed all the “modern” beats and disco stuff into rock and roll.
They didn´t have that “hippie spirit” and managed to remain fresh through the
years. I think they always knew they were going to be timeless.
-
(looks at her watch) I´ve got some work to do. Why did
you insisted on having this coffee? It´s just you talking about something I
don´t have a clue.
-
Hmmm,
well, luckily the Stones kept on playing. They recorded some pretty bad records
like “Dirty work”, but the Jagger-Richards writing mantained healthy through
all these years. Jones passed away, Taylor and Wyman quitted, but the flame is
still burning. They now have a younger bass player, although he looks like
their male nurse from the geriatric. Their latest albums, wow.. “Voodoo..”,
“Bridges..” even “A bigger bang” is great!
-
I´ll
go. Here´s money for the check. Bye.
-
Wait,
wait! The point is...
-
(stares at me) IS...
-
Okey,
okey.. They´re celebrating their 50th anniversary in London and New
York with some live shows. I was wondering if you....
-
(angry) DO YOU WANT ME TO LEND YOU SOME MONEY? IS THAT
ALL?
-
Well,
if you want to sum it up.. it sounds unfairly rough, though.
-
(angry) SO, THE FIRST TIME EVER WE HAVE A COFFEE...
AND IT´S BECAUSE YOU WANT MONEY? WHAT ABOUT THAT NONSENSE PREVIOUS CHAT?
-
It
was just to make the picture that the Stones are the best band ever. In the
world, the galaxy. And that it´s very important to me. And that I love you.
She stood
up and stormed out of the tiny bar before I could give her another reason to
lend me some dollars. Well, the tickets cost lots of “some” dollars.
I couldn´t
understand how my clever plan finally failed. Lot of thinking spent to make my
mother understand why the Stones are the best band ever, to realize that the
main reason for Jagger and company to be known as a legend, more than The Who or Zep, is... that even my
mom knows them.
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