Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones was asked the following question by a reporter:
“If a promoter had a gun to your head and he had to choose one Rolling Stones album to play in it’s entirety which would it be?”
The taciturn drummer was forced to admit, "Well, I’d be dead because I don’t really know any of them."
Watts has said on numerous occasions that he never has listened to any of the Stones albums after they were recorded, simply because he has no interest in doing so. "I was there for the entire recording process, so why would I want to listen to the bloody thing again?"
Its funny because Watts has no interest in rock n’ roll, outside of being the drummer for the Stones, and interviews with him on the subject are some of the worst imaginable, as Watts tends to give one word answers. Jazz on the other hand, asking Watts about Jazz is another story.
One final Watts anecdote/trivia:
While on tour with the Stones his interests are exactly 2:
Shopping-mainly for suits and fine shirts
Drawing. he has draw the bed/hotel room for every single one of the hotels he has stayed in all theirugh his years with the Stones.
He has never gotten a drivers license, or for that matter, even learned to drive.
I’m with you, nickannan. The last time I saw the Stones (on the Bridges to Babylon tour), when Mick introduced the band members, it seemed that Charlie got the biggest ovation. Sometimes the people know class when they see it.
It’s not really so uncommon for the members of the band to have little or no interest in listening to their recordings after they’re made. It is rare that they ever sound as good as they do when you’re sitting and playing them with the rest of the band.
Add to that the sheer number of albums the Stones have put out, and I would be surprised if any of them can name all their own albums.
I have always loved Charlie Watts…especially since I read that he calls his wife every night while on tour.
Best Charlie Watts story ever (can’t recall where I read it):
Big afterparty at a hotel (Charlie did not attend, as is his custom), and Mick is drunk off his ass, walking around yelling, “Where’s my fucking drummer? Where’s my fucking drummer?” Word gets to Charlie in his room, so he gets up, shaves, dresses, and heads downstairs to punch Mick once and say, “I’m not your drummer, you’re my fucking singer.”
Okay, so Charlie’s the coolest. But he didn’t do those vocals or the guitar sounds, or come up with the songs, for that matter. Give him credit, but apportion it to where it’s due.
As an aside, I find his comments a bit disappointing; I guess not giving a shit is cool. And that might tell you how much he actually did contribute, outside of his metronome-like drumming, to the songs themselves.
Legend has it that a Stones concert isn’t over, not TRULY over, until Charlie Watts gives the gig his imprimatur of approval - singalled by one last drum roll after everything else has ended.
In interviews, lots of performers have said they don’t like to listen or watch themselves perform.
On the flip side, I knew a guy who was Barry Manilow’s assistant for a time and Barry LOVED to listen to his albums and watch his television shows, especially when people came over to his house. He would bore his guests to death showing rough cuts of taped performances, “Oh…look! See, I almost step on the mike cord…oh, and here is where I almost forgot what the next song was…”.
I apologize for using the names Charlie Watts and Barry Manilow in the same post. You may all feel free to bleach you brains after reading this.
Which definitely makes him the coolest. I’ve often said that I’d have actually liked the Stones if Jagger wasn’t the one singing on most of the cuts. His voice is just so, well… flat.
I recall how, some years ago, Bill Wyman wrote in his autobiography that he kept a log of how many women each of the Stones had slept with. Brian Jones had a huge lead, but not because Bill, Keith and Mick weren’t doing their level best to screw anything that moved.
Only Charlie got a zero, because he was married and didn’t play around on his wife.
I never listen to the CDs we cut unless I have to relearn a part. They’re done, gone, over. We still play some of the songs live and I play different stuff when we do, mostly.
Charlie is fun because he’s so outside the “norm” for rock stars. I’ll bet he even saves some of his money and won’t die broke on a mattress in a burned-out building somewhere.
It’s not that Charlie doesn’t care, it’s just that he knows what he cares about and sticks with that–Jazz, being faithful to his wife, etc. That makes him cool in my book.
