Their Satanic Majesties Request: Fading Flowers

The Rolling Stones Lp "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was doomed to be a failure, because the whole concept was unnatural, i.e. contrary to the very nature and image of the group. The Rolling Stones stood for anger and rebellion, not for love and peace.

IN 1963,

London kids travelled to Richmond to enjoy themselves by dancing to the beat of an unknown but exciting type of music produced by a bunch of ambitious amateurs called The Rollin’ Stones. One year later, their concerts were attended by thousands of fans all over Europe. The fans no longer came to dance, but caused riots, fought with the police and damaged the venues instead. The Rolling Stones had become the Bad Guys.

It was their manager, Andrew Oldham, who wanted the Stones to be more than a group of musicians. He wanted them to be an attitude and he wanted that attitude to stand for bad, ugly, unconventional and evil. It was a daring marketing move and contrary to prevalent practice with regard to the promotion of the ever-smiling pop artist.

On the other hand, the risks were limited and well calculated. Oldham perfectly saw that the youth market was now ripe for such an idea.
First of all, youth had become synonymous to revolt, although it was a very general and often unspecified anti attitude which could include anything from personal battles against Victorian family values to mass demonstrations against the Bomb.
Secondly, the early sixties saw the development of a specific youth culture. [read full article]