"They forgot the roll and they only kept the rock. The roll’s the whole damn thing dude, the rock is nothing, deal with it, the roll is king. Unfortunately most cats don’t get behind the roll." – Keith Richards, 2007
The quote came from Munz, but nobody asked Keith what he wanted on his roll.
Click here for a deeply weird version of “Paint It Black” lifted from Dangerous Minds.
He's right. The roll is where it's at.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone knows what he's talking about.
ReplyDelete"Roll" is really "swing." Early rock 'n' roll swung, rhythmically it's very similar to swing, as in jazz. Someone with a more advanced musical vocabulary could explain it better than I am, but listen, for instance, to "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley. It could easily be transposed by Benny Goodman. Same for any Chuck Berry. Rock continued to swing into the '60s: "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles swings like a motherfucker, so does "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the Stones. Try snapping your fingers to 'em and you'll see what I mean. At some point rock stopped rolling -- or swinging -- and began to thud. Most heavy metal and punk doesn't roll, it thuds.
ReplyDeleteFollow the dancers that accompany any given music. People listening to jazz, swing, early rock 'n' roll, the Beatles and Stones, et al, shake their ass rhythmically. Punk doesn't make you shake your ass, hence pogo dancing -- i.e. jumping up and down stiff as a board. It may rock but it don't swing, it don't roll.
I believe this is what Keith is referring to.
I think it might be more metaphysical.
ReplyDeleteI think each generation have it's kind of ROLL.
ReplyDeleteBut the Roll that Mr Keith is talking about is the abstraction of the damn thing.
I thing people have to see how he behave with guitar while he is playing,
the guy move his body with the rythim, he's part of hi music.
I want to share this video :
One of the best riff of Keith Richards :
Rolling Stones - Out Of Control - Live '97 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdZK4IbhB00