The Rolling Stones in the ‘80s

The cover of the Rolling Stones' 1986 album "Dirty Work.".

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Work_%28Rolling_Stones_album%29

(May be subject to copyright)

In junior high, when all the girls were going crazy over Duran Duran and Culture Club, one of my classmates, a friend and neighbour named Mike, maintained they weren’t as good as “The Stones”, a band his older siblings had introduced him to.

“O yeah,” one of the girls challenged. “I’ll bet you can’t name more than one of their songs.”

He paused for just a split second.

“Satisfaction.” “Let’s Spend the Night Together”. “Ruby Tuesday”.

Then he added for good measure that the Stones changed the name of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together” when they appeared on American TV.

That was my introduction to “The Rolling Stones”.

A couple days ago I was cleaning the house, had “Stingray Remember the ‘80s” on in the background and discovered “Emotional Rescue” was actually released in the ‘80s.

It reminded me of a time when I was just discovering a band that I have come to prefer over “The Beatles”, by a long shot.

Dawn of the decade
The Rolling Stones were already mega super stars by the time the ‘80s came.

Interestingly, their first single of the decade was “Emotional Rescue”, which came out in 1980 and went all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100. That was followed up later in 1980 with “She’s So Cold”, which peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Those two songs both came off the album “Emotional Rescue”.

In 1981, they released “Start Me Up” from the album “Tattoo You”, which went all the way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. They also charted with “Waiting on a Friend” at number 13 and “Hang Fire” at number 20.

At the time, we were in Red Rooster in Coaldale one day. It was one of the places where I bought hockey cards. It was off hockey season, but I always looked on the shelf for something different. On this day, they were selling little mini record albums. Inside was a piece of that same kind of hockey card gum, but it was in the shape of a vinyl record.

One of the first ones I bought was that distinctive “Tattoo You” by the Rolling Stones.

Good neighbour policy
In junior high, before I really got into music, but was becoming more interested, I often took my lead from Mike. That was the case in Grade 9, and where I pick up the trail of the Rolling Stones.

It was 1983 and they released the album “Undercover”. The first single was “Undercover of the Night”. I saw it on the weekly countdown during the first episode of “Solid Gold” that I ever watched. “Undercover of the Night” went all the way to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

A few months later they released “She Was Hot”, which peaked at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100. I remember this was one of the first music videos I saw on “Video Hits”, an afterschool show on CBC Channel 9 on the peasant vision dial. I recall the video had actress and dancer Anita Morris and, when she kissed Rolling Stone lead singer Mick Jagger, he blew smoke out of his mouth.

I also distinctly remember talking to Mike about that video in science class. I kept saying “Beast of Burden” instead of “She Was Hot”, until Mike corrected me.

Record sale
As I got more and more into music, I ventured out. There was a massive flea market every year at the Lethbridge Exhibition Pavilion. When we went in 1985, there was a table with boxes upon boxes of records. There were a few that interested me, until I came upon one.

It had this iconic photo of the Stones, including Mick Jagger in like a Navy seaman coat. It struck a chord with me, so I shelled out the five or 10 bucks and bought the record. It was called “Between the Buttons”, and turned out to be one of the Stones’ most famous albums. It had hits such as “Ruby Tuesday” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together”, but a lot of other good stuff as well.

I still have that record in my garage.

“Dirty Work”
By the next time the Rolling Stones put an album, I was really into music, and had heard about its impending release.

It was 1986, the album was called “Dirty Work”, and the first single was “Harlem Shuffle”. There was a lot of anticipation about the video and it did not disappoint. It was a cartoon that included Sylvestor the Cat, one of my favourites. I ended up seeing the “world debut” of the “Harlem Shuffle” video on “Entertainment Tonight.”

The song proved to be another hit for the Rolling Stones, going all the way to number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Dirty Work” was also the monthly selection from Columbia House when it came out, but I don’t recall having it sent to me.

A few months later, they charted “One Hit to the Body”, which peaked at umber 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song catalogue
As I got more and more into music, I discovered a lot more Rolling Stones songs had come before. Those songs included “(I Can’t Get no) Satisfaction”, which was their first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100; “Get Off My Cloud”, which also went to number one; and “Time is on my Side”.

There was “Paint it Black”, which went to number one, was the opening song of the Vietnam War TV series “Tour of Duty”, and my favourite all-time Stones song.

They also did “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”; “Sympathy for the Devil”; “Honky Tonk Womnen”; “Brown Sugar”, which went to number one; “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”; “Angie”, which went to number one; “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like it)”; “Beast of Burden”; and so many others.

End of the decade
The last Rolling Stones song from the ‘80s that I recall was “Mixed Emotions”. It was the first single from the album “Steel Wheels” which came out in the Fall of 1989. “Mixed Emotions” went all the way to number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

I distinctly remember dancing to “Mixed Emotions” and booming out the words at a Lister Hall dance that year, which would have been my third year of university.

As the ‘80s closed the Stones showed no signs of really slowing down

The years after
The Rolling Stones keep on trucking to this day. The highlight for me was going to see the Rolling Stones at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in the Fall of 1994 during their Voodoo Lounge tour.

Parting thoughts
Long before I started getting into music, I knew about the Rolling Stones. They are one of the best known bands of all time.

Whenever the subject comes up, I always prefer the Rolling Stones over the Beatles. The Stones just seem to have more edge for me, which I like.

I developed that preference for the Stones in the ‘80s, by listening to the radio and records, and watching videos. They were still turning out top 10 and top 20 songs.