Rolling Stones’ Some Girls offered one final blast of nervy, rock ‘n’ roll attitude

With Some Girls, the Rolling Stones embraced mainstream undercurrents, moving as far as they yet had from the earthen rhythm and blues that provided a bed-rock inspiration for the band’s sound. After a few years of unfocused meanderings following the druggy somnambulism of Exile on Main Street, they were again playing with a knifing sharpness — incorporating sinewy, rattling elements of punk and the sleek ironies of disco.

So, Some Girls was, in many ways, a very important moment. We now know that the Rolling Stones were at the teetering point between two times and, really, they would never sound the same again.

You already feel them creeping, slowly at first, from the healthy skepticism that once drove their muse, beginning with the thrillingly detached disregard of “Satisfaction,” over toward an empty cynicism. There are times when Some Girls felt utterly, completely full of shit — but, at this point, still in a good way.

Later, in just a few short years, things would tilt completely in that direction. In the meantime, there was this final moment of cocksure attitude, released on June 9, 1978.

The full-on, balls-out Some Girls was perfectly uncluttered — no horn section, no guest stars like Billy Preston. (Their subsequent tour provided an opportunity to build off the record’s latent energy, rather than fruitlessly try to match it.) Gruff, not yet mockingly extravagant (in fact, quite inelegant at times) and always in the moment, the Rolling Stones’ Some Girls was one last blast of perfectly glorious rock ‘n’ roll attitude.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Nick DeRiso

Nick DeRiso has written for USA Today, American Songwriter, All About Jazz, and a host of others. Honored as columnist of the year five times by the Associated Press, Louisiana Press Association and Louisiana Sports Writers Association, he oversaw a daily section named Top 10 in the U.S. by the AP before co-founding Something Else! Nick is now assistant managing editor with Townsqaure Media. Listen to NICKRADIO here: bit.ly/NICKRADIO.

Latest posts by Nick DeRiso (see all)

• Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Rock + Pop): Death Cab for Cutie, Joe Jackson, Toto + Others - January 18, 2016
• Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Blues, Jazz + R&B): Boz Scaggs, Gavin Harrison, Alabama Shakes - January 10, 2016
• Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Reissues + Live): John Oates, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Faces + others - January 7, 2016

You May Also Like:

Rolling Stones’ ‘Rock and Roll Circus’ introduced Julian Lennon to pot: ‘I went, What is this?’ Bill Wyman has no regrets about leaving the Rolling Stones: ‘That worked, briefly’ Rolling Stones – Blue and Lonesome (2016)