THE STONES KEEP ON ROLLING ALONG

The Rolling Stones, those ‘bad old grandpas’ of rock and roll played Toronto this past Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre as part of their 50^th Anniversary tour.  The Stones used to rehearse as well as launch their tours in Toronto for many years.  They also played the SARS concert at the Downsview Air Force Base in July of 2003.  The Stones charted nearly 60 songs and had eight # 1’s.  This week, a Stones ‘stravaganza.    Five true or false questions.  If you know your Stones, this won’t pose any problems.  If you don’t, take a guess – chances are 50/50 you’ll get it right.  I hope you get some ‘Satisfaction’ out of this quiz.  If not, don’t have a “19^th Nervous Breakdown”.   

QUESTIONS:

1.  The real name of former Stones bass player Bill Wyman is William Perks.  True or False?                                                                                       

2.  The Rolling Stones took their name from a Chuck Berry song.  True or False?   

3.  The last # 1 hit that the Rolling Stones had was “Start Me Up” in 1981.  True or False?        

4.  Legendary conceptual artist Salvador Dali designed the famous Rolling Stones, lips and tongue logo.  True or False?       

5.  The Rolling Stones occasionally wrote songs using the name Nanker Phelge.  True or False?       

ANSWERS

1.  That is true.  William George Perks, aka Bill Wyman, was The Rolling Stones bass player from December 1962 until his retirement was announced in December of 1992 (Bill actually left after the ‘Urban Jungle Tour’ at the end of 1990).  Wyman was actually the last name of a pal who’d been in the Royal Air Force with Perks in the 1950’s.          

2.  It is False.  They took their name from a Muddy Waters song, “Rollin’ Stones Blues”.  They added a ‘g’ to ‘Rollin’ and never stopped rockin’ and rollin’.  The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.  Muddy Waters had been inducted two years earlier in 1987.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland has a brand new Stones exhibit called “The Rolling Stones: 50 years of Satisfaction” that debuted on the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.  The exhibit will be on display until March 2014. 

3.  False.  The Rolling Stones last hit the # 1 spot on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart for the week of August 5^th, 1978 with “Miss You”.  “Start Me Up” did make it to # 2 for three weeks starting with the week of October 31^st, 1981.      

4.  Oh so false.  It was actually ‘pop artist’ Andy Warhol who designed that famous Rolling Stones ‘lips and tongue’ logo.  Warhol also ‘conceptualized’ and/or ‘designed’ several Rolling Stones album covers, including 1971’s “Sticky Fingers” (which on the original vinyl release, featured a working zipper), 1977’s “Love You Live” and 1980’s “Some Girls”.      

 
5.  Another true answer.  Some Stones material, songs the entire band wrote together, were credited to Nanker Phelge.  The name was suggested by Brian Jones.  Nanker was the name they gave to the ‘disgusting’ faces the band would occasionally make on stage and the Phelge part, according to Bill Wyman’s 2002 book “Rolling With The Stones”, came from former flatmate (roommate) Jimmy Phelge.