Hello everyone, long time lurker, for years really, I had to jump on board of this thread and profess my love for Undercover. I agree with many that believe Undercover was the last edgy and tue Rolling Stones album. It many ways I feel that it is similar to Exile and Some Girls in feel and sound. I love it's loose feel and infectious grooves of The Pain of Love and Pretty Beat Up, Feel on Baby is one of the Stones cooler dreamy tracks, eveytime I hear it it puts me into the vicarious zone when Jagger sings about traveling across the ocean. The music videos form teh album were not only cool ofr the stoens but really three of the coolest old school videoss of all time.

I think the reason why the album was deemed a failure is many fans of the Tattoo You and Some Girls albums weren't ready to embrace the stones in the 80's, it seems the mor etiem goes by more and more people are starting to relize how great undercover was, plus as good as the singles, video's and salacious content was it could not compare to the more immediate songs and albums of that era such as ZZ Top's magnificant Elimiator, Micheal Jacskon's Thriller, Van Halen' 1984, and Def Leppard's Pyromania, these albums were.. I won't say better but I will say much more immediate and acessable to the listner right off the bat. Rock had stepped up a level and top 40 pop like Madona stole all the female listeners ears back then.

My top 5 fave stones album in chrono

Let it Bleed
Sticky Fingers
Exile
Tattoo You
Undercover

Zack wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2009 at 5:08am:


Two great stills there or what?

yep, he appeared to be well-armed in all three videos. Gun in 'Undercover', chainsaw in 'Too Much Blood' and er...thermometer in 'She Was Hot'.....

Pete Townshend was interviewed about the 'Undercover' video on TV here when it came out and contrasted the performance of the two, by saying that while Jagger came across as a 'total ham', Richards genuinely looked and acted like someone who would take great pleasure in 'cutting your head off'....

Zack wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2009 at 5:08am:


Time for a re-visit then 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GugjdJzMePw

...and Keith looks like he really means it 

Ronnie also swings a Mc Cullogh chainsaw, but very briefly.

Pretty Beat Up wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2009 at 6:35am:


I always knew my PARANOIA was not unfounded!!! LOL!!!

Great post BTW, PBU! and welcome!!!

Ha! Madonna went from blowing Mick to blowing the rest of the Stones - off the charts!

Maybe I missed something, but I dont remember there being ANY controversy over that video. I think maybe because we're living in a more pc-obsessed era, some people are looking at it from a  2009 perspective and assuming there was a fuss made about it.

I dont recall any - if anything, the video was seen as pretty cool at the time because of the innovative mesh of real people and cartoon characters. Aside from the dodgy clothes, it's not that bad.

Nelson George (very PC indeed!) referred to the video as a ''coon show" at the time. He used to write for the Village Voice.

Saint Sway wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 11:32am:


I was just the other night watching an episode of "Pop-Up Video" on VH1 Classic ... I think the "Money for Nothing" video beat "Harlem Shuffle" to that punch.

Incidentally, I never knew that Sting got a significant cut of the royalties on that song -- all because he used the melody for "Don't Stand So Close to Me" at the end ("I want my/I want my MTV"). What a bastard.

Mel Belli wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 11:40am:


Knopfler shared the songwriting credit with Sting.

Saint Sway wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 11:43am:


Married six years, with two kids (the younger just two months). So, yeah, I'm watching quite a bit of TV lately. Mostly the MLB network, if that's any consolation.

Saint Sway wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 11:57am:


No, but my wife is DVRing "Oprah"

Holden wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 1:53pm:


Agree about the drums. Speaking of which, the drums on "Dirty Work," artifically triggered by Steve Lillywhite, may have sounded even worse.