Rolling Stones vs. Dean Martin: 1964FRIDAY, 16 MARCH 2012 17:10 WRITTEN BY RICH KIENZLE
Today the Rolling Stones are still Rock and Roll and pop culture icons, even as they battle over when (if ever) to do a 50th Anniversary Tour. Scott Mervis posted a very astute Pop Noise blog entry regarding Bruce Springsteen's recollections of the legendary TAMI Show movie, James Brown's explosive appearance in that film and the Rolling Stones' unenviable task of following the Godfather of Soul.
It's also worth noting that nearly 50 years later, it's easy to forget how revolutionary the Stones were in, say, 1964. But here's an example that just about anyone can relate to. It was still the Mad Men era in those days, Beatle haircuts got kids thrown out of school and music that could (and is) played in churches nowadays was considered subversive and sick.
Their music, both the hardcore blues aspects, and the blues-based rock, was too authentically black-sounding for white picket fence, white bread Mainstream America. Hell, parents were only beginning to cope with the less threatening Beatles.
Enter the Stones, appearing on ABC's Ed Sullivan-like Saturday night variety show The Hollywood Palace on June 3, 1964. The show had guest hosts and this week's was Dean Martin, then in his prime and creating the legend that's honored today with Dino and imitators around the country, mostly as part of Rat Pack shows.
The Palace, taped in an LA theater, was produced by old-school showbiz types who had little truck with this whole youth movement, prefering instead to present the old farts of showbiz (Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, etc.) and the young farts who followed in their footsteps. The Stones, no less controversial in England than they were here, were anathema to all that.
Ironically, Dino's kids came to the rehearsals for the telecast to get the Stones' autographs, according to then-bassist Bill Wyman. In his memoir Stone Alone: The Diary of a Rock and Roll Band, Wyman wrote in vivid detail about the tensions that ensued when the band played on the show. The show's jackass producers tried to give them money to buy band uniforms (which they hadn't worn except for a brief period early in their careers). A backstage dust-up with Dino nearly led Keith Richards to as Wyman put it, "pop (Dean) one with his guitar."
Here's that notorious performance, complete with Martin's snarky intro, homophobic eye-rolling and post-performance mockery. The song: Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You," a souped-up arrangement of Muddy Waters' much slower version. Note that by today's standards, their stage attire would be appropriate at a formal dinner today.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/kqYEkYpX-uY?rel=0Scott is right. The Stones had it in that day. I'm a bit older than he is, so I remember this time in a bit more detail. And I love Dean Martin as well (per my blog on his country side and this followup). But this particular day, he was playing to his crowd, and being a consummate a-hole in the process.
Of course not long after, Martin's son Dino, Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Billy Hinsche (a future Beach Boy) put together a rock band titled "Dino, Desi and Billy." Dean did not treat them the same way.
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The Rolling Stones vs Dean Martin (Read 1,423 times)
