I thought I’d start the New Year off by writing a post on one of my favorite Stones albums, Some Girls.
Some Girls is the 14th British and 16th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1978.
Considered a highlight of their output and the best of their post-Exile on Main St. records, the album revitalized the band’s career upon its release and re-established The Rolling Stones as a vital rock and roll band in an era infused with punk rock and disco.
It also became the band’s biggest-selling album in the United States, with more than six million copies to date.
Some Girls is ranked number 269 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
At least as important for the band’s reinvigoration was the addition of Ronnie Wood to the lineup, as Some Girls was the first album recorded with him as a full member. His guitar playing style meshed with that of Keith Richards.
Wood’s slide guitar playing would become one of the band’s hallmarks, and his unconventional uses of the instrument are prominent on Some Girls.
In addition, Jagger, who had learned to play guitar over the previous decade, contributed a third guitar part to many songs. This gave songs like “Respectable” a three-guitar lineup.
Here’s the framed shirt Keith wore in the “Respectable” video shot on May 2, 1978.
Mick Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls, a conception that, though disputable (Richards was present at all of the sessions), is plausible considering Richards’ various legal entanglements at the time. Jagger claimed in a 1995 interview to have written a great number of the album’s songs (though when the amount was pointed out to him he denied that the record was mostly his own), including its signature song, “Miss You.” In addition to punk, Jagger claims to have been influenced by dance music, most notably disco, during the recording of Some Girls, and cites New York City as a major inspiration for the album, an explanation for his lyrical preoccupation with the city throughout.
The inspiration for the record was really based in New York and the ways of the town. I think that gave it an extra spur and hardness. And then, of course, there was the punk thing that had started in 1976. Punk and disco were going on at the same time, so it was quite an interesting period. New York and London, too. Paris—there was punk there. Lots of dance music. Paris and New York had all this Latin dance music, which was really quite wonderful. Much more interesting than the stuff that came afterward.
Above is a complete Some Girls press kit signed by the band as well as Ian Stewart and Ian McLargen.
Ronnie Wood signed Woody which he never does.
The Art Collins collection.
Rare boxing style poster.
A real oddity.
The die-cut faces that were once part of the original graphics for the Some Girls album cover.
Mick threw these into the audience instead of his traditional rose petals during the brief 1978 tour.
