Charlie Watts, legendary drummer for the Rolling Stones, passed away last Tuesday at the age of 80. Other beat keeping pioneers of his era (Keith Moon, John Bonham, Ian Paice, even Ringo Starr) dazzled with drums to the point of sometimes taking over a song. Watts' brilliance was more paradoxical; his reserved style resulted in a powerful percussive presence even as he--on the surface level anyway--seemed to minimize that very presence. While Charlie Watts was always admired by drum geeks, the fact that he spent his entire adult life accompanying the naughty narcissists Mick Jagger and Keith Richards made it easy to overlook his achievements.
Watts was brilliant on just about every Stones' song ever recorded, but I will share just ten that I think best represent his legacy.
#10: Get Off My Cloud. Released in 1965, Get Off My Cloud features Charlie Watts in a bombastic style that blew up AM radio that year. Though not a typical style for him, the aggressive beat ended up influencing much rock and roll of that era.
#9: I Just Want To See His Face. Not one of the Stones' best known songs, I Just Want To See His Face is a gospel inspired tune that started off with Watts and then rhythm guitar player Mick Taylor jamming in the studio.
#8: All Down the Line. One of the Stones' signature rockers, a gritty R & B tune with Chuck Berry style guitars and featuring the kind of Watts drum groove that's probably his most typical snare drum style.
#7: Sympathy For The Devil. One of the greatest rock songs of the 1960s, the kind of tune that helped launch FM radio as a vital space for new music. Fans of the Stones at the time dug the socially conscious lyrics and the eerie South American beat. Thank you Charlie Watts for the latter.
#6: Wild Horses. What always fascinated me about this song was how Mick Jagger could take a trite cliche' ("Wild Horses couldn't drag me away") and sing it with a kind of gravitas and emotional frailty quite opposite of the Stones' norm of macho posturing. Watts' drumming in this tune is a classic example of his "less is more" style. The drums are not "in your face," but if they were not there you would miss them.
#5: One Hit (To The Body). Released in 1986 at a time when Music Television was forcing classic rock bands into retirement, One Hit showed that the Stones could still rock with the best of them. Key to the song's success was Charlie Watts' driving beat.
#4 Miss You. In 1978 disco music was still pretty hot across the US. When I first heard Miss You I thought it was a case of the Stones trying to stay relevant as blues-inspired rock seemed to be on the outs. You can tell that Charlie Watts had been listening to disco records as he certainly has the beat down.
#3: Hot Stuff. The first track on the 1976 "Black and Blue" album, Hot Stuff is an excellent example of why Watts and bassist Bill Wyman were one of the great rhythm sections in the history of popular music. The song has the kind catchy, soulful funk groove that a decade later would dominate the pop charts with the music of artists like Prince and Michael Jackson.
#2. Undercover of the Night. This early MTV era rocker (released in 1983) resulted in what was--at the time--considered to be a controversial video. Watts' drumming in this one has a militaristic vibe to it that is consistent with the political themes of the song.
#1: Honky Tonk Women. Released in 1969, this song features one of the coolest intros in rock history: a brief cowbell ring followed by Charlie Watts' grittiest drumming ever. The lyrics to this song don't hold up very well, especially in the #metoo era, but musically it remains as the most classic example of how the Stones at their best could mix multiple genres and end up with something fresh. Charlie Watt's drumming was always central to that act of mixing.
RIP Charlie Watts!
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