The Band: A group Mick Jagger described as “a history lesson”
Mick Jagger isn’t often forthcoming with his musical praise, but when he is, it’s lofty. As he sits right at the top of the musical food chain as one of history’s greatest frontmen, Jagger’s views on the bands around him are always fascinating. When it comes to one group, he bows down.
It’s easy to forget that The Rolling Stones had peers and existed within a wider musical scene. They often feel like they existed in a league of their own or as if they simply burst out of nowhere, immediately as the stars they are today. But it was a long road to the top, and they were climbing alongside some of the greats.
They came up in the era that generations of music lovers since have looked back at with stars in their eyes. The 1960s are reflected on with rose-tinted nostalgia as the finest years in musical history. While that definitely has some downsides and could be argued against to an extent, no one can deny that the decade was rich with some of the best artists the world has yet to know.
The Stones were climbing alongside Bob Dylan, The Who, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and beyond. But among their class of incredible talent, there was one band that never quite got their roses despite their vital role in shaping the sound of the times: The Band.
Sure, they have hits like ‘The Weight’ and ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, but overwhelmingly, The Band felt, and still feel, somewhat misunderstood or underappreciated. At first, they gained recognition simply for being Bob Dylan’s backing group. However, while Dylan is held up as a genius-level artist, the musicians behind him don’t get enough credit for their influence and impact on his experimentation and evolution. An artist is only ever as good as the players around them, and Bob Dylan was supported by the very best there was. The Band didn’t just act as session musicians but surrounded Dylan with a crack team of incredible players and pioneering ears who were always looking for ways to expand rock music.
That’s what Jagger loved about them. The Stones always took rock at its widest definition, with Jagger stating, “British bands had a good overall history of the thing – blues, country, rock, black music, jazz, whatever.” He was always impressed by what he called “synthesis”, or the ability to merge several things into one and make it seamless, timeless and interesting.
The Band did that. At once, they seemed to span rock, country, folk and beyond. “I always thought of them as a country band, first of all, though they had a very strange influence, I don’t really know where it all came from,” he said about the inability to pin the group down. “They were very country, but in a sort of ancient way,” he added, perhaps referencing the fact that they seemed to let the story and emotion of a song lead, much like the oldest country songs, where the instrumentation was always an improvised vehicle for that.
That old-school country feel also feels reflected in their lyrics, which often told stories in a round-the-campfire way. A lot of their songs feel like old folklore tales or myths, which Jagger was a fan of. “If you think of their songs about the Civil War, it feels like a history lesson,” he said of ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ which turned a true story into an anti-war hit.
The Stones singer is merely one of many musicians to look at The Band with awe. As they were releasing music, the group had the support of the like of Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young and beyond. Today, their legacy lives on as artists like Devon Ross respect them as some of the best musicians around, even if they still deserve more credit.
