Snap, crackle and rock: Is The Rolling Stones’ Rice Krispies jingle one of their catchiest songs?
It’s understandable that many fans have an issue with their favourite bands selling out in pursuit of fame, recognition and financial gain. In a world rife with capitalist greed, it’s always disappointing when an artist cashes in on a big paycheck to help shift units of consumer products. However, when a band is only just starting out and relatively unknown, you can’t really blame them for doing so, especially if it looks as though it could help boost record sales. This is precisely what happened to The Rolling Stones in 1964.
Now, if you’re going to sell out, then doing it for an evil corporation that profits off of nefarious activity is perhaps the worst thing you can do to get fans. But there are probably a lot fewer moral issues with associating yourself with a cereal brand. When the Stones were approached by Kellogg’s to write a short jingle for Rice Krispies, they probably thought that helping sell a breakfast food primarily marketed at children wouldn’t cause a huge amount of controversy and would ultimately help spread word about their own work.
You might think that the topic of a rice-based cereal doesn’t seem like a rich area to explore lyrically for a rock band. Considering that the band would later become known for songs about women and drugs, it seemed like quite an unusual subject matter to be sung about by someone like Mick Jagger.
This didn’t appear to matter to the British rock icons, though, and the 26-second track is a blues and garage rock-inspired blast of fun, where raucous guitars ring out beneath Jagger’s typically raspy vocals. Yes, there are some cliché-ridden blues lyrics of “wake up in the morning”, but when they’re being followed by lines about the snap, crackle, and pop sounds that the rice puffs make, it makes for a welcome and wholesome spin on the misery of most blues tracks. A joyful contrast from the vocalist claiming their usual start to their morning routine being necking half a bottle of whiskey.
Of course, “pour on the milk and listen to the crackle of that rice” is not the sort of line that would have appeared on any of the band’s future hits, but in terms of the musical aspects of the song, all of the hallmarks of a Rolling Stones classic are present. Penned by the band’s then-guitarist, Brian Jones, it’s a wonderful demonstration of his ability to write a song that is instantly catchy. While his songs arguably work best when stretched out to the length of a pop hit, he can certainly grab the attention of a listener in under half a minute.
The commercial was only ever aired in the United Kingdom, so this only ever contributed towards increasing their notoriety in the home country, but throughout the rest of the 1960s, the band ascended to greater levels of fame and popularity. However, one does have to wonder whether in 1964, the band sold more records or units of cereal in the UK.
It’s a curious moment in rock and roll history, but ultimately an early indicator of how talented the group were at writing something effortlessly catchy. If you can write a song that has the ability to translate into a sale in under 30 seconds, then you know you’re a winner.
