The Rolling Stones album that changed the world, according to B.B. King
To plenty of music fans and music makers alike, it would be B.B. King’s own albums that changed the world. Not only is he ‘The King of the Blues’, but many musicians would argue that King is one of the fathers of modern music as his guitar stylings revolutionised blues and also rock in response. But to the man himself, he looked towards The Rolling Stones as a history-changing force.
The admiration went both ways. Keith Richards deemed King “one of the greats”, having had the chance to play with the legend several times. The band have also covered plenty of King’s songs on multiple occasions, roaring through tracks like ‘Paying the Cost to Be the Boss’ or his take on ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’.
As the Stones’ sound was always inspired by American blues music, King was no doubt a part of this. Along with the likes of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Howlin Wolf, the British band built their legacy on the foundation of these artists.
Blues was the absolute basis of the Rolling Stones. Even down to the core of the group, it was the thing that first sparked the friendship between Richards and Jagger that would eventually morph into one of the most successful collaborative partnerships in history. “He’s got every record Chuck Berry ever made and all his mates have too,” Richards wrote excitedly as a teenager after meeting Jagger. “They are all rhythm and blues fans, real R&B I mean (not this Dinah Shore, Brook Benton crap) Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Chuck, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker all the Chicago bluesmen real lowdown stuff, marvellous.”
But while the Stones were forged from the fires of blues, King credits the group for utterly changing it. “The Stones were superstars,” the guitarist told The Guardian. “I supported them on tour in 1969 and to be able to do something with them was a godsend for me,” he remembered, adding, “I loved working with them and I’d work with them tomorrow if they’d let me.”
But it goes beyond the group’s talent. To King, the Stones played a vital role in moving forward the acceptance and integration of blues music, and there for the integration of race and music. “ The Stones opened a lot of eyes – white and black – because many people didn’t know about the blues,” he said. “I wanted them to think of it as music in the same way as I wanted them to think of us as people.”
He picks out Beggar’s Banquet as an album that helped break down people’s prejudices. With their classic rock and blues sound, influenced deeply by the work of black American artists, the album landed at the height of their success. As it helped to raise up their own notoriety, King also sees it as helping to bolster the whole lineage of artists that inspired them, opening up new audiences to blues.
