Charlie Watts, the drummer for the legendary rock back The Rolling Stones, has died. He was 80 years old.
Watts was a member of the Stones from early 1963, not long before the band really broke it big, until his death yesterday.
Personally, I have seen the Rolling Stones a number of times. But I made a point of getting tickets to see them in 2019, so that my son could see them. It was specifically for this reason, because these guys – including the major surviving members, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood – are no spring chickens. My reasoning was that we really ought to go see them while the opportunity was there. Glad that I did it, so that he had a chance to see these rock legends dating back to the sixties.
Obviously, it goes without saying that the Stones had a legendary career. Watts did not have to wait long after joining the band for them to explode into fame. Pretty soon, they were one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Many viewed them as the only real rivals to the biggest band in the world at the time, The Beatles.
They remained a huge act ever since, of course. And Watts remained one of the three original members, along with Jagger and Richards, from the early days when the band really broke huge. It is difficult to imagine any other drummer for the band. That means that they seem unlikely to keep touring and/or releasing new music, although I could of course be wrong about that. We shall see.
Watts was actually my personal favorite member of the band. I like his quiet, understated manner. He always seemed a bit more real and with a more modest perspective than the often over the top Mick Jagger. It was in 1998, I think while in Paris, when I saw headlines for an interview with Watts, where he apparently revealed that he was actually never a big fan of rock ‘n roll music. Yeah, the drummer of one of the biggest, most iconic rock bands in the world was not a fan of rock music. Go figure.
Watts seemed to me to counterbalance the rather over-the-top eccentrics of more famous bandmates like Jagger and Richards, to say nothing of other rock stars. He always appeared calm, and not hungrily and relentlessly pursuing everyone’s attention or completely taken by a grandiosity or delusions of grandeur. He focused on the music, did his job, and that was it. No fuss, no fireworks, no pursuit of glamour and headlines.
That I can respect, especially these days.
In any case, Watts always remained a class act. He was pretty much my favorite member of the Rolling Stones, and he will be missed.
Rest in Peace, Charlie Watts.
I was surprised by this, despite the fact that I shouldn't be seeing as he had recently turned 80. I'm glad you and I went to see the Stones at Giants Stadium back in '94.
ReplyDeleteYou're quite right about his being very low-key and camera-shy, particularly when compared to The Glimmer Twins, as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards used to be billed on their albums. They undoubtedly appreciated his calm, no-nonsense demeanor because as cliché as it sounds, that really did keep them grounded. The Stones' official website is currently paying homage to him by disabling all of the usual text and links – it only features a photograph of him.
One last thing about Charlie Watts, since it's an amusing anecdote I seem to recall hearing in some documentary or other about the band: he was initially a bit reluctant to join them. Mind you, they were all just kids trying to make a name for themselves at that point, and it's safe to say none of them had the faintest idea they'd still be at it well over half a century later. But he had to mull it over for a bit, thinking something to the effect of "Do I really want to go to the hassle of renting a van to move my drumkit?" (This was obviously before well before they were multimillionaires who could afford to hire a crew to take care of that sort of thing for them.) Somehow I don't think he regretted his decision. RIP Charlie Watts.