the stones - crossfire huricane

Last night (Saturday) here in the UK we had the first screening of "Crossfire Hurricane" on BBC2. The broadcast of Part One of The Rolling Stones 50th anniversary documentary film begins in the early years of The Stones from 1962 upto 1969 with the death of Brian Jones and the following concert in Hyde Park. With off screen comments from the group in the present day supplementing the early black and white footage of the group when they were just in their early twenties.
Today The Stones are so much part of an established generation of rock stars accepted as the mainstream it's not easy to think of them as a bunch of young men who were seen very much as anti-establishment.
Keith Richards : "The Beatles had the white hat so we ended up with the black hat". The perceived arrogance and undesirable appearance seemed to confront the very heart of the establishment here in the UK and although it was with more curiosity in the USA they still were seen as a similar threat.
Watching the early interviews was virtually like 'take 1' of what the Sex Pistols were seen to be 15 years later, only here the Rolling Stones' sneering humour at how they were being seen seemed even more confronting to an older generation of people who had 15 years before this affront had just come out of World War 2.
It wasn't just the supposed threat to society these young guys had to live with but for several years when on stage they had to deal with riots breaking out at their live shows.
"We used to have bets on how long we'd get to play for... 10 minutes maybe..".
And that's not cute little girls fainting but aggressive attacks to them personally which seemed born out of part adulation and part obsession, it looked dangerous and damn scarey if you were on the receiving end. The security in those days being left to the bemused local police who often gave up or just weren't bothered.
Rock and roll had become a powder keg ready to explode in a minute. What it represented to the establishment in the UK was yet to get to grips with and when it did try it came in the way of attempted imprisonment on half assed charges.

But above of all the groups archive film was to show the one over riding impression was if you were to see a group today perform as they had done then it would still stand out, it would still be noticed, it would still be confrontational.
Here are the Rolling Stone in 1966 being attacked by fans on stage. It was amusing to the group once. Night after night less so.
Get to see Crossfire Hurricane if you can.