Happy Birthday to Mick Jagger....

     Today Mick Jagger is 68 today....

      Just by sheer numbers, one has to admit that The Rolling Stones are the greatest band in rock history. This doesn't mean the best, although one cannot argue the long ranging influence they have had on millions of up and coming artists throughout the decades. The quality level of the group's music over the years is quite astounding.

      Over the 40 years I've been keeping up with the Stones, it always seemed to me that Mick had a center to him which allowed them to be able to move ahead rather then getting into a rut either musically or emotionally. Despite a couple of high profile drug busts (in 67 and 70), one never got the feeling that his life was out of control, like his writing partner Keith Richards did throughout the 70's. He freely admits of partaking of the lifestyle that his money and fame would allow, but the death of Amy Winehouse last week reminds us again, that for many artists a solid core goes a long way in surviving the lure of excess.

      Much is made of their R&B core, especially over the last 20 years or so, but when you strip away their love of the genre, they just know their way around a hook. Much like the Beatles, they used their pop/rock singles in the mid 60's as an opportunity to stretch themselves and point the way to a generation of musicians that were to be defined as much by the long player as they were the single (although the Stones and Beatles were pros at both).

       We wish a happy birthday to Mick, and continued success.....