By host Tom Ashbrook:
In the space of a year that pivoted on 1971, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison of the Doors were all dead of drug overdose — rock giants all dead before they were 28-years-old.
The sixties had bloomed and collapsed. An angry war slogged on in Vietnam. And in an opulent mansion in the south of France, the still-young bad boy superstars of rock and roll, The Rolling Stones, were grinding out an album in a real and metaphysical exile of sex, heroin, and cultural confusion.
They called it “Exile on Main Street” — a dark masterpiece of rock alienation. Music journalist Robert Greenfield was there.
We get lost with the Rolling Stones, and the making of Exile on Main Street.
Quotes from the Show:
“The Rolling Stones really fit in the French Riviera.” Robert Greenfield
“The Rolling Stones were anticipating the changes that were happening to the counterculture.” Robert Greenfield
“In 1971, they [Rolling Stones] had no idea of their own standing in rock history.” Robert Greenfield
“Keith Richards was an authentic artist … embodied the values of the culture that was about to end.” Robert Greenfield
“[The Rolling Stones] were always influenced by America.” Robert Greenfield
Guests:
Robert Greenfield, author of “Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones.”
