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JoanofArgh

(14,971 posts)
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 12:39 PM Aug 2021

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died

Last edited Wed Aug 25, 2021, 08:59 AM - Edit history (4)










The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died, his publicist has said.

The musician, who marked his 80th birthday in June, had been a member of the rock group since 1963.

A statement from his London publicist, Bernard Doherty, to the PA news agency said: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts.

“He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/24/rolling-stones-drummer-charlie-watts-dies-aged-80


I saw the Rolling Stones once in 1975 at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. It was the inflatable penis tour, lol. I and a couple of my friends were only 14 and my parents made an older girl go with us as an escort. My first big concert and there was a guy a couple rows behind us who threw up all over everybody sitting around him . Had a good time , though. One of my uncles saw them on the Stones first American tour in the early sixties in a small club that was only half full. RIP




Haven't seen a cause of death but he did have surgery for an unspecified medical condition recently and had to cancel going on tour.




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Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has died (Original Post) JoanofArgh Aug 2021 OP
RIP, Charlie. dchill Aug 2021 #1
Thanks for the music. senseandsensibility Aug 2021 #2
Ditto malaise Aug 2021 #30
So sad Walleye Aug 2021 #3
Charlie made it look so easy. Great drummer. pwb Aug 2021 #4
Oh, damn. RIP Charlie Watts. brush Aug 2021 #5
Gonna Miss You Charlie Botany Aug 2021 #6
RIP IrishAfricanAmerican Aug 2021 #7
Oh fuck... AZSkiffyGeek Aug 2021 #8
Damn... I always admired him. End of an era. hlthe2b Aug 2021 #9
RIP futem Aug 2021 #10
Oh no. skylucy Aug 2021 #11
Damn damn damn.. luvs2sing Aug 2021 #12
Damn Eliot Rosewater Aug 2021 #13
No!!!!!!!!!!! pandr32 Aug 2021 #14
Variety Klaralven Aug 2021 #15
Honky Tonk Women Klaralven Aug 2021 #24
oh goddammit....what a talent.... bahboo Aug 2021 #16
Married to his wife Shirley for 57 years n/t TexasBushwhacker Aug 2021 #17
This news took my breath away. R.I.P. nt chowder66 Aug 2021 #18
Saw the Stones only once live... Moostache Aug 2021 #19
Sad news. LisaM Aug 2021 #20
RIP Charlie! librechik Aug 2021 #21
RIP Mr. Watts. Ya done good. yonder Aug 2021 #22
Rest In Peace mountain grammy Aug 2021 #23
RIP Charlie... CaptainTruth Aug 2021 #25
Had to happen sometime I guess. Sad just the same. Vinca Aug 2021 #26
RIP jalan48 Aug 2021 #27
Miss You Zambero Aug 2021 #28
Dammit. RIP, Charlie. n/t ms liberty Aug 2021 #29
We all have to check out at some point🥲 Picaro Aug 2021 #31
He lived longer than most. A lot of them don't make it past their 70's. JoanofArgh Aug 2021 #37
Some didn't make it past..... SergeStorms Aug 2021 #62
Brian Jones of the Stones was 27 when he died in 1969. JoanofArgh Aug 2021 #79
There was a guy.... SergeStorms Aug 2021 #82
The movie is named, "Stoned". SergeStorms Aug 2021 #84
I will! Thanks for the recommendation. JoanofArgh Aug 2021 #85
¡Hasta Siempre, Hermano! Kid Berwyn Aug 2021 #32
Noooooo!!! AllyCat Aug 2021 #33
RIP Charlie Watts - age 80 FakeNoose Aug 2021 #34
He had a hell of a run. Treefrog Aug 2021 #35
Part of my life for 57 years--*sigh* Leghorn21 Aug 2021 #36
RIP Celerity Aug 2021 #38
Sad wendyb-NC Aug 2021 #39
Goodbye Charlie VGNonly Aug 2021 #40
:( 50 Shades Of Blue Aug 2021 #41
RIP cate94 Aug 2021 #42
Best rock drummer ever, in my opinion. RIP. (nt) Paladin Aug 2021 #43
Agree. Roger Taylor of Queen was no slouch either. ProudMNDemocrat Aug 2021 #46
Charlie Watts' Guide To Dressing Like A Gentleman Elwood P Dowd Aug 2021 #44
He never drove but had a driver, had a collection of cars and a suit to match each of his cars ms liberty Aug 2021 #52
This message was self-deleted by its author shanti Aug 2021 #87
In an interview a few years ago, Keith Richards Mr.Bill Aug 2021 #45
RIP Ohio Joe Aug 2021 #47
Ah yes brings back the American Tour 1972 turbinetree Aug 2021 #48
😔 🕯 BlancheSplanchnik Aug 2021 #49
Hell of a run. Iggo Aug 2021 #50
. crickets Aug 2021 #51
RIP Charlie. SunSeeker Aug 2021 #53
So long, Charlie. Mr. Evil Aug 2021 #54
Yet Keef Richard still rocking w ciggy after ciggy. Ligyron Aug 2021 #55
God blessed us with you, Mr. Watts. Thank you. ancianita Aug 2021 #56
Love that song..Thanks for posting. whathehell Aug 2021 #101
... ancianita Aug 2021 #103
---- whathehell Aug 2021 #111
My money would have been on Keith.... SergeStorms Aug 2021 #57
I think Keith is gonna live to 120, lol. JoanofArgh Aug 2021 #60
Permanently pickled. SergeStorms Aug 2021 #64
Well, you know what they say jmowreader Aug 2021 #72
My thought also n/t Strelnikov_ Aug 2021 #68
''as being the first of the Stones to die. '' anamnua Aug 2021 #91
Wasn't a member of the band... SergeStorms Aug 2021 #92
A paraphrased quote, from a wit I can't recall right now! Myrddin Aug 2021 #109
Saw him perform a couple years ago bif Aug 2021 #58
Keith has said... ElementaryPenguin Aug 2021 #83
fuck.... sarchasm Aug 2021 #59
Oh man, sometimes I can hang with it, but this time it's going to be difficult. NBachers Aug 2021 #61
Let It Loose VGNonly Aug 2021 #63
I saw The Rolling Stones during their Exile on Main Street tour EYESORE 9001 Aug 2021 #65
K&R. Consider the incredible longevity of this group. Charlie Watts is the bullwinkle428 Aug 2021 #66
What an awesome drummer he was shanti Aug 2021 #67
RIP Charlie Watts. Keep right on Rocking !! Piratedog Aug 2021 #69
Beast of burden, first Stones song I ever heard. Jon King Aug 2021 #70
Just awful. We've lost a giant today. BlueTsunami2018 Aug 2021 #71
The Rolling Stones must lay down and gather moss some time. What an amazing run they have had. Hekate Aug 2021 #73
Nearly 60 years so far, and my sister is going to the Pittsburgh concert this coming October 4th. Towlie Aug 2021 #76
Miss you Charlie ! RANDYWILDMAN Aug 2021 #74
End of a remarkable era. Rest In Peace (and rhythm) nolabear Aug 2021 #75
Peace, Charlie. moondust Aug 2021 #77
RIP Charlie... electric_blue68 Aug 2021 #78
RIP - Thanks. You will be missed. panader0 Aug 2021 #80
R.I.P. denbot Aug 2021 #81
I was just reading about Brian Jones BigmanPigman Aug 2021 #86
Charlie makes three along with Tom T Hall and Don Everly Norbert Aug 2021 #88
Ah shit geardaddy Aug 2021 #89
So sorry Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Aug 2021 #90
I've seen the Rolling Stones many times starting in 1975 and the last time in the early 2000's kimbutgar Aug 2021 #93
FRIDAY JUNE 12, 1964 TallJohn Aug 2021 #94
Welcome, TallJohn and thanks for the story. JoanofArgh Aug 2021 #95
Take it from me, CW was a cool cat and he will be sorely missed... winstars Aug 2021 #96
Charlie Watts was a gentleman in the world's most dangerous band mahatmakanejeeves Aug 2021 #97
I understand that as I will turn 72 soon I should suspect TNNurse Aug 2021 #98
Charlie Watts obituary: Jazz man who became rock superstar Pinback Aug 2021 #99
Time Waits for No One... :-( Rhiagel Aug 2021 #100
RIP Charlie Watts bdamomma Aug 2021 #102
Rest well Charlie TheDemsshouldhireme Aug 2021 #104
RIP. I enjoyed their music MissMillie Aug 2021 #105
Encomium: Charlie and the Stones Bobstandard Aug 2021 #106
Encomium: Charlie and the Stones Scarlet Begalas Aug 2021 #110
... MustLoveBeagles Aug 2021 #107
His steady beat kept the Stones in line DFW Aug 2021 #108

brush

(53,787 posts)
5. Oh, damn. RIP Charlie Watts.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 12:45 PM
Aug 2021

The Stones are a favorite of mine. I wonder if they'll keep on? Won't seem the same.

hlthe2b

(102,292 posts)
9. Damn... I always admired him. End of an era.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 12:50 PM
Aug 2021


Thank you, Charlie for being the soundtrack to so many lives. And yours was a life well-lived.

to you and all the music you left behind.

Moostache

(9,895 posts)
19. Saw the Stones only once live...
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 12:59 PM
Aug 2021

1989 Indianapolis Hoosier Dome (a affront to musical performances due to its horrific acoustics and echoes)...
That was the second "farewell tour" for the Stones I think...LOL, they had many through the years, in support of the "Steel Wheels" record.

In Living Color was the opening act, hot off of their hit "Cult of Personality".

It was an event, much like the handful of Dead shows I saw in that period, but I thought Charlie Watts looked bad then...he kind of looked like a rail thin Jerry Garcia without the beard, which is to say he looked to me like someone who had been at a party a lot longer than anyone should stay.

Fond recollections of that show in particular and attending it with my future wife (despite an enormous amount of drama for us after that show - getting abandoned y my friends - and our ride home - in Indy, and having to get help from her father to get back to Bloomington was just part of that whole scene), rest in peace Charlie and thanks for the music and the memories.

Picaro

(1,521 posts)
31. We all have to check out at some point🥲
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:08 PM
Aug 2021

When I saw that he was 80 years old and had to cancel going on tour that seemed so incongruous.

Our favorite rock and rollers from the 60s and 70s are reaching their expiration date. That the Rolling Stones are still touring just blows me away.

my wife and I have tickets to see the Eagles in September. The original date was either late 2019 or very early 2020. But it is not lost on me that one of the key members of the Eagles has already passed away.

in 2017 we went up to WinStar in Oklahoma and saw Joe Walsh. I was unable to get tickets to the Joe Walsh and Tom Petty show in Dallas that occurred the following week. Not sure whether my memory serves me well but I think Tom Petty was dead just a little while after that. And he was only 66.

We are going to see a lot of this in the coming days. It is sad. But it is also natural and inevitable.

I never got to see the Rolling Stones because even back in the early 70s the tickets were pretty hard to get. You had to camp out in front of the local TickeTron location and hope they didn’t run out by the time you got to the front of the line.
Rest in peace Mr. Watts… You had a good long run.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
62. Some didn't make it past.....
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 02:51 PM
Aug 2021

that unusual age of 27, which took some of the greats. Janice, Morrison, Mr. Jimi...there were a few more as well who didn't shine quite as brightly as the others mentioned.

Considering the zoo these performers were subjected to, day in and day out, it's amazing they made it to 27, let alone 80 years of age.

JoanofArgh

(14,971 posts)
79. Brian Jones of the Stones was 27 when he died in 1969.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:55 PM
Aug 2021

It's hard to find a video of him where he doesn't look fucked up on drugs.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
82. There was a guy....
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 04:46 PM
Aug 2021

you just knew wasn't going to make old bones. He was a disaster from the beginning. There was a movie made about his "mysterious" death. I cant remember the name of it, but I believe Paddy Considine was in it. I'll have to look it up on IMDb when I get home later today.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
84. The movie is named, "Stoned".
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 04:55 PM
Aug 2021

It came to me in a flash. Not too bad, if I remember correctly. It had to do with the time Jones spent at his estate after he was fired from the band. I think Considine played the caretaker. Give it a look if you haven't seen it already.

FakeNoose

(32,645 posts)
34. RIP Charlie Watts - age 80
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:11 PM
Aug 2021


I don't think he has toured with the Stones for the last several years. He was still recording with the band, but he couldn't do much traveling for health reasons.

Leghorn21

(13,524 posts)
36. Part of my life for 57 years--*sigh*
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:18 PM
Aug 2021

Smooth travels, good sir, and so many thanks…you’ll be surrounded by old mates where you’re going, the jams will be OFF THE CHART!!


Celerity

(43,408 posts)
38. RIP
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:23 PM
Aug 2021


The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Video) [4K]

From The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus



Recorded before a live audience in London in 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was originally conceived as a BBC-TV special. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it centres on the original line up of The Rolling Stones -- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (with Nicky Hopkins and Rocky Dijon) -- who serves as both the show’s hosts and featured attraction. For the first time in front of an audience, “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” performs six Stones classics.

The program also includes extraordinary performances by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono, and The Dirty Mac. A ‘supergroup’ before the term had even been coined, the band was comprised of Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Keith Richards (bass), Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (drums), and John Lennon on guitar and vocals.

Elwood P Dowd

(11,443 posts)
44. Charlie Watts' Guide To Dressing Like A Gentleman
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:28 PM
Aug 2021

He was a sharp dresser and often looked more like a businessman than a rock and roll drummer. He also loved jazz and had his own jazz band at one time. I've got one of the jazz albums by his band titled "Long Ago and Far Away". RIP Charlie. You will be missed.

https://www.gq.com/gallery/charlie-watts-style-photos-rolling-stones-drummer

ms liberty

(8,580 posts)
52. He never drove but had a driver, had a collection of cars and a suit to match each of his cars
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:46 PM
Aug 2021

My husband loved Charlie. He's going to be affected by this one. And so soon after Neil...

Response to ms liberty (Reply #52)

Mr.Bill

(24,301 posts)
45. In an interview a few years ago, Keith Richards
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:29 PM
Aug 2021

refered to Charlie Watts as "The bed on which I lie."

One of the greats, for sure. Put on a headset and listen to Can't You Hear Me Knockin', and maybe he's the best of them all.

Ligyron

(7,633 posts)
55. Yet Keef Richard still rocking w ciggy after ciggy.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 01:55 PM
Aug 2021

Charlie was the one who always thought being famous wasn’t gonna be all that wonderful.

RIP Charlie, your beat was the rhythm of my life.

ancianita

(36,068 posts)
56. God blessed us with you, Mr. Watts. Thank you.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 02:01 PM
Aug 2021

for your life, and for my favorite song...

yeah, I'm comin' home 'cause I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road...



SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
57. My money would have been on Keith....
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 02:23 PM
Aug 2021

as being the first of the Stones to die. Charlie led a pretty clean life compared to the rest of them, but I guess you never know, do you.

That's a terrible shame. He wasn't the flashiest drummer, but he could light up the skins when he wanted to. I always respected him the most of all the original Stones.

Now I'll be thinking about my own mortality the rest of the day.

Rest in peace, Mr. Watts.

jmowreader

(50,559 posts)
72. Well, you know what they say
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:41 PM
Aug 2021

The only two things that can survive a nuclear war are cockroaches and Keith Richards.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
92. Wasn't a member of the band...
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 06:28 PM
Aug 2021

at the time of his demise. He'd been fired for lack of........ everything.
Yes, he was a founding member of the Stones, and if you count that, he was the first to go.

Myrddin

(327 posts)
109. A paraphrased quote, from a wit I can't recall right now!
Wed Aug 25, 2021, 01:01 AM
Aug 2021

When Keith Richards dies, they'd better not cremate him - it'll take a month for the fire brigade to put the fire out!

RIP Charlie Watts - heartbeat of The Stones!

bif

(22,718 posts)
58. Saw him perform a couple years ago
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 02:24 PM
Aug 2021

The Stones were in town (Detroit) and the band's sax player who's from Michigan was performing the night before the Stones concert. Charlie sat in on a couple numbers. He was an amazingly tasteful jazz drummer. He only played rock to pay the bills. Jazz was his first love.

ElementaryPenguin

(7,800 posts)
83. Keith has said...
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 04:46 PM
Aug 2021

Whenever Charlie stops playing - that's the end of the Stones.

Sad. But Charlie had a wonderful life - and his understated greatness was widely recognized.

EYESORE 9001

(25,941 posts)
65. I saw The Rolling Stones during their Exile on Main Street tour
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:07 PM
Aug 2021

Perhaps the best concert I’ve ever seen.

bullwinkle428

(20,629 posts)
66. K&R. Consider the incredible longevity of this group. Charlie Watts is the
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:10 PM
Aug 2021

first death of a member since Brian Jones in 1969!!

Jon King

(1,910 posts)
70. Beast of burden, first Stones song I ever heard.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:30 PM
Aug 2021

Remember it like yesterday. We took a family vacation and went up to a concession booth at the shore. Some teenagers working in the booth had it playing. Been a Stones fan since.

BlueTsunami2018

(3,492 posts)
71. Just awful. We've lost a giant today.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:33 PM
Aug 2021

I was fortunate to see him play with the Stones over twenty times since the Tattoo You tour. Charlie was the backbone, the absolute rock of the band since its inception and he will be greatly missed.

R.I.P. sir, and thanks. 🤘🏽🤘🏽

Hekate

(90,714 posts)
73. The Rolling Stones must lay down and gather moss some time. What an amazing run they have had.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:42 PM
Aug 2021

Back in the day, who among us all could have imagined rockers at 80?
RIP Charlie Watts

Towlie

(5,324 posts)
76. Nearly 60 years so far, and my sister is going to the Pittsburgh concert this coming October 4th.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:48 PM
Aug 2021

 


She tells me that Steve Jordan will continue as their touring drummer.

moondust

(19,993 posts)
77. Peace, Charlie.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:48 PM
Aug 2021

Friend and I arrived in London and headed for a hotel across from the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Walking up the sidewalk we saw a huge Stones advertisement on the front of the arena. Later found out they had finished their 5-night stand there the night before we arrived. We wouldn't have gotten in anyway as they had over a million requests for tickets.

electric_blue68

(14,906 posts)
78. RIP Charlie...
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 03:49 PM
Aug 2021

I got a chance to see them for free (!!!) even on their '75
tour because the lighting company my dad worked for supplied some very big, bright lights for the stage! 👍

My dad got 2 sets of 2 seats. My sis, and I sat up in the ?second tier, but we were flush with the stage. 👍

We gave the other set to one of my closest friends - who took her then boyfriend.
She was/is a Super fan and was *totally thrilled* to be sitting by the front petal of The Lotus Stage! 🙂

I was 💖 happy that we could give her that gift!

.And we (as friends from college)
will celebrate our 🎉50th 💖 Anniversary🎉
in Sept this year (or Jan '22 - I'm pretty sure though we met in the 1st semester Sept '71 in Etching class).

panader0

(25,816 posts)
80. RIP - Thanks. You will be missed.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 04:12 PM
Aug 2021

"Now I'm in my car
I got the radio down
Now me yelling at the kids in the back
'cause they're banging like Charlie Watts"

from 'Slow Turning' by John Hiatt

denbot

(9,900 posts)
81. R.I.P.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 04:19 PM
Aug 2021

Not a musician, but after listening to Keith Richard's auto biography, they thought he was such a good drummer they could not afford to get Charlie to play in the band.

BigmanPigman

(51,609 posts)
86. I was just reading about Brian Jones
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 05:36 PM
Aug 2021

and his odd death YESTERDAY. This keeps happening to me. Coincidence or synchronicity?

Norbert

(6,040 posts)
88. Charlie makes three along with Tom T Hall and Don Everly
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 05:40 PM
Aug 2021

That is a lot of talent lost this week.

RIP Charlie. It was a fun ride.

kimbutgar

(21,160 posts)
93. I've seen the Rolling Stones many times starting in 1975 and the last time in the early 2000's
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 06:30 PM
Aug 2021

I was so sad reading this. Charlie was the ones who drummed and never seemed to be a druggie, womanizer or partier. married to the same wife. Kind of the dull stone. But a great drummer.

Rip Charlie the stones won’t be the same without you!

 

TallJohn

(27 posts)
94. FRIDAY JUNE 12, 1964
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 06:31 PM
Aug 2021

I was 16.
Some friends and I were out on Lake Minnetonka,Mn. in my Old Man's 27' Owens cabin cruiser when we decided to check out girls at Big Reggie's Danceland on the lake.
It had become a bit of a weekend ritual that summer.
We cruised over to the dancehall and waited until 10 pm when Reggie would usually drop the price to .75 or a dollar to get in.
This night he had been charging $6 to get in which was unheard of in the day, but there were only 2 or 300 kids that night because nobody had heard of the band. We got in for $1.50 which felt like a rip!

It was the Rolling Stones! They were on their 1st trip to the States and really weren't well known at all. We had never heard of them, just figured them for another Brit Beatles ripoff.

They were awful, mostly uninspired Chuck Berry covers.
We found what we had been looking for and returned to the boat to party.

It's been a tough few weeks for my workout playlist with the death of Dusty Hill, Don Everly, and now Charlie Watts.

Maybe I'm getting old.

JoanofArgh

(14,971 posts)
95. Welcome, TallJohn and thanks for the story.
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 07:00 PM
Aug 2021

My uncle said the same thing about their music at the time when he saw them in the half-filled club. Nothing to get excited about.

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,489 posts)
97. Charlie Watts was a gentleman in the world's most dangerous band
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 07:07 PM
Aug 2021
Music • Perspective

Charlie Watts was a gentleman in the world’s most dangerous band

By Chris Richards
Pop music critic
Today at 5:31 p.m. EDT

If you really want to understand the eloquence, generosity and impossible grace of Charlie Watts just listen for the first time he touches his drums on any Rolling Stones song.

Two thumps at the top of “Gimme Shelter.”

Three whacks to start “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

Three thumps, three whacks and it’s “Street Fighting Man.”

Watts is totally fine with letting the maniac over there play the curtain-raising guitar riff, but when it’s time for the song to really get up and get moving, the drummer doesn’t launch into a fireworks show or somersault down the stairwell. He just pats his snare a few times, as if he’s patting us on the back, bringing us into the music with him. C’mon. Let’s go.

Watts — who died in London on Tuesday at 80 — was a misfit among misfits, a gentleman lost at sea with hungry pirates, a cool jazz mind in the world’s most insatiable rock-and-roll troupe. He dressed nicely, he performed with excellent posture, and he struck his drums with a politesse that somehow made the music of the Rolling Stones feel exponentially rude. He knew what was essential to his band’s singular surge-and-swing, so that’s what he did. No grand gestures, no wasted strokes. “When you’re playing rock-and-roll, you know, the challenge is . . . the regularity of it,” Watts said in 2008, inadvertently explaining the riddle of his magnificence.

His drumming was designed to be felt more than noticed, and the world seemed to do it in that order. “Charlie’s good tonight, inne?” Mick Jagger asks before the penultimate cut of “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert,” a throbbing 1970 live album that features Watts on the record jacket, big smile, seemingly walking on air. He usually played it so cool for the camera. What’s with the glee? Maybe he knew Jagger could have popped that question in the middle of any Rolling Stones concert and the answer would have always been “yes.”

{snip}

By Chris Richards
Chris Richards has been The Washington Post's pop music critic since 2009. Before joining The Post, he freelanced for various music publications. Twitter https://twitter.com/Chris__Richards

TNNurse

(6,927 posts)
98. I understand that as I will turn 72 soon I should suspect
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 07:08 PM
Aug 2021

that the musicians of my youth and later years might be leaving us.

It just seems it is someone every day.

Pinback

(12,157 posts)
99. Charlie Watts obituary: Jazz man who became rock superstar
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 07:22 PM
Aug 2021


The band became a by-word for rock 'n' roll excess but for Watts, playing with the Stones did not become the ego trip that drove Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

A jazz aficionado, Watts vied with Bill Wyman for the title of least charismatic member of the band; he eschewed the limelight and rarely gave interviews.

And he famously described life with the Stones as five years of playing, 20 years of hanging around.


(SNIP)

A childhood friend once described how Watts had an early interest in jazz and recalled listening to 78s in Charlie's bedroom by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Charlie Parker.

At school he developed an interest in and a talent for art, and he went on to study at Harrow Art School before finding a job as a graphic designer with a local advertising agency.

But his love of music continued to be the dominating force in his life. His parents bought him a drum kit when he was 13 and he played along to his collection of jazz records.

He began drumming in local clubs and pubs and, in 1961 was heard by Alexis Korner, who offered him a job in his band, Blues Incorporated, an outfit that became a vital part of the development of British rock music.

Also playing with Blues Incorporated was a guitarist named Brian Jones, who introduced Watts to the fledgling Rolling Stones - whose original drummer, Tony Chapman, had quit the band.

More at link: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-22200496

RIP to one of the greats.

MissMillie

(38,560 posts)
105. RIP. I enjoyed their music
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 10:12 PM
Aug 2021

Not a huge fan, but I don't recall that I ever switched the channel on the radio when they came on.

Bobstandard

(1,312 posts)
106. Encomium: Charlie and the Stones
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 10:28 PM
Aug 2021

I saw Stones in Honolulu in July of 1966 when I was 16. Changed my life. I saw them again in Honolulu (many times), in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Chicago, Las Vegas, Amsterdam and London. Imagine how much money I spent. Every cent worth it. I even saw them for free when I sneaked into a show on the island of Hawaii where they were playing for a convention of Ford dealers and salesmen (can you imagine what that cost?).

One of the times I remember Charlie Watts being at his best was when he held it together as the shit went down at Altamont. Mick was clearly scared. Brian and Kieth were more or less cowering, but Charlie was rock solid. And you know what? Watch the movie. The music was good!

Scarlet Begalas

(25 posts)
110. Encomium: Charlie and the Stones
Wed Aug 25, 2021, 02:09 AM
Aug 2021

Brian wasn't cowering; he had been dead for 5 months. You're thinking of Mick Taylor.

DFW

(54,404 posts)
108. His steady beat kept the Stones in line
Tue Aug 24, 2021, 11:57 PM
Aug 2021

I only saw them twice, once in the 1990s, and once about 2 years ago in Stuttgart.

He was a legend, deservedly so, and will be remembered as such.

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