Category: Entertainment

The Rolling Stones are “the world’s oldest rock and roll band” (Flood, NME, 2018). Not only is each of the band’s three current long-term members approaching their 80s, but the band has been performing on stage since 1962. Mick Jagger (1943-) and Keith Richards (1943-) were schoolmates in Kent and joined up with multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones (1942-69) when he decided to form a rhythm-and-blues band featuring electric guitars, a novelty at the time. Bill Wyman (1936-) and Charlie Watts (1941-2021) joined some months later. Ronnie Wood (1947-) joined officially in 1976. Wyman left in 1993.

Their management shaped them as the bad boys of pop, the antithesis to The Beatles, thereby successfully attracting a rebellious teenage fanbase. Their first UK no.1 was ‘It’s all over now’ in 1964 and they never looked back. Jagger and Richards became the group’s songwriters and penned classics such as ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ (1965), ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ (1967), ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ (1968), ‘Honky Tonk Woman’ (1969), ‘Brown Sugar’ (1971) and ‘Tumbling Dice’ (1972).

Even in later years after many other groups of their era had split up, The Stones have continued to play in packed venues on their world tours. No other rock band has achieved their record sales or longevity.

(Image [cropped]: Leo Reynolds at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

TV soaps in the UK are long-running drama series showing the lives of ordinary people living in ordinary places such as East London, but with added spice and melodrama to keep the viewers enthralled and waiting for the next episode. The three most popular TV soaps (short for ‘soap operas’ though there is no singing!) are ‘Coronation Street’, which began in 1960, ‘Emmerdale’ , initially named ‘Emmerdale Farm’ in 1972, and ‘EastEnders’, which burst onto the screens in 1985. Other notable efforts include ‘Brookside’ (1982-2003) and ‘Hollyoaks’, aimed at the younger audience from 1995 onwards.

Episodes are broadcast frequently, sometimes daily, and are watched avidly by millions of loyal fans, eager to know what happens next. However, viewing figures do decline if the plots become too fanciful or depart too far from their working-class roots. Love affairs, feuds, family squabbles, money problems, a few humorous quips and a touch of nastiness and even violence seem to be what the public want to see in their favourite TV soaps. The writers, on the other hand, sometimes slip in one or two sensitive issues from the media world, e.g. mental health, with varying degrees of success.

(Image courtesy of www.insidesoap.co.uk / Fair Use)