Honky Tonk Women*

One of my favs!!!

 

The first single I every bought, and what made it even better was my mother thought it was disgusting.

 

I think that like other UK bands of the 60's (Beatles, Kinks, Who, Floyd, Yardbirds etc etc) The Stones use of 45 singles was not so much as a promo tool for an upcoming album but as a stand alone vehicle, quite the opposite of the US model. Maybe the UK record companys weren't so mercenary as the US ones, but there are many many non album track singles from the 60's (that were never intended for an album either) and after about 1970 that all stopped and singles were just album tracks (or the bands mention stopped issuing them entirely - PF for example).



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That and "Heart Of Stone" are the songs I could everyday for the rest of my life and get tired of them.

 

Of course those songs are unique. That's what makes a song a hit and the Stones hitmakers - their uniqueness.

I'm talking about a guitar lick that revamped the Stones brand overnight, a suddenly different playing style they milked for the next ten years (ad nauseam, if you buy the naysaying reviews of the time).
Whether Keith found it, or Ry hipped him to it (or Cooder actually played on Honky Tonk, which was the ongoing rumor, for which I've seen no back up), it's worth knowing who invigorated the Stones' 70s sound. It enabled them move past the Brian Jones era. Pretty groundbreaking little lick, there.