“Just My Imagination” - The Rolling Stones
(Words/music: Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, available on Some Girls, Virgin Records 1978)

For a long time, I was largely indifferent to the Rolling Stones.  I chalk this up to the two ways that I knew the band.  First, years of classic rock radio listening squeezed out the charm out of most of their singles; I had heard “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” enough times to where I could recite it in my sleep.  I also knew the Rolling Stones generally as caricatures – they were the old guys who must have named themselves when they were playing during the Flintstones’ time.  I’d see them pop up on TV from time to time – specifically, any time they started another marathon stadium tour – and jumped to the conclusion that they filled stadiums solely on nostalgia.  I didn’t doubt that they were once great, but I assumed they were a long time past their prime.

On a whim, my friend Matt and I went to go see the Martin Scorsese directed Shine a Light in an IMAX theater back when it came out.  We went in the middle of the week so we among about a half a dozen people, making it the smallest audience the Stones played to in years.  I was blown away by the band – the film (and, to be fair, the IMAX setting I’m sure) made them loud and exciting, but underneath the giant screen and booming sound system were the same two things I founnd when exploring their catalog deeper after the film.  First, this was a band that had a tremendous amount of fun on stage – the members were smiling and goofing around playfully, and it translated to their music.  I was also impressed at the range that the band (with the help of their axillary musicians) could cover. 
Their cover of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” one of my favorite parts of the film, showed both of these elements.  The Stones moved out of their blues-based comfort zone and made this Motown standard swing.  If a lot of their songs suited smoke filled rock clubs, this is a song for summer afternoons, with Keith Richards’ guitar sounding playful and Mick Jagger sounding like he’s having fun.  Suddenly, it dawned on me: this band still performs because they enjoy it.  As soon as I came to that realization, I understood their continued charm – when a band this good has fun, it’s easy to have fun with them.  I guess that translates to arenas of thousands and IMAX theaters of a half dozen.

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