Rolling Stones Join the List of Bands Who Won’t Play the Olympics
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has put another nail in the coffin of plans for the legendary band to play the London Olympics this summer. The 70-year-old tells the London Telegraph that he was never a fan of that idea. Pink Floyd and the surviving members of the Beatles have also shot down rumors of their potential reunions at the worldwide sporting competition over the past months.
“I didn’t want to do it for a start,” Watts says when talking about plans to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary. “I’d love to have done the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, because that’s a great thing, I think, but I don’t think we’d have the time to do it.”
The meat of the article focuses on the jazz-loving drummer and his boogie-woogie band, The A, B, C, & D of Boogie Woogie (Watts is the “C”). “Boogie-woogie piano is the basis of swing piano-playing and rock ‘n’ roll, actually. They used to call it ‘beat-your-daddy-eight-to-the-bar.’ It’s very physical and it’s bloody hard to play, but it’s wonderful.”
It’s never been a sound that Watts has hoped to incorporate into the Rolling Stones. The dapper drummer knows his roll is to support Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, to be the stem that holds the petals.
As for the Stones future, he wouldn’t disclose any plans. “Many plans. I don’t know. Nothing’s been decided. I mean, I hope they’ll ring me up if we do anything and let me know.”