10 - Second Life and the Dynamics of Revival: The Stones after 1989

Summary

1989 marked the end of one career and the beginning of another for the Rolling Stones. The year capped almost a decade of disharmony and uneven musical production – “Giants Enter a Deep Sleep” is how Elliott describes this period¹ – and witnesses the most acrimonious chapter in the venerable Jagger/Richards partnership, one of the most creative collaborative musical relationships in popular music history. Although the decade began with a successful tour in 1981–82 to promote the album Tattoo You, memorialized in the pastel-heavy Hal Ashby-produced film Let’s Spend the Night Together, the animosity within the entire band continued into the mid-1980s. With Richards’ addictions and resultant legal troubles reaching a critical stage, control of the group tilted decisively (and understandably) in the direction of Jagger, who remained resolutely in charge.