S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones

by Robert Greenfield

Book Overview

"One of the greatest rock books ever written." -- GQ

Thirty years ago, the Rolling Stones swept America, taking Exile on Main Street to Main Streets across the nation. Everyone held their breath to see what would happen; the Stones' previous U.S. tour had been a chaotic circus culminating in the infamous death of a fan at Altamont. And this tour (the "Stones Touring Party") was rumored to be wilder than ever: bigger shows in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306811995
• ISBN13: 9780306811999
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

It's Only Rock and Roll But I Like It, Love It ,Yes I Do!

Whoa! This is a thorougly enjoyable book all the way through.I agree wholeheartedly with the reviewer who stated this is "One of the greatest rock books ever written";it's certainly the best rock and roll book I've ever read, and I actually am not that much of a Stones fan. This book could have been done as a quick, tabloid rock tour journal, but the writing is absolutely superb and fascinating all the way through, the story decadently entertaining.Bravo Mr.Greenfield!

Interesting Read with Some Glaring Errors

Some people, I swear. I'm getting not helpful reviews because I point out this guy's very weak skills as an author and his pathetic research that yielded numerous factual errors? go figure. The book is crap and doesn't even deserve 4 stars. Make it 2. Greenfield's first book on the Rolling Stones chronicling their North American tour of 1972 is far better than his recent "Exile On Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones". I enjoyed the style of writing and the bird's eye view of things that went on during the tour. I knew that the Stones' touring party was typically fairly depraved but I really had no idea of the extent of that depravity. I hate to be all PC and all that but young women (girls really) were treated as something to use and throw away. There are several accounts of young women who, while not part of the Stones Touring Party, were highly visible throughout the tour, used up for sordid entertainment, allowed themselves to be completely humiliated without even realizing it (the airplane film incident), and discarded like garbage. It's very sad the things that some of these young women did in order to be near that glittering star. I wonder how they feel today? Everything had to be cleared by Jagger and Richards, these two men have much to atone for, really. There are some really dumb and glaring mistakes and that fact that this is a second edition publication make them unforgivable really: For example, on page 115 Greenfield tells us about how a young Mick Taylor took Eric Clapton's place in Mayall's Blues Breakers. Greenfield must have smoked an awful lot of dope in his day. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about the music of that era knows that Peter Green (who went on to found the original Fleetwood Mac) replaced Clapton. Mick Taylor replaced Peter Green. Duh? That's rock-guitar history/appreciation 101 and Greenfield gets a big fat "F" On page 117 Greenfield mentions men in Denver washing their cars in the drive way and wondering what kind of season the Denver Bears were going to have... What? While it is true that in the late 50's and very early 60's Denver did have a semi-pro football team called the Denver Bears (almost NO-ONE in Denver remembers this), by 1972, Bronco mania had long taken hold in Denver (I was there). The Broncos were just a couple of years shy of their first appearance in a string of many very disappointing Superbowl performances (thank God they got that monkey of their backs). Didn't this guy have an editor? Who proofed this darn thing? Presumably a member of the Stones Touring Party who was just as stoned as everyone else. Again, this is a second edition boys and girls. Mistakes like the two cited above are good examples of shoddy authorship and editing. Maybe some writing course will use them as examples. Those two mistakes are glaring and it leaves me wondering about how many not so glaring mistakes this book also contains.

'OUTLAWS IN LOVE...KINGS OF THE DECADENT LAWN.'

I read this book sometime around 1975 when it first surfaced as a highly literate diary chronicling the Rolling Stones 1972 tour of America.Basking in the reflected glory of the (then and arguably still)'greatest rock n' roll band in the world';the author is afforded access all areas,and guides the reader from bickering rehearsal sessions,through rigid security meetings and late flights,until finally you are granted a carte blanche ticket for the greatest show on earth.Greenfield's cultured and informative reporting hurls you head-first into the crazed and ruthless world of the maelstrom that is The Rolling Stones in all their sometimes heavy-handed glory.Wonderfully entertaining stories unfold throughout this incredible journey as the outlaws in love march like kings,across the decadent sprawling lawns of mighty America.Pure zeitgeist.Great stuff. After reading this book you just wanna'play 'Exile on Main St.' at serious volume and wish that you never had to go to work again.(Oh'well..)

*Richards*, the man's name is *Richards*

The first hundred or so pages are so fixated on Mick Jagger that you wonder if Mr Greenfiel is ever going to notice that the Rolling Stones consist of way more than a frontman. But once he finally does realize that - apparently a concert or two was enough to convince him - it's a pretty good read. There are some obvious inaccuracies (including mistaking butterflies for doves); and the stuff about the people and events orbiting around the Stones on this tour is sometimes overlong. Some of it, though, works nicely to bring back the atmosphere of the times.It's unfortunate that Mr Greenfiel didn't have the courtesy to correct Keith's surname in this re-edition - who cares how the publicists were misspelling it at the time?! That grates, as do the lame attempts to capture regional pronunciation. Just talk normal, please, Mr Greenfiel! And repeat after me: it's *Richards*. In other words: Stanley Booth's _True Adventures of the Rolling Stones_ is miles better - really fine writing, a superior grasp of what the Stones are about, *and* he knows what Keith's surname is - but this one'll do between re-readings of Stanley's.

For Stones fans.

A readable and interesting book. I wasn't that interested in those on the peripherals of the Stones touring party, which fills much of this book, but the bits including the Stones themselves are very interesting and entertaining. In the intro, the author says this book has been out of print since 1974, and just got back in print in June, 2002. (I just read a passing reference to it in the Nov., 2002 issue of VOGUE. First I'd heard about it.) He's there when Mick and Keith get arrested for hitting a photographer. He's there when the Governor of Rhode Island tells the chief of police to spring Mick and Keith from jail, for public safety (the waiting audience for a Stones show could riot if deprived of the Stones!). He's there to show that being on tour with the greatest rock and roll band in the world CAN, truly and believably, get mind-numbingly dull. It's an interesting inside look, by a journalist who is impressively objective. (He doesn't despise nor worship the Stones, and actually gives an interesting run down of why, at that time, the Stones actually were NOT very wealthy, despite ten years of success. That's changed since, of course.) Worth reading if you're a Stones fan.