This year Radioinfo has taken you back 50 years to songs from 1974. It was a mighty fine year for music. This is the final Song of 74 for 2024 and It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It).

Any story about The Rolling Stones could be a long one, so I’m going to stick with It’s Only Rock N Roll, and the mid 70s, as it yielded more than enough trivia that I didn’t know about this iconic band.

Firstly, this song and the album, It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll, that it comes from, is the first to feature guitarist Ronnie Wood (although he wouldn’t officially become a permanent band member till 1975). Previous guitarist Mick Taylor appears in the song’s video clip but didn’t actually play on the track, leaving the band for good in December 1974.

That video clip was a ridiculous thing itself (above). Someone decided on copious bubbles, so the band wore sailor’s suits so as not to ruin their own clothes. The wonderful, late drummer Charlie Watts was nearly drowned in the background (just watch his face!) because everyone forgot that he was sitting down. There was a rather high risk of electrocution too.

Also not appearing in the clip, but singing backing vocals on the song, is David Bowie. Bowie and Jagger had a long and passionate friendship not without some rivalry too. The Stones, in 1973, had a huge hit with Angie, long rumoured to be about Bowie’s first wife Angela. They would collaborate on the almost kinky No 1 from 1985 Dancing in the Streets and much of how they would speak about each other was through kind of back handed compliments, both wanting to be the alpha in the relationship.

Appearing for the first time as well on this song were the producers, The Glimmer Twins. These ‘twins’ were in fact Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

In the late 60s the pair had gone on a cruise with their respective girlfriends Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg. Clearly they stood out because an older English couple on the cruise kept coming up to them saying things like,

“Where do we know you from?”

And,

“I feel as though we’ve met before. What are your names?”

When Jagger and Richards refused to disclose any more information the woman said,

“Come on! Give us a glimmer?”

And that’s where the name began.

If Keith HAD introduced himself at the time, he would have said he was Keith Richard.

When the Stones first signed with Decca, back in 1963, the band’s manager felt unhappy with Richards’ name and asked Keith to become Keith Richard to ‘look more pop, like Cliff Richard.’

Around the mid 70s Keith got tired of the fake name and returned to the original. This is also a way of telling if you have original or re-release / fake Stones’ albums as everything up until around 1977 will feature ‘Keith Richard’ somewhere, and also, from 1974 to 1982, the Glimmer Twins.

Note the mentions of ‘Keith Richard’

It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It) is a bite back by Mick Jagger to those who didn’t take them seriously and criticism of the band for continuously doing what they did best (another rivalry Mick shared with the chameleon that was David Bowie). He and Keith fought to have it released as a single.

In 2019 Billboard Magazine ranked the Rolling Stones second on their list of Greatest Artists of all Time (Behind the Beatles – I wonder if that rankled too). They have had 38 top 10 albums in the US, more than anyone else and have sold more than 250 million of them worldwide.

I was deeply moved when Charlie Watts, their extraordinary drummer and there from the beginning, died in 2021. He felt like the glue that held everything together, but yet again Mick, Keith and Ronnie continue. Keith has a giant picture of Charlie above his piano (see below, photo by Deborah Feingold)

Keith, a meme for longevity, popped up the other day to assist with the induction of former Elvis Presley guitarist James Burton into the Country Music Hall Of Fame. He is pictured below with last week’s Song of 74 singer Emmylou Harris (left) and Lucinda Williams (right).

So that’s it for 1974, but there were more artists than weeks in 2024. If you’re interested I created a 1974 playlist on Spotify for your enjoyment. In my Spotify Wrapped you could see I’ve listened to it a few times as my top five featured three songs! It was a truly great year of music.

Should you wish to go back and revisit any of the great songs turning 50 this year you can search via #songsof74 and #radioinfo.

Finally, do you want the Songs of 75? A month ago I purchased a crate of vinyl from a wonderful local man who isn’t into 60s, early 70s or country music. In it was the below:

It’s Casey Kasem, American Top 40, from August 1975, so I’ve already made a start!

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and music trivia buff for Radioinfo