We turn now to an overview of 1966. It's good, as we talk about the music and the things that unfold during this year, to kind of get a sense of what the events are that shaped the career and the activities of The Rolling Stones as a band. Let's first talk about their touring and recording in 1966. We've kind of been keeping track of their various tours and and the various kind of recording sessions and, and where they are. And, and and when they are throughout. So let's, let's just pick up on that discussion now. In February of 1966 the group does some recording for the Aftermath album at the RCA Studios. They're in this country. They, they do some recording at RCA for Aftermath and they also appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. Remember me talking about the Ed Sullivan Show as being really the kind of premiere variety show on Sunday nights in the United States, just sort of the best showcase for popular music you can get, well best showcase for entertainment period you can get, but for popular music it's great. And so their return visit to the Ed Sullivan Show in February of March they February and March of 66 they do a tour of Australia and New Zealand. Then in March and April, they do an eight date European tour in 1966. In the summer of 1966, the group are back in the United States for their fifth North American tour. Remember that first North American tour in the summer of 1964 was not particularly successful for the group. There were some good gigs, but there were some bad ones. Now, here we are two years later in 1966, you know, about the, about the ti, the same time The Beatles are doing their last full concert tour The Rolling Stones are out on their fifth North American tour. At the end of that tour, they pull into Hollywood, California in August, and do some more recording. Some of the, those, those tracks are going to be used on Between the Buttons they appear on the Ed Sullivan show in September and then back to the the UK they go for a 13-date UK tour in September and October of 1966. This is the famous tour where they, they called the twice-a-night tour, where they booked the gigs such that they'd be able to do two shows in different places, [LAUGH] set all the gear up and play an early show and then move it all to the next place and then play a later show. So such was the demand for The Rolling Stones that they did a 13-date tour like that. Bill Wyman describes it as being absolutely exhausting. And then in November, December of 1966 they're recording at Olympic Studios, and this was the point I was talking about in the last video where the recording really starts to shift now from having done, been done at RCA in Hollywood now to Olympic, where it's going to stay for a little while. In terms of albums and singles that help us map out 1966 the year begins with the release of the song 19th Nervous Breakdown, goes to number one in the UK, Uk, number two in the US. In the United States, the American label London, the subsidiary of Decca, brings out a compilation album of previously released tracks called Big Hits (High Tides and Green Grass). That's in March, the album goes to number three. There's actually kind of a story about Aftermath and Big Hits (High Tides and Green Grass) that I'll talk about in the next video when we focus on Aftermath. Well, Aftermath is then is then released first in April in the UK where it goes to number one. But then in June, in the US, the summer of 1966, to coincide really with the, with the tour that they're doing, the album goes to number two in the album charts here in the US. As I mentioned before, Aftermath is all Jagger Richards songs. There's not a cover song on the record. The big hit in May in the spring is Paint It Black. That goes to number one on both sides of the Atlantic. And then Mother's Little Helper follows that, goes to number eight in the US at number with the B side Lady Jane which goes to to number 24 in this country. And then Have You Seen Your Mother Baby in September getting to number nine in the charts here, number five in the UK. At the end of the year in time, you've heard me mention, in time for the Christmas buying season The Rolling Stones bring out another kind of compilation record. This is the American version of Got Live If You Want It! And so, it does pretty well for them. It's a number six record for them in the United States. It's not the same record as the UK EP we talked about last week. Which it, it this, this one has tracks from the 1965 and 1966 shows on it and so is a sort of a different collection of records. Okay. So that gives us the sense of how things were going in 1966. What do we draw from all of these recording sessions and tour dates and single releases and album releases? Well, The Rolling Stones were a very, very busy group. Whenever we think about the image of the Stones as being sort of you know, party guys, just kind of hanging out, enjoying the good life and this kind of thing, we should realize, that, at this point, in the history of popular music nobody, nobody in The Rolling Stones believes that this thing is going to last forever. And so the feeling is, they have to work as hard as they can, as much as they can now, because they could really be out of favor with fans and that kind of thing at any moment. And so the idea is, make as much as you can while you can. Make hay while the sun shines. And so they're, they're just playing, recording, releasing records singles. Doing everything they can to make the most of this thing because they expect that it's, that it's all going to go away. The, The Rolling Stones weren't the only ones. The Beatles, a lot of those other groups really felt that way. They never, they did, they didn't really understand at the time that their music was going to be long lasting and there was going to be a long career there. They really thought like most pop music, there were a couple years in the, in the limelight and, and then you were gone. So that explains why they were so busy. And when you think about both of these albums, Aftermath and Between the Buttons, being filled with nothing but original songs it means that they were not only busy doing the recording and the television shows and the touring and all that kind of stuff, they were busy writing all the time too. So a very productive year for the group, but also a very, very busy busy year full of a lot of hard work. As we, as I said before, in 1967 some of that's going to change because things a little bit are going to come crashing down for them in the first half of 1967. But throughout 1966, very, very busy. Well, let's have a look at the first album that comes out in 1966, and that's the album, Aftermath. A lot of people, including myself, think of Aftermath as being a real kind of turning point album for The Rolling Stones, where they bring out a record that's all their own music, no cover versions. So we're going to want to think about that record, think about the songs, and also think about what influence might those cover versions have had on the original music that appears on that album. So the next video, it's Aftermath.
