When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

06 February 2006

The Rolling (deleted)

Much is being made of the Rolling Stones' apparent acquiescence to NFL censorship during their Super Bowl halftime appearance on Sunday; although Mick Jagger sang the "offensive" lyrics (one of which was, in the song "Start Me Up," "You made a dead man come...") the NFL cut the mike for the crucial few seconds.

See, e.g., Rolling Stones agreed to censor Super Bowl show: NFL - Yahoo! News for a typical take on the story from Agence France-Press.

Ah, how quickly they forget. The Stones have been toning down their bad-boy act for American TV audiences for *decades* now (and getting paid.) In 1967, when impresario Ed Sullivan found the lyric "Let's Spend The Night Together" offensive (also, worryingly, the title of the song!) the Stones appeared on his show and sang a bowdlerized version... "Let's Spend Some Time Together."

Rolling they may be, but for enough cash up front they're clearly willing (and always have been) to compromise a bit on the Stones.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, I reckon.

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