Some Girls is the fourteenth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 9 June 1978 by Rolling Stones Records. It was recorded in sessions held from October 1977 to February 1978 at Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris and produced by the band's chief songwriterslead vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards (credited as the Glimmer Twins)with Chris Kimsey engineering the recording.
By 1976, the Rolling Stones' popularity was in decline as the music industry was dominated by disco and newer rock bands. In addition, the punk rock movement was an emerging cultural force in the UK. Due to legal troubles surrounding Richards, Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls. With him drawing influence from dance music, most notably disco, the recording sessions were highly productive, resulting in numerous outtakes that appeared on subsequent albums.
It was the first album to feature guitarist Ronnie Wood as a full-time member; Wood had contributed to some tracks on the band's prior two albums, It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974) and Black and Blue (1976). With a stable lineup in place for the first time in several years, the album marked a return to basics for the Rolling Stones and did not feature many guest musicians, unlike many of their prior albums. Notable contributions to the album, however, come from blues harmonica player Sugar Blue on "Miss You" and the title track.
Despite controversy surrounding its cover artwork and lyrical content, Some Girls was a commercial success, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart and number one on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. It became the band's top-selling album in the United States, having been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling six million copies by 2000 in the country. Several hit singles emerged from the album, which became rock radio staples for decades, including "Beast of Burden" (US number eight), "Shattered" (US number 31), "Respectable" (UK number 23), highlighted by "Miss You", which reached number one in the United States and number three in the UK.
Rebounding from the relative critical disappointment of Black and Blue, Some Girls was a critical success, with many reviewers calling it a classic return to form for the band and their best album since Exile on Main St. (1972). It became the only Rolling Stones album to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the Album of the Year category. Retrospectively, it has continued to receive acclaim, with many commending the band's ability to blend contemporary music trends with their older signature style. Some Girls is considered one of the band's finest records, and Rolling Stone has included it in their lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Background
By 1976, the Rolling Stones' popularity was in decline as the charts were dominated by disco and newer bands such as Aerosmith and Kiss. In the UK, the punk rock movement was a rising force and made most artists connected with the 1960s era seem obsolete. The group had also failed to produce a critically acclaimed album since 1972's Exile on Main St.
On 7 February 1977, the Stones were scheduled to play El Mocambo in Toronto, Ontario; however, Keith Richards and his partner Anita Pallenberg were arrested for possession of heroin and suspected of drug trafficking. With the help of Jimmy Carter, who obtained visas, the pair was permitted to leave Canada so that Richards could undergo detoxification in the United States. During this time, Richards obtained a conditional visa for France and met the rest of the Stones in Paris to begin work on what became Some Girls. Facing the possibility of Richards receiving a seven-year sentence in Canada, Jagger and Richards both believed that the Stones might be forced to disband and that Some Girls could be the last album. During Richards' trial, the courtroom was filled with Stones fans and it became clear to reporters present that he would not be "sent to jail".
Later in February 1977, the Stones renewed their contract with Atlantic Records for US distribution, and out of patriotic feelings originating from this being the year of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, signed with EMI for distribution to the rest of the world.
Writing and recording
Mick Jagger is generally regarded as the principal creative force behind Some Girls. Keith Richards was in legal trouble for much of 1977, which resulted in the band being inactive on the touring circuit during that year, except for two shows in Canada during the spring for the live album Love You Live. Jagger solely wrote "Miss You", as well as "Lies" and "When the Whip Comes Down". In addition to punk, Jagger claims to have been influenced by dance music, most notably disco, during the recording of Some Girls, and cites New York City as a major inspiration for the album, an explanation for his lyrical preoccupation with the city throughout.
At least as important for the band's reinvigoration was the addition of Ronnie Wood to the lineup, as Some Girls was the first album recorded with him as a full member. Unlike the guitar style of Mick Taylor, Wood's guitar playing style meshed with that of Richards, and slide guitar playing became one of the band's hallmarks. His unconventional uses of the instrument featured prominently on Some Girls and he contributed to the writing process. In addition, Jagger, who had learned to play guitar over the previous decade, contributed a third guitar part to many songs.
For the first time since 1968's Beggars Banquet, the core bandnow Jagger, Richards, Wood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wymanwere the main musicians on a Rolling Stones album, with few extra contributors. Ian McLagan, Wood's bandmate from the Faces, played keyboards, and harmonica player Sugar Blue contributed to several songs, in addition to saxophonist Mel Collins and Simon Kirke, who played percussion. The band decided not to use studio musicians, including Billy Preston and Nicky Hopkins, as Richards felt that while these musicians were "technically superior" they ultimately led the band into experimental territory and away from their basic sound. Jagger's guitar contributions caused the band's road manager, Ian Stewart, to be absent from many of the sessions, as he felt piano would be superfluous, making this a rare Rolling Stones album on which he did not appear.
Rehearsals for Some Girls began in October 1977 and lasted a month before recording commenced in November, breaking before Christmas and starting up again after New Year's before finishing in March 1978. Under their new British distribution contract with EMI (remaining with Warner Music Group in North America only), they were able to record at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, a venue at which they would record frequently for the next several years. Three studios were made available to the bandtwo large studios featuring high ceilings and 24-track recording capabilities and a more modest studio with 16-track capabilities. The band opted to use the latter as a rehearsal space, and despite Jagger wanting to move to the larger studios, opted to remain in the smaller one and use it for recording. According to Richards, songs were written on a day-by-day basis. The band ended up recording about 50 new songs, several of which turned up in altered forms on Emotional Rescue (1980) and Tattoo You (1981). Chris Kimsey was the engineer for the sessions. Kimsey's direct method of recording, together with the entrance of the then state-of-the-art Mesa/Boogie Mark I amplifiers instead of the Ampeg SVT line of amps, yielded a bright, direct, and aggressive guitar sound.
Packaging and artwork
The album cover for Some Girls was a collaborative effort involving the design by Peter Corriston and illustrations by Hubert Kretzschmar. Kretzschmar recalled the album originally had the working title "Lies". The two would design the band's next three album covers. An elaborate die-cut design, with the colours on the sleeves varying in different markets, it featured the Rolling Stones' faces alongside those of select female celebrities inserted into a copy of an old Valmor Products Corporation advertisement. The first printing of the album was censored as The Rolling Stone lawyers could not get permission to use those actors' images. The cover design was challenged legally when Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli (representing her mother Judy Garland), Raquel Welch, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe threatened to sue for the use of their likenesses without permission. Similarly, Valmor did take legal action and were given a monetary award for the use of their design.
The album was quickly reissued with a redesigned cover that removed all the celebrities, whether they had complained or not. The celebrity images were replaced with black and punk-style garish colours with the phrase "Pardon our appearancecover under reconstruction". Jagger later apologised to Minnelli when he encountered her during a party at the famous discothèque Studio 54. The only celebrity whose face was not removed was former Beatle George Harrison. As with the original design, the colour schemes on the redesigned sleeves varied in different markets.
A third version of the album cover with the hand-drawn faces from the original Valmor ad was used on the 1986 CD reissue.
Marketing and sales
The lead single, "Miss You", was released on 19 May 1978 by the band's own Rolling Stones label, with the album track "Far Away Eyes" as the B-side; a longer, 12" edit appeared on 2 June. The single was a commercial success, spending seven weeks on the UK Singles Chart, eventually peaking at number three. It fared better in the US, spending 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100longer than any prior Rolling Stones singleeventually peaking at number one, the band's final single to top the chart. Despite its commercial success, its disco sound alienated part of the fanbase. Regarding this, Jagger stated: being kept off the top spot by the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It fared better in the US, peaking at number one on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and spending 88 weeks on the chart. "Beast of Burden", backed by "When the Whip Comes Down", was released as the second single on 28 August 1978 in the US, where it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. "Respectable", again backed by "When the Whip Comes Down", was released as the third single in the UK on 15 September, while "Shattered", backed by "Everything is Turning to Gold", appeared as the fourth and final single in the US on 29 November 1978. Both became Top 40 hits.
Controversy
thumb|upright=0.7|alt=Jesse Jackson in 2013|A lyric in the title track attracted controversy from Reverend [[Jesse Jackson (pictured in 2013), who declared the song to be a "racial insult".]]
Immediately following its release, Some Girls attracted controversy. According to Cyrus Patell, a prominent black music station WBLS in New York City refused to play "Miss You" due to what the station deemed to be "the offensive racial attitudes of the album and the band." Additionally, the title track attracted controversy with the line "Black Girls just want to get fucked all night/I just don't have that much jam." Regarding the line, Ahmet Ertegun, the chairman of Atlantic Records (the US distributor of Rolling Stones Records), stated: "When I first heard the song, I told Mick it was not going to go down well. Mick assured me that it was a parody of the type of people who hold these attitudes. Mick has great respect for blacks. He owes his whole being, his whole musical career, to black people." Incidentally, black-oriented radio stations began to boycott "Some Girls", leading Jagger to tell Rolling Stone: "Atlantic tried to get us to drop it, but I refused. I've always been opposed to censorship of any kind, especially by conglomerates. I've always said, 'If you can't take a joke, it's too fucking bad.'"
On 6 October 1978, Ertegun met with Reverend Jesse Jackson, then leader of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) to discuss the lyric. The meeting ended with Jackson declaring the song to be a "racial insult" that "degrades blacks and women", threatening to boycott the record until a resolution was met. Ertegun concurred, saying, "It is not our wish to in any way demean, insult, or make less of the people without whom there would be no Atlantic Records." After discussing the matter with Atlantic officials, who considered censoring the line, Earl McGrath, president of Rolling Stones Records, released a statement on 12 October on behalf of the band: