45 years ago today (October 18th), The Rolling Stones released It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. The title track of the final Stones album with guitarist Mick Taylor as a member of the band. And while he appears in the video for the song, he doesn’t play on it — that’s his future replacement, Ronnie Wood, on acoustic, while Keith Richards handles the electric. Wood is also said to have co-written it, though he never got credit for it. Mick Taylor gives his impression of the song:
“I think Mick Jagger actually sat down and consciously said to himself, ‘I’m going to write a commercial rock ’n roll song,’ because I can actually remember him alluding to a couple of other bands that had hit singles out at the time with that kind of feel. Mick’s a bit like that, he thinks that way. He’s very conscious of what he feels has to be done. I think he really wanted to write a classic sort of rock and rock song. I always felt that that was a bit of a parody of a rock ’n roll song.”
