Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and the Art of Biography

Bob Spitz uses his new Rolling Stones biography as a springboard to trace the band's musical formation, internal dynamics, and long run. He argues the Stones' early apprenticeship was real — residencies at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond where audiences ballooned from single digits to hundreds — followed by hard roadwork. Spitz emphasizes that the Stones began as blues interpreters who were later pushed by manager Andrew Oldham to write originals; their signature was taking American Delta/Chicago blues and 'hot‑wiring' it with rock and roll energy. He judges their melodies as strong in a rock sense (a B‑ minus overall) but not as romantic or lush as the Beatles' best work, and he singles out Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed as the Stones' creative peak while calling Satanic Majesties a misjudged effort to copy Sgt. Pepper. Spitz also discusses divisive records like Exile on Main Street, noting Mick Jagger's limited participation on those sessions.

The conversation widens to personnel, longevity, and Spitz's broader career. He paints Charlie Watts as a jazz‑minded, quietly devoted Stones drummer and presents Brian Jones as a brilliant multi‑instrumentalist who, by 1968, largely stopped contributing. Spitz pins the band's durability on the Mick‑Keith partnership and Mick's managerial role since 1967 (including his London School of Economics background). He contrasts the Stones' endurance with the Beatles' studio breakup and singles out recent surprises — a late‑life blues album ('Hackney Diamonds') recorded when members were about 79. Interwoven are Spitz's biographer's insights: his preference to gather all materials before writing, his sequential‑only drafting approach, the dramatic editorial cuts to his Beatles manuscript (2,800 -> 964 pages), and the humiliating loss of research he once threw away. He reiterates long‑standing views on contemporary pop (less instrumental musicianship, producers doing more of the work) and closes by announcing a forthcoming John Lennon second‑act biography drawing on Lennon family archives. Throughout, Tyler Cowen prompts pointed questions; disagreements are minor (Tyler's initial sense of a short Stones apprenticeship is corrected), and they largely agree on the Stones' unique strengths and the uneven moments in their catalog.