"It doesn't really change, actually. I think The Rolling Stones have gotten a lot better. An awful lot better, I think. A lot of people don't, but I think they have, and to me that's gratifying. It's worth it"
About this Quote
There is something quietly defiant in Charlie Watts insisting, with that almost underplayed British understatement, that the Rolling Stones "have gotten a lot better". Rock culture trains us to worship a single flashpoint: the early, dangerous era, the moment before success calcifies into routine. Watts pushes back on that myth without grandstanding. The repetition - "a lot better... an awful lot better" - reads like a drummer counting time: steady, practical, refusing the romantic narrative that everything after youth is decline.
The context matters. Watts wasn’t the band’s spokesman or its swagger; he was its metronome and its conscience, the man whose restraint made the chaos feel controlled. So when he says, "It doesn't really change", he’s not claiming the Stones are timeless gods. He’s talking about the work: showing up, listening harder, locking in, getting cleaner and smarter at the thing you do in front of huge crowds who want you to reenact a past they think they own.
The subtext is also a gentle rebuke to fans and critics who treat longevity as a kind of sellout or autopilot. "A lot of people don't" is Watts acknowledging the common take - the band peaked decades ago - then calmly refusing it. The last two sentences land like a small moral: improvement is private satisfaction, not public consensus. For a group built on excess, "that's gratifying" is almost radical. It frames endurance not as survival, but as craft earning its keep.
The context matters. Watts wasn’t the band’s spokesman or its swagger; he was its metronome and its conscience, the man whose restraint made the chaos feel controlled. So when he says, "It doesn't really change", he’s not claiming the Stones are timeless gods. He’s talking about the work: showing up, listening harder, locking in, getting cleaner and smarter at the thing you do in front of huge crowds who want you to reenact a past they think they own.
The subtext is also a gentle rebuke to fans and critics who treat longevity as a kind of sellout or autopilot. "A lot of people don't" is Watts acknowledging the common take - the band peaked decades ago - then calmly refusing it. The last two sentences land like a small moral: improvement is private satisfaction, not public consensus. For a group built on excess, "that's gratifying" is almost radical. It frames endurance not as survival, but as craft earning its keep.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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