Music / Black and Blue

"The music is mighty, mighty fine. Hot stuff, play it rough!"

Black and Blue is the thirteenth studio album (fifteenth American album) by The Rolling Stones, released in 1976. It is their first studio album with Ronnie Wood of the Faces (He replaced Mick Taylor, who had quit at the end of 1974), although he didn't appear on much of it (not unlike his predecessor on Let It Bleed), and didn't became an official member of the band until just before release. Guitarists Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel (the latter a member of Canned Heat) also appeared on much of the record, and Keith Richards later said of the album "Rehearsing guitar players, that's what that one was about".

The ballad "Fool to Cry" was a major hit single for this album, and remains a fan favourite.

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Hot Stuff" (5:20)
2. "Hand of Fate" (4:28)
3. "Cherry Oh Baby" (3:57)
4. "Memory Motel" (7:07)

Side Two

1. "Hey Negrita" (4:59)
2. "Melody" (5:47)
3. "Fool to Cry" (5:03)
4. "Crazy Mama" (4:34)

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Principal Members:

• Mick Jagger - lead vocals, guitar, percussion, piano
• Keith Richards - guitar, backing and co-lead vocals, piano, bass
• Charlie Watts - drums, percussion
• Ronnie Wood - guitar, vocals
• Bill Wyman - bass, percussion

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Crazy Tropes:

• Alliterative Title: "Black and Blue" and "Memory Motel".
• Bedroom Adultery Scene: "Melody"
  Open up, baby, you got someone else inside
  I'm going to come get you dead or alive
• Belief Makes You Stupid: "Crazy Mama"
  Well, your old time religion us just a superstition
• Break Up Song: "Melody"
  Then one day she left me
  She took everything that moved
  My car, she took my trailer home
  She took my Sunday boots

• Cover Version: "Cherry Oh Baby", a cover of reggae artist Eric Donaldson's 1971 song.
• Epic Rocking: The 7:07 "Memory Motel".
• Face on the Cover: A close-up of Mick, Bill and Keith's face, with Ronnie and Charlie on the back cover.
• Funk: "Hot Stuff".
• Gratuitous Spanish: "Hey, Negrita"
  Come si chiama, what's your game?
  I'm just a poor man, what's your name?
  Shake your body, do it up now
  Shake body, move it up, now
  Hey, Negrita, hey now
  Hey conchita, shake it up now
  Bate las caderas, do it up now
• Heavy Meta: "Hot Stuff""
  Cause music is what I want
  To keep my body always moving
  Yeah, shake it up, hot stuff
  Everyday I get another dose
  I can't stand it when the music stops
  Hot stuff
• Intercourse with You: "Memory Hotel", where the protagonist spends a "lonely night" with a certain Hannah:
  She took my guitar and she began to play
  She sang a song to me
  Stuck right in my brain
  You're just a memory of a love
  That used to be
  You're just a memory of a love
  That used to mean so much to me
• Malicious Slander: "Crazy Mama"
  You can scandalize me, scorn my name
  You can steal my money and that don't mean a dog-gone thing
• Manly Tears: "Memory Motel"
  I hit the bottle and hit the sack and cried
• Murder Ballad:
  • "Hand Of Fate".
  I killed a man, I'm highway bound
  • "Crazy Mama"
  And cold blood murder
  Make me want to draw the line
  Well your crazy mama
  With your ball and chain
  Plain psychotic, plain insane
  If you don't think I'm gonna do it
  Just wait for the thud of the bullet
  • "Melody"
  I'm going to catch her by surprise
  Then I'm going to have the pleasure to roast that child alive
• New Sound Album: With touches of jazz, funk and reggae. This is partly because they were essentially auditioning guitar players on this record.
• One-Woman Song: "Hey Negrita" and "Crazy Mama".
• One-Word Title: "Melody"
• Outlaw: "Hand Of Fate"
  I'm on the run, I hear the hounds
  My luck is up, my chips are down
  So goodby baby, so long now
  Wish me luck, I'm going to need it, child
• Pep-Talk Song: "Fool To Cry"
  Daddy, you're a fool to cry
  You're a fool to cry and it makes me wonder why
• The Power of Rock: "Hot Stuff"
  Music makes you forget all your trouble
  Make you sing and make you tell the whole wide world: "So what? Hot stuff
• Reggae: This was the first album where the band experimented with reggae music.
• Rule of Seven: "Memory Hotel"
  On the seventh day my eyes were all a glaze
• Shout-Out: In Rage (1977) by Stephen King, "Hot Stuff" is played at a party.
• Special Guest: Billy Preston played along on this album.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Keith Richards sings co-lead vocals on "Memory Motel".
• The Stoic: Mick Jagger and especially Bill Wyman on the album cover.

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