Adam J. Choit

The classic song, “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones is as far as I know open to interpretation when it comes to a specific meaning.  I’ll let you do your own research.

However, off the top of my head I can pinpoint two moments in rock n’ roll history in which this song helped symbolically destroy the fabric of the genre and “movement.”

In 1969, The Stones gave a free outdoor concert up near the Bay Area in Northern California (Altamont).  Due to awful planning, the biker gang known as the The Hell’s Angels ended up working security for the concert.  Of course violence between them and crowd developed, and culminated in a fatal stabbing.  You guessed it.  This was during the performance of “Sympathy for the Devil.” Whether this was the unofficial real ending of “The 60′s,” I have no idea.

Fast forward to 1994 — I was 12, and was not as much of a rock music enthusiast back then.  Since then though, I became a huge Guns N’ Roses fan, and about a year ago I read Slash’s bio.

By ’94 “GN’R” was burned out.  With too much drugs and too much egos, the band would soon implode.  For the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, the band recorded a version of “Sympathy.”  Slash was under the impression he had contributed his part to the song, but then frontman Axl Rose went ahead and brought in another guitar player to lay down a part.  Slash was unaware at the time, but once he found out, it one of the last straws.  The band soon broke up.

While in my opinion they achieved greatness, we the fans are still left with lingering thoughts of what could have been if the band continued to record music.  Where does this leave us now?

I guess by my math, the devil shall return in 2019.

When the Rolling Stones hit the stage in 1969 at Altamont, the proceeding events seemed to be what most historians consider the unofficial ending of the 1960′s, and the entire hippie movement.  The Stones played a free concert during this overcast day in Northern California.  For some insane reason, The Hell’s Angels, a dangerous biker gang was chosen to handle security.  During the show, 4 people died in scuffles.

For my generation, Generation Y (or whatever we’re called), there really isnt such a clear and defining moment that marks the end of any sort of generational “golden age.”  Here’s what I came up with: In the WWF (professional wrestling), in the 1980′s there was a tag team known as “The Rockers,” consisting of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. 

Despite never winning the tag-team titles, they were always popular, entertaining, and fan-favorites.  However, trouble started to brew.  Marty and Shawn began to have some issues, and it all culminated when Michaels tossed Janetty through a glass window during a segment on Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake’s Barber Shop.  

From that moment on, we knew things would never be the same, and that The Rockers would officially be no more.  What a pivotal moment — the end of our innocence.