Luke Dick - The Rolling Stones and Philosophy: Its Just a Thought Away (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

Table of Contents

Popular Culture and Philosophy Series Editor: George A. Reisch

VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)

VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The Doh! of Homer (2001)

VOLUME 3 The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)

VOLUME 4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)

VOLUME 5 The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003)

VOLUME 9 Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)

VOLUME 12 Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)

VOLUME 13 Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)

VOLUME 17 Bob Dylan and Philosophy: Its Alright Ma (Im Only Thinking) (2006)

VOLUME 19 Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)

VOLUME 24 Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time (2006)

VOLUME 25 The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Cant Be Thunk (2006)

VOLUME 26 South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007) Edited by Richard Hanley

VOLUME 28 The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (2007) Edited by Steven Gimbel

VOLUME 30 Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007)

VOLUME 31 Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth (2008)

VOLUME 32 Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth (2008)

VOLUME 33 Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin

VOLUME 34 iPod and Philosophy: iCon of an ePoch (2008) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

VOLUME 35 Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008) Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker

VOLUME 36 The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008) Edited by Luke Cuddy

VOLUME 37 The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phillip S. Seng

VOLUME 38 Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009) Edited by Brandon W. Forbes and George A. Reisch

VOLUME 39 Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt

VOLUME 41 Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller

VOLUME 42 Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer

VOLUME 43 The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison

VOLUME 44 Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef

VOLUME 45 World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger

Volume 46 Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

Volume 47 Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin

VOLUME 48 The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber

VOLUME 49 Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy : New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

VOLUME 50 Facebook and Philosophy: Whats on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

VOLUME 51 Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (2010) Edited by Ted Richards

VOLUME 52 Manga and Philosophy: Fullmetal Metaphysician (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman

VOLUME 53 Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young

VOLUME 54 The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye

VOLUME 55 Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka

VOLUME 56 Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat (2011) Edited by Jeffery Nicholas

VOLUME 57 Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (2011) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

VOLUME 58 Dexter and Philosophy: Mind over Spatter (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison-Greene

VOLUME 59 Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved (2011) Edited by Luke Cuddy

VOLUME 60 SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy: Soaking Up Secrets Under the Sea! (2011) Edited by Joseph Foy

VOLUME 61 Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff

VOLUME 62 Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die For (2011) Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

VOLUME 63 Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? (2011) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

VOLUME 64 The Rolling Stones and Philosophy: Its Just a Thought Away (2012) Edited by Luke Dick and George A. Reisch

IN PREPARATION:

Breaking Bad and Philosophy (2012) Edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp

The Walking Dead and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Wayne Yuen

Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Mark Ralkowski

Chuck Klosterman and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Seth Vannatta

Neil Gaiman and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Tracy L. Bealer, Rachel Luria, and Wayne Yuen

Boardwalk Empire and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

Planet of the Apes and Philosophy (2012) Edited by John Huss

Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy (2012) Edited by Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox

For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com .

Its Only Philosophy but We Like It

GEORGE A. REISCH

W hen it comes to philosophy, Keith Richards is an excellent guitar player. Keith himself would probably agree because, according to him, rock and roll starts from the neck down. The minute rock and roll reaches the head, forget it, he told his biographer when talking about the famous Live Aid concert of 1985. And thats something to be thankful forits a few moments when you can forget about nukes and racism and all the other evils Gods kindly thrown upon us.

But if rock and roll, Richards-style, is all about your crotch and not your mind, why did he call his autobiography Life ? Obviously theres some trademark Richards irony in that choice. There he is on the jacket cover, the rock star with a legendary reputation for life-saving blood transfusions, sporting a skull-ring and lighting his seven-hundred thousandth some-odd cigarette (figure two packs a day for fifty years) next to the word life. Irony aside, Keith would say its simply because thats what his books about. And theres no doubt that Keith has lived intensely . Hes been pursued by fans who adore him and cops and politicians who hate him. Hes thrived at the pinnacle of rock star success and hit bottom (and bounced a few times). Hes rubbed elbows and traded riffs with the greatest of musicians and songwriters, dated, married, or bedded some of the most beautiful women in the world, and glimmered alongside rocks greatest vocalist, even when the twins werent speaking or writing classic albums together.

Had he gone for double entendre instead of irony, he could have called the book History . Along with The Beatles (though, more about them later), Keith, Mick, and the rest were front-row-center participants in some of the massive cultural changes happening in the 1960s in the wake of the free speech and civil rights movements and, of course, the British Invasion. Thirty years later, they were still on top of things. On August 17th, 1990, Keith and Mick and the band started up a stadium full of Czechoslovakian Stones fans who had endured over twenty years of Soviet occupation during which The Stones and other bands were not permitted to play. After Keiths opening riff, these Czechs spent two hours jumping, clapping, shouting, dancing and singing along, surprising themselves according to Eduard Freisler, there with his dad as a teenager, who watched The Stones officially liberate his father and his country from Soviet rules and attitudes.