Charlie Watts (1941 - 2021)

And so the members of The Rolling Stones are not immortal either. The band that seemed to go on forever may have stopped in its tracks by the death of Charlie Watts. Arguably should be stopped in its tracks as in everything Charlie Watts was the heartbeat of a band that is around for close to 60 years. Keith once said that without Charlie there would be no Rolling Stones. All indications seem to point in another direction as the band is about to tour the U.S.

In the second half of the 1960s The Rolling Stones were part of the rock royalty, mixing with the high and mighty of the U.K. in swinging London. The only member of the band who did quietly move to the country to become part of the gentry was Charlie Watts. Modest, with a polite a stiff upper lip and all but denying he was a part of the band that continued in the image of the greatest rock and roll band in the world it once was and often getting away with it in a very successful way. In a way Watts seemed dim when answering the questions in interviews, clearly showing that the room was the last place he wanted to be. My impression is, he was far from. If he had an image, it was one of someone who always played down his role in rock and the position of his band. "It's all nothing", you could hear him say. Come to think of it, that stiff upper lip may have been more jazz cool than gentry class British.

In a way, it is nothing, looking at the greater scheme of things. But in (rock) music? The Rolling Stones changed the world a little and perhaps a bit more too. Millions of people started to change their looks, appearances and behaviour because of the movement The Stones helped starting in the 60s. Rock music was changed by the music the band started to make in 1968 (finally stepping out of the tail end of The Beatles). By 1982 it had turned into a formula, the band seemed to have got stuck in. It was the big hits the world and new generations wanted to hear.

If I had had to put money on who would be the first to go, it would have been Charlie. He always seemed so feeble when he walked from behind his drumkit. He was an old man, even beyond his actual years. No doubt, he didn't act to be a rock star. The other three do, despite undeniable decline.

To me personally, like Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts was one of the most underappreciated drummers in rock music. Where Ringo was able to come up with the strangest patterns to accommodate the other three's whims, Charlie Watts was sobriety personified. He played with a modest kit, hardly any embellishments beyond some cymbals. Unlike other drummers who hid behind ever growing kits, Charlie played the same set up year after year, with the loud, dry sound of the snare drum, as the driving force of The Rolling Stones. In that he had his own style. Just as elementary and sober as his drumkit. I'm not a drummer, so I could be mistaken, but this is my impression of the man. He always said, I'm a jazz drummer, who had never intended to be a member of this band. He came and stayed for nearly 60 years, making a fortune and having great fame. Last night on the news, I saw him playing some jazz drumming and explaining jazz drumming. That was the first time I heard him speak with any enthusiasm about music.

To Charlie Watts playing in The Rolling Stones was a job. And sometimes one does not like his job, but you turn up, as it makes the rest your life comfortable and possible. Or like he put in the documentary '5 X 5' from 1990. "It was five years playing and twenty years waiting". Oddly enough he was rewarded with what I always called the "Charlie cult". In 1990 in 'De Kuip' he got cheered for so long. In an odd way he may have become the most popular Rolling Stone, simply because he is who he is, someone doing his job to the best of his abilities. And these were tremendous.

With Charlie Watts a member of one of the first bands I discovered all by myself as a young teenager died. We are going to have a whole wave of musicians who broke in the 60s leaving this world soon. In 2021 The Rolling Stones are a thing of my past. I do not play the albums often anymore, but whenever a song comes by, it always makes me feel good. They are an integral part of me until my final breath.

Not so long ago I wrote somewhere else that being dead means never to hear 'Melody' again and that that thought really bothered me. Someone responded, "well, you never know". Charlie Watts has found out. Thank you very much for the music, Mr. Watts. The pleasure of this decades long ride was all mine. Your memory and your music will live on for a very long time. I feel very privileged to have been able to see this band play so many time over five decades, with the 1990 show in De Kuip as my absolute favourite.

Wout de Natris