September 6, 2009: Psychobabble Recommends: ‘The Stones: A History in Cartoons’

Perhaps no other band of their magnitude has received more bad press than the Rolling Stones. In the '60s, it was their long hair and their "filthiness" that drew the media's ire. By the '70s, the wags were already accusing them of being over the hill-- a gripe that would get increasingly more strident throughout the years. Then there was the drug charges, the marital woes, the multiple tax evasion incidents, the sex scandals, and everything else that made the Stones legends in the blood-shot eyes of their fans and fruitful whipping boys on the pages of the press. Among those who most delighted in the Stones' dirtiest exploits have been cartoonists, who've exploited the group well in caricatures depicting a humongoid-lipped Jagger, a wrinkle-carved Richards, and a huge-honkered Wood. Bassist Bill Wyman, ever a good sport and faithful chronicler of his former band's sizable history, has compiled many of these cartoons into a neat tome called The Stones: A History in Cartoons (2009). Fanatics may find the cartoonists' hostility and lack of imagination (How many of these reference the hoary adage "A rolling stones gathers no moss"? Too many) a little wearing, but the diversity of the illustration styles is thrilling and Wyman's simple commentaries provide a breezy, nutshell history of the band. A must for rabid Stones collectors.