1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: show that belts out the greatest hits of history one 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: day at a time. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and today we're 5 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: looking at a story from rock and roll history that 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: proves that inspiration really can strike anyway, sometimes even in 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: your dreams. The day was May seventh, nineteen sixty five. 8 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 1: In a fit of nocturnal inspiration, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith 9 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: Richards wrote I Can't get No Satisfaction. More specifically, he 10 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: wrote the now famous three note opening riff to the song, 11 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: as well as the titular line. He had awoken in 12 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: the early morning hours with the tune running through his head, 13 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,959 Speaker 1: and after groggily laying it down on a bedside tape recorder, 14 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: he promptly fell back to sleep. Released as a single 15 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: the following month, the completed version of Satisfaction became the 16 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: band's first number one single in America, solidifying their superstar 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: status and launching one of the most celebrated careers in 18 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: rock and roll history. If you've somehow never heard the 19 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: track before, here's a clip to set the scene, Sass 20 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: where exactly Keith Richards dreamt up the hit song is 21 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: a matter of debate. The most common answer is at 22 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: a hotel room in Clearwater, Florida, in the midst of 23 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: the band's third US tour. However, Richards himself told the 24 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: story story differently in his twenty ten autobiography. According to him, 25 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: the episode actually took place at his London flat while 26 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: he was quote between girlfriends. The rocker says that detail 27 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: accounts for the overarching themes of the song frustration, alienation, 28 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: and a lack of well satisfaction, regardless of where he was. 29 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: Richards went to bed on May sixth after a long 30 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: night of partying, a fact that may help explain the 31 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: uncertainty regarding his whereabouts. He woke up the next morning 32 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: with no recollection of what had happened in between. But 33 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: when he looked at the portable tape player that he 34 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: kept next to his bed, he noticed that the brand 35 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: new tape he had put in just the night before 36 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: was inexplicably at its end. When I woke up in 37 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: the morning, Richards later reflected, the tape had run out. 38 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: I put it back on and there's this maybe thirty 39 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: seconds of satisfaction in a very drowse sort of rendition, 40 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: and then the guitar suddenly goes clang, and then there's 41 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: like forty five minutes of snoring. Richards had no memory 42 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: of creating the song's framework, and he wasn't much of 43 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: a fan when he finally heard it. Nonetheless, later that 44 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: day he played it for his bandmate and co songwriter 45 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: Mick Jagger. He only had the first bit, Jagger recalled 46 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: years later, and then he had the riff. It sounded 47 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: like a country sort of thing on acoustic guitar. It 48 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: didn't sound like rock, but he didn't really like it. 49 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: He thought it was a joke. Jagger, however, felt otherwise. 50 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: He wrote the rest of the lyrics while pool side 51 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: in Clearwater, Florida, and just three days later, the Stones 52 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: recorded a preliminary version of the track at Chess Studios 53 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: in Chicago. On May twelfth, the group re recorded the 54 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: song at RCA Studios in Hollywood. It had a different 55 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: beat by that point, and Richards used a new guitar 56 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: effect to emulate the sound of horns. To do this, 57 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: he used the Gibson Maestro f Z one fuzz tone, 58 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: an early distortion pedal that added a fuzzy quality to 59 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: a guitar sound, while also highlighting the brass like quality 60 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: of certain tones. Richards had intended the fuzzbox to be 61 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: a placeholder, a scratch track that would later be replaced 62 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:25,119 Speaker 1: by actual horn playing. However, the rest of the band 63 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: and their producer, Andrew loug Oldham thought the sound was 64 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: so interesting and distinctive that they insisted it remain untouched. 65 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 1: That decision led to the first high profile use of 66 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: a distortion pedal in a rock song and helped the 67 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: tracks stand out from the crowd when it was released 68 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: later that summer. The song didn't stay Horns free forever, though, 69 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,840 Speaker 1: as King of soul Otis Redding would release his classic 70 00:04:49,960 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: Horn's Heavy cover later that same year came again Is. 71 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: As for the Stones version, Richards wasn't a fan of 72 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: the finished track and didn't think it was commercial enough 73 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,839 Speaker 1: to be their next single. Once Again, though the producer 74 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: and the rest of the band disagreed, the guitarist was overruled, 75 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 1: and on June fourth, nineteen sixty five, I Can't Get 76 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: No Satisfaction was released as a single in the United States. 77 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: For the lyrics, Mick Jagger had leaned into the inherent 78 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: frustration of the song's title, taking aim at the emptiness 79 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 1: of consumer culture and the commercialization of the Stone's own music. 80 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: It's somewhat ironic, then, that the song became the band's 81 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: biggest hit up to that point. It spent fourteen weeks 82 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: on the Billboard Hot one hundred chart, and for four 83 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: of them it was in the top position. More than 84 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: a million copies of the single were sold during that time, 85 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: resulting in the first of the band's many records in America. 86 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: Satisfaction was also included on the band's fourth studio album, 87 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,919 Speaker 1: Out of Our Heads, which released that same July. About 88 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 1: a month later, the song was finally released as a 89 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: single in Great Britain, giving the Stones their fourth number 90 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: one in their home country. A true cross continental hit, 91 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: Satisfaction dominated the airwaves all summer long, proving that the 92 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,799 Speaker 1: era's British invasion wouldn't be restricted to just the Beatles. 93 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: And speaking of the Beatles, they also had a single 94 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty five that stayed at number one in 95 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: the US for four weeks. It was the song Yesterday, 96 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: and in a strange coincidence, Paul McCartney also came up 97 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: with the melody while he was sleeping. There must have 98 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 1: been something in the air that year that boosted musician's 99 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: unconscious creativity. And since it's nineteen sixty five, were talking 100 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: about I bet I know what it was. I'm gay 101 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: blues yay, and hopefully you now know a little more 102 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like 103 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: to keep up with the show, you can follow us 104 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and 105 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to 106 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: send them my way by writing to This Day at 107 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:28,119 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to kazb Bias for producing the show, 108 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 109 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class.