Brian Jones on The Ed Sullivan Show ("Satisfaction" and "19th Nervous Breakdown")

69. 19th Nervous Breakdown by The Rolling Stones debuted Feb 66 and peaked at number two, scoring 890 points.

At 3 minutes and 56 seconds, it is unusually long by the standards of 1966. Previously, only You've Lost That Lovin Feelin pushed the four minute barrier. It was 3 minutes and 45 seconds but the record label claimed it was only 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

8:05 PM EST January 25, 2024:

The Rolling Stones - "19th Nervous Breakdown" From the album Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (December 20, 1971)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under:    Artists formerly known as the greatest in the world     

The Wedding Present covers the Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown" - AV Undercover Season 1

Current mood on this special Bank Failure Monday! 

ROLLING STONES UNRELEASED: '19th NERVOUS BREAKDOWN' (alternate take, 1965)

Rolling Stones unreleased: 19th Nervous Breakdown (alternate take)*Click for MORE STONES UNRELEASED TRACKSWritten by: Jagger/RichardRecorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA, USA, Dec. 8-10 1965*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

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It’s always fun to watch the early Stones. Brian Jones is missed.

SONG OF THE DAY - August 29. 2023

So I had a nervous breakdown AND I might have the human malware

i wanna commit murderous arson but I want to be normal, I can't pick a side and I'm gonna have a mental breakdown listening to baby shark, lovely.

This is The Killer, isn't it?

Your purpose is to kill, and I suppose it would be difficult to argue with that.

Ugh, don’t you love getting called slurs in target.

sad on main !

Fighter Breakdown Tracker, episode 3x78

Welcome to what was originally an opportunity to talk about the myriad wizards (not Myriad wizards, a separate concept) of Campaign 2 that occasionally gets co-opted into other things when the thought arises. Anyway, obviously the main event was the Barbarian Breakdown and, relatedly, the Party Breakdown, due to their Communication Breakdown, giving Allura Vysoren specifically her 19th Nervous Breakdown, but I've already talked a lot about Ashton. How are the fighters doing?

As a reminder: characters are included on the basis of 1. are they a fighter, 2. are they remotely relevant to this campaign, and 3. do I have something funny to say about them. I cannot stress enough how important item 3 is in the decision process; do not make requests, my muse speaks to me and that is how the characters (and, to be honest, classes) are chosen.

Cassandra de Rolo: Yes! According to the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting (not reborn) she's multiclassed into fighter! Anyway that plan to go to the ziggurat went well, huh? totally normal and great. I like to think that due to her rogue levels she saw Fearne march down the ziggurat steps and just peaced out and has been chilling in Pike's little cabin ever since. 4/10: normal "is the world ending" concerns but otherwise she's having maybe the best day anyone on the Whitestone War Council can.

Jarett Howarth: he's specifically avoiding Bells Hells because motherfuckers keep teleporting from Marquet and not bringing any fusaka. This, plus normal "putting the Pale Guard on a war footing and also there's a really mad goat lady in the garden" bumps him up to a 6/10.

Orym: my serious thoughts about the space made for Chetney, FCG, and Imogen to step up aside I honestly think the semi-joking narrative of Orym going off in a huff and working out his feelings quite literally via the power of elaborate bodyweight calisthenics of the sort that grant you 20 Dex and 10 Str would be good for him. Allow yourself a little pettiness, Orym; it's good for the soul. 5/10 because I don't fucking know; we'll see next game.

Ariks Eshteross: I hope he's at peace and buried next to his love as requested; I still haven't gotten around to making those cookies actually and frankly I've had much more of an eye on the gunpowder tea shortbread. 0/10; I like to think he has found true rest.

Bertrand Bell: These motherfuckers have not visited the grave of their namesake at ALL. Traipsing around the Raven Queen's temple - literally everyone but Laudna and FCG has wandered over to that corner of the city - and NO ONE has taken a moment to pause and reflect. He died as he lived: everyone kind of setting him aside for more important matters except for followers of the Raven Queen. 8/10 because hopefully he was entertained by the raven show that got put on but also, come on man you couldn't stop by at all?

FRIDA: I have to imagine things in Vasselheim are wild and it's going to be missing FCG hours, but at least they're in great company! 5/10; they're a pretty even-keeled robot all things considered but the situation is pretty tense.

Otohan Thull: My sole regret about how great this episode is and the fact that we're dropping into the Fey Realm for a bit to have some much-needed time to regroup is that we are likely delaying their richly deserved demise. Anyway everyone's beloathed Palpatine knockoff is unfortunately super unflappable; another reason why they are boring as shit and why I very much want Bells Hells to make the bridge a little bit bloodier on the way up. 3/10.

Percival Friedrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III: Here's the thing. All things considered, his personal position is stressful, but not terrible. The ziggurat did not blow up; Gwen appears to either have not told him about her Delilah incident or did so in such a way that he didn't realize what was going on; he doesn't seem to have noticed the break-in into his parents' bedroom yet; Allura was reassuring re: Whitestone likely being safe (although...it's on a ley nexus so watch out!); and he got to deliver the line "ever since I met you, I knew you were destined for stupidity" which is actually how he specifically blows off steam. On the other hand, every single window in the castle has been destroyed, Allura had to leave, and I just checked and confirmed that Pike does not have the mending cantrip. Maybe one of the local clerics does? Maybe one of his kids does? Maybe Vilya or Ebenold does? Maybe Grog's in town and can be convinced that the role of the Grand Poobah etc etc is fixing windows? 6/10.

You mentioned Clark Ashton Smith. Which of his stories would you recommend? So far I've been underwhelmed.

Context for anyone who doesn't know: Clark Ashton Smith was one of the "Big Three" of Weird Tales (the other two being Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard) and is certainly the least famous. Even if you don't know who Lovecraft or Howard are, you've probably heard of Cthulu and Conan the Barbarian. Smith is also certainly the weirdest of them all by a good margin and the most inconsistent in his writing. You pick up a Lovecraft story and 90% of the time it's going to be at least competently written and you know the broad strokes of what the content will be (unnameable cosmic horrors, nervous breakdowns, and often very explicit racism). A Smith story is just as likely to feel like it was written by an accomplished poet as it is to feel like a teenager's drivel. And it could be about wizards at the end of time, or spacewrecked astronauts, or medieval French bishops. The only consistent thing about his work is that you'll need a dictionary by your side while you read it. Get ready for words like "mephitic," "hippocephalic," and "cyclopean" to be abused in ways that even Lovecraft probably found egregious. (Emperor of Dreams? More like Emperor of Purple Prose! Haha, good joke Logan.) The bizzarity and unevenness of his output are probably the qualities that I find so engaging about it and also the things that have kept him from being as beloved as his peers into the present day.

Anyway, I haven't done a deep-dive on Smith since I read his complete works all the way through. Some of his stories are pretty fresh in my mind, but most of them I haven't read in 5-6 years. Keep all that in mind and I'll put my recommendations below the break:

"The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis": Definitely my personal favorite Smith story and probably one of his best. If you don't like this one, it's unlikely you'll be a fan. On its own a very good "ancient cosmic horror" story, what really makes it stand out is it's setting: a near-future (relative to the 1932 publication date) Mars that has been colonized (in a very 19th century sense of the word) by humans. The Martian city of Ignarh is apparently a hub for interplanetary commerce and the subaltern Martian indigenous population provide local guides for human archaeologists to study (and no doubt exploit) the ruins of ancient civilizations that abound on the planet. Smith wrote two other stories in the same setting, "The Dweller in the Gulf" and "Vulthoom" that re-tread the same plot beats but lend a little more color to the Martians themselves. A writer capable of viewing the Martians as sympathetic peoples rather than as "native savages" could've spun this setting into something truly great. Richard Corben also does a fantastic comic adaptation.

"The Abominations of Yondo": Didn't like the first recommendation? I'll take one more shot at making you a fan. "Abominations" is a very short read that manages to contain all the hallmarks of a classic Smith story. Nobody else does it like him and if you don't like it then you just don't like it.

"City of the Singing Flame": A story of inter-dimensional exploration that manages to weave together Smith's obvious love for his home state of California with his penchant for imaginary places beyond time and space. It has a sequel that I thought was okay but most people dislike. If you like this story, it's probably better to treat it as a standalone.

"A Night in Malnéant": A somber, dreary horror tale that I don't think gets enough love or at least isn't anthologized particularly often. Tones down the weirdness a bit, but in a good way.

"Isle of the Torturers": Far-future horror-fantasy that really sticks the ending. Also does the same thing as "Yoh-Vombis" where it has a setting that's only briefly introduced but could easily be spun into a full-on novel. Great Halloween read.

Off the top of my head, those are some of my personal favorites. "Return of the Sorcerer" gets anthologized a lot. It's not weird enough for me but I think it's considered one of his better stories. Similarly I'm not a big fan of his Averoigne cycle of stories (set in medieval France), but if you want some dark ages sword and sorcery, "Mother of Toads" and "The Colossus of Ylourgne" are the ones I liked best.

I'd also like to mention "The Great God Awto" which is a truly bad short story but notable for being one of the earliest pieces of anti-car fiction of which I'm aware. Predates Bradbury's "The Pedestrian" by more than a decade.

Also if you can't find any of Smith's work at your local library, check out eldritchdark.org. I believe all his fiction is available for free here as well as his visual art and other resources.

I love the parallel between Valjean and the situation in Paris! We’re at another one of his crisis moments, and this time, the world around him is just as tense. 

While the political upheaval must be rough for him (it means more police officers and more scrutiny of everyone, which at best makes him nervous and at worst actively endangers him), the breakdown of communication between him and Cosette is what really hurts to read about. Their communication isn’t great – Valjean is too secretive, and Cosette’s now hiding something from him, too – but they’ve generally been in tune with each other’s emotions. Now, they’re both too distressed to realize that the other is unhappy, depriving both of them of the closest thing they have to a support network. It’s not a good sign.

The description of his happiness in this new place also underscores the issues with Valjean’s taste in homes. “Contagion,” “dimly lighted,” and “stagnant oblivion” all bring to mind various awful environments. For “contagion,” it makes me think of the cholera pandemic ravaging Paris at that moment, but it also suggests that “tranquility” is a disease in itself, as it allows him to dodge the actual problem (not communicating with Cosette about his past so they can make better decisions together). “Dimly lighted” makes me think of a prison, and “stagnant oblivion” of the convent (which is, symbolically, also a prison). Overall, it implies that Valjean has fled to a prison-like environment where he feels comfortable, but where he and Cosette are both trapped. The reference to the “inseparable” emphasizes this, as it indicates his attachment to old habits and a past that is gone.

Similarly, I understand his feeling that Cosette is “his nation” and that it doesn’t matter where he is as long as they’re together, but his decisions remain unilateral, which means they neglect Cosette’s needs. Additionally, it highlights his lack of alternative sources of love. Hugo explicitly repeats here that Valjean’s only source of love in life is Cosette and that’s why he’s so attached to her, but it’s not good for either of them for him to be this dependent. 19th-century praise of the nation is uncomfortable as a modern reader, but I think the problem brought to light by this line is that Valjean has no “nation” – as in, a broader society that supports him – and it causes him to place all of his love and all of his needs on one person. 

Unfortunately for critical analysis purposes, I find Valjean’s hatred of Marius hilarious, so I must admit that I laughed at his conclusion that the beloved must be Marius.

Still, we now have yet another character heading to the barricade out of despair. 

I heard it’s Lesbian Visibility Week, so…

Presenting the one, the only…

AMITY BLIGHT!

She’s Canon Lesbian. Canon, Baby!

Also, it’s another character song. It’s too perfect, this one.

CANCIONES DE LOS ROLLING STONES: '19th NERVOUS BREAKDOWN’ (1966)

Canciones de The Rolling Stones: 19th Nervous Breakdown*VER MÁS CANCIONES*Click for English version You better stop/ Look around… Escrita por: Jagger/RichardGrabada: RCA Studios, Hollywood, EE. UU., 3-8 de diciembre de 1965 Del libro Rolling Stones – La Historia Detrás de sus 365 Canciones:Los Rolling Stones estaban en Los Angeles al final de su segunda gira por Estados Unidos en 1965 cuando a…

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