The Rolling Stones are known for plenty of incredible songs, but nothing quite beats the instrumental introduction to the 1969 hit song “Gimme Shelter”. It’s one of the most instantly recognizable riffs out there, and fans of all ages can clock it from a mile away. We’d be bold enough to say that The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” boasts one of the best rock intros of all time. And it looks like plenty of fans agree.
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One of The Rolling Stones’ Best Intros (And Songs) Got Popular Through Live Performances
“Gimme Shelter” became a mega-hit for the classic rock band through live performances. You might know the song best by its inclusion in movie soundtracks like Goodfellas and The Departed. However, it all started with their live sets. And one of their best live performances of this particular tune from Let It Bleed comes from none other than The Ed Sullivan Show.
It’s not exactly shocking that this particular performance is so memorable. The Beatles may have kicked off the British Invasion on The Ed Sullivan Show, but The Rolling Stones certainly elevated the movement with their performance on the famed American program.
You can watch a clip of the performance from 1969 below:
“One of the best Rock instrumental intro’s period,” said one fan in the comments of the above video. “The first note you hear you know its Gimme Shelter.”
“Keith Richards makes just a few notes sound awesome, unreal,” said another.
The Origins of “Gimme Shelter”
The song that boasts one of The Rolling Stones’ best intros had pretty tense beginnings. The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards when the former was off filming Performance with the latter’s girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg.
In Richards’ autobiography, he noted that there was a lot of tension behind the writing of the song, which stemmed from his jealousy and suspicions of an affair between the two.
That tension is palpable in the song, but “Gimme Shelter” is far from a tune about romantic jealousy. Rather, the song is a product of its time. “Gimme Shelter” explores the brutality of war, particularly the Vietnam War.
“Violence on the screens, pillage and burning,” Jagger said of the time and of “Gimme Shelter”. “And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. The thing about Vietnam was that it wasn’t like World War II, and it wasn’t like Korea, and it wasn’t like the Gulf War. It was a real nasty war, and people didn’t like it. People objected, and people didn’t want to fight it. That’s [“Gimme Shelter”] a kind of end-of-the-world song, really.”
Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
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