It’s weird how you associate music with the oddest of things. Whenever someone asks me where I stand with The Rolling Stones, I usually say I like their songs in movies, but I never minded an entire album of theirs.

I did buy a cassingle of Love is Strong back in ’94, because the hype was everywhere for their return and I liked the video quite a bit. Still, I considered them a band I knew only from movies. I didn’t know anyone who owned their albums nor listened to them as much as The Doors or The Beatles, which are the closest contemporaries I can think of.

When I saw Layer Cake, which I still think it’s Daniel Craig’s best acting role, Gimme Shelter was on during a crucial part of the film. It’s before one of the biggest twists of an already twisty affair. I recognised the song from a couple of Scorsese movies too, so I appreciated the song a lot. A few years before, Guns n Roses covered them for the Interview with a vampire adaptation, so, keeping in what was my belief back then, their music was for movies.

When I was a kid, I used to watch this movie with Whoopie Goldberg quite a bit. The title? Jumpin’ Jack Flash, titled as Sálvese Quién Pueda (every man for himself). It was a Penny Marshall joint, so my aunt and my mum were automatic fans of it. The song plays a crucial part on the flick, perhaps more so than the other movie that features Jumpin’ Jack Flash prominently. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was impossible to adapt and it remained in development hell. The song plays over the closing scene and beginning of the credits and it fits perfectly with Hunter S. Thompson’s “freak in the freak kingdom” speech.

To be fair to Terry Gilliam, he did the best he could with a strange book. I think it fits the scene quite nicely, and it’s the only possible ending that could’ve worked realistically.

Over the years, I’ve tried time and time to get into The Rolling Stones, but I just can’t. I’ve tried Sticky Fingers, Their Satanic Majesties Request, and Exile on Main Street. Maybe a couple of tracks here and there, but I just simply can’t be a fan. Same thing with The Who. Doesn’t mean I dislike that era of music. I like Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Moody Blues, for example, so maybe I’m more keen on dreamier or psychedelic stuff than the cool blues stuff The Rolling Stones Peddle.

-Sam J. Valdés López