10 Criminally Underrated Classic Rock Songs You Need To Hear
7. No Expectations - The Rolling Stones
At the end of the 60's, it was time for the Rolling Stones to grow up. After they first wowed audiences with their bluesy material, the band could either continue down that road or stretch out into other musical territory. Their solution: do both.
Across the album Beggars Banquet, the band had refined their sound to have a unique bite while still being just tuneful enough to catch the rock fan's ear. There were plenty of hard rock essentials across this disc like "Street Fighting Man" and "Sympathy for The Devil," but the slower ballads are where this album really shines.
"No Expectations" is a great example of taking a simple structure and making the most with it. The entire track is dominated by just a simple chord progression and Brian Jones' slide guitar, but the urgency in Mick Jagger's voice is something that we hadn't heard before. This was not about pleading for love from a girl, but instead the sad lament of the wayward traveler as he passes through yet another faceless town. The piano accentuations by Nicky Hopkins also add just the right amount of subtle color to the entire track.
With years of rock and roll excess under their belt, this song was the first time fans saw the Stones growing into the authentic bluesmen that had always admired as kids.