20 Most Underrated Classic Rock Songs Of All Time
5. No Expectations - The Rolling Stones
It seems that the Rolling Stones spent their entire career trying to imitate the blues. From the first time you heard Mick Jagger and Keith Richards working in conjunction with each other, you could hear that desire to be like their heroes from the American South like Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf. While their first albums were great pieces of rock and roll in their own right, it wasn't until the end of the 60's that they really started to find their groove.
Right at the outset, Beggars Banquet was going to be a different kind of listen based on the wild samba stylings of "Sympathy for the Devil," but "No Expectations" may be the band's deepest dive into pure melancholy. The painful whine of the slide guitar already puts you in a low-down mood, but the lyrics from Jagger come through and put the entire song into perspective.
Instead of being about a man trying to win back his love, this is from the point of view of a lonely troubadour who has made a lot of mistakes in his life but must keep traveling on. As the instrumentation depicts the passage of time, there's no doubt the original bluesmen would be proud that these rock and rollers finally grew into their heartbroken adulthood.