Sour Notes: Rock Stars Airing Dirty Laundry

In the glittering world where Hollywood glamour collides with rock ‘n’ roll rebellion, sparks fly, hearts break, and hit singles are born. Today, we’re looking at three legendary couples who turned their A-list breakups into chart-topping tunes.

Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg: All About You (and Mick?)

No discussion of rocky rock romances would be complete without mentioning Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg (Barbarella, Performance, Candy). Their tumultuous relationship lasted from 1967 to 1979, spanning some of the Rolling Stones’ most creatively fertile years.

The aftermath of the famous couple’s split gave us “All About You,” the closing track on the Stones’ 1980 album Emotional Rescue. This slow, bittersweet ballad is a Richards solo joint through and through – Mick Jagger and Bill Wyman don’t even appear on the track.

For the true Stones aficionados, here’s a juicy tidbit: an early take with an unfinished vocal track has surfaced on bootlegs, and there’s reportedly an embryonic instrumental version from the Some Girls sessions floating around out there.

While many interpret the song as Richards’ final word on his relationship with Pallenberg, some speculate it’s actually an early sign of friction between Richards and Jagger. After cleaning up post-1977 Toronto drug bust, Richards wanted to take back some control of the band from Jagger, who’d been keeping things rolling through Richards’, shall we say, “chemically adventurous period.”

Lyrically, “All About You” pulls no punches. When Richards sings, “If you call this a life, why must I spend mine with you?” he could be addressing Pallenberg, Jagger, or both. It’s a master class in passive-aggressive songwriting.

 

Peter Wolf and Faye Dunaway: When Love Stinks

Before the days of Instagram-official relationships, J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf and Oscar-winning actress Faye Dunaway (Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network) were the ultimate power couple of the ’70s. The harmonica-toting blues belter and a critically acclaimed Hollywood star’s relationship was over almost as fast as it began, but the long-term results might surprise you.

Their whirlwind romance led to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it engagement, with the couple tying the knot just one day after Wolf popped the question in 1974. For a while, they juggled their careers like they were performers in a rock circus. Wolf was cranking out albums with the J. Geils Band while Dunaway was busy collecting Oscar nominations.

By 1979, their love had soured, and coincidentally (or maybe not), the J. Geils Band released their aptly titled album Love Stinks in 1980. The title track, co-written by Wolf and keyboardist Seth Justman, became an anthem for the cynical and brokenhearted.

For the music nerds out there, the song “Love Stinks” marked a turning point for the band. It barely cracked the Top 40, but it set the stage for their platinum-selling Freeze-Frame album in 1981. The title song’s simplistic chorus (“You love her, but she loves him…”) belies its clever arrangement. Listen closely, and you’ll hear the influence of New Wave creeping into their blues-rock sound – a harbinger of their more synth-heavy hit “Centerfold.”

“We were there for each other, without an effort,” Dunaway wrote in her 1998 memoir, Looking for Gatsby. “We were like two warriors standing shoulder to shoulder. That’s how we used to think of ourselves. There was no ego clash between us, though we were always ambitious. If he needed something, I would help him with it. And if I needed something, he would help me with it. … With Peter, I never had to worry if he loved me. He simply did.”

Wolf recalled when asked about his relationship with Dunaway, “We were in a romance, she worked hard and was very dedicated to her work. I worked hard and was very dedicated to my work. We both shared each other’s worlds and we both respected the work. And, I might say, we made it a very assertive attempt not to become a celebrity couple. We turned down all these Barbara Walters-coming-to-the-house kind of things and yak, yak, yak. It was something that we really – I think – wisely avoided.”

The pair have remained friendly over the decades.

 

Stephan Jenkins and Charlize Theron: A Hit-and-Run Romance

Fast forward to the late ’90s, when Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins and soon-to-be Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Monster, Young Adult, Atomic Blonde) were Hollywood’s newest “it” couple. Their relationship lasted from 1998 to 2001, a period that saw 3EB riding high on the success of their self-titled debut album.

But when love went south, Jenkins did what any self-respecting rock star would do – he wrote an entire breakup album. The band’s 2003 release Out of the Vein is essentially Jenkins’ musical diary of post-Theron emotions. In true rock star style, he initially played coy about the album’s inspiration, giving a delightfully awkward “Yes. Um…no, I think that…[pause] I think she was definitely a…[long pause] Um, what’s the word…[longer pause] I think that’s a good answer: Yes” when asked if the breakup influenced the songs.

The album’s standout track, “My Hit and Run,” tells a story so wild it could only be true. The lyrics paint a picture of Jenkins, on his motorcycle, flying through the air after a car accident, seeing Theron’s face flash before his eyes. It’s like a scene from a movie, but it’s all real.

Music geeks, take note: “My Hit and Run” shares a curious arrangement similarity to the band’s earlier hit “Wounded.” It’s a perfect example of Jenkins’ knack for crafting radio-friendly alt-rock with just enough quirkiness to keep things interesting.

So there you have it, folks – three tales of love, loss, and lyrical revenge. Next time you’re nursing a broken heart, remember: you’re in good company.

-Staci L. Wilson

Photo: Keith Richards. Mick Jagger (Getty)