The Stones went from being a band I really liked and admired to being my heroes in some ways now that they weren’t before. And not just because they made that album. Though the full thing, from cover to cover, is the most soulful, least mental album, and it sounds like the sound of fun. But as I’m getting older and I’ve been in a band now for twenty-five years, I look at the Stones with nothing but reverence. You understand why U2 is an opening band for the Stones.

To be in my situation, in a band that’s been together only twenty-five years, and to look at them, you go, “Wow!” They’re playing really well, and their values are in the right place. I feel like I can look to the Stones now as an example of almost everything to do right. There are so many examples of what not to do, and they’re all part of the boneyard. So, by deduction, it’s: I’m not gonna do what Hendrix did, and I’m not gonna do what the Grateful Dead did, and I’m not gonna do what the Beatles did…. I don’t want to fight about money, and I don’t want to sleep with anyone’s wife like Fleetwood Mac did, and I certainly don’t want to be the Eagles…. [laughs] Here are the pitfalls to avoid, but where’s an example of how to do it right? The Stones!