The Rolling Stones remembered Charlie Watts with a video tribute posted on Twitter Friday following the death of their legendary drummer earlier in the week.
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) August 27, 2021
Mick Jagger’s Twitter also shared the two-minute video Saturday, soundtracked by the Rolling Stones’ “If You Can’t Rock Me” and featuring archival footage of Watts onstage, in the studio and on the band’s music video shoots. The video serves a celebration of Watts’ tenure in the Stones.
As Watts says in an interview shown during the tribute, “So when the Stones asked me to join, they talked in terms of a band, a commitment in other words. ‘Oh, this will go on for a year, and next year fold up.’”
It’s Only Rock and Roll’s “If You Can’t Rock Me” also fittingly features the lyric, “The band’s on stage and it’s one of those nights, oh yeah / The drummer thinks that he is dynamite, oh yeah.”
The video ends with a photograph of Watts’ drum kit with a “Closed” sign hanging from it, previously posted on Keith Richards’ Twitter:
— Keith Richards (@officialKeef) August 24, 2021
Watts died Tuesday at a London hospital at the age of 80; no cause of death was revealed. Following Watts’ death, tributes poured in from Questlove, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Pete Townshend, Max Weinberg, Lars Ulrich and many more, as well as onstage tributes by Dead and Company and Jason Isbell.
The Rolling Stones also announced that, despite Watts’ death, the band’s 2021 tour will proceed as scheduled.