When The Rolling Stones were booed off stage in Texas for a troupe of dancing monkeys in 1964
During their first US tour in June 1964, The Rolling Stones were reportedly booed off stage at a San Antonio, Texas fair after replacing a troupe of dancing monkeys. The incident highlighted how little known the band then was in America, despite their rapid success in Britain, and underscored the difficult start to their eventual US breakthrough.
By 1964, the Stones had scored chart hits, a number-one self-titled EP and a Top of the Pops appearance in the UK, but had not yet won over US audiences. The article describes San Antonio as part of a generally disastrous first American tour, with the crowd preferring the monkeys’ return to the unfamiliar British group; the band later became one of the world’s biggest acts and continued to perform in Texas.
- The Stones were booed off a Texas fair stage in 1964.
- The audience preferred a troupe of dancing monkeys.
- It showed their early lack of recognition in America.
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The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones were among its early members, and the group built its sound around blues and rhythm and blues music from the United States.
The band quickly became popular in Britain, but American audiences did not initially know them well. Their first US tour in 1964 came as British groups were beginning to attract attention there, following the success of The Beatles.
Texas was one of the stops on that early tour. The Stones later gained a large US following and became one of the most commercially successful and long-running rock bands in the world.