Writers: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Producers: The Glimmer Twins (Mick Jagger & Keith Richards)
Recorded: Early 1978 at EMI Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris
Released: June 1978
| Players: | Mick Jagger — vocals Keith Richards — guitar, vocals Ron Wood — guitar, vocals Bill Wyman — bass Charlie Watts — drums |
| Album: | Some Girls (Rolling Stones) |
Like many of the songs on the Rolling Stones album Some Girls, "Shattered" was inspired by life in New York, where lead singer Mick Jagger and singer-guitarist Keith Richards were spending a lot of time in the mid- and late-'70s.
"Shattered" peaked at Number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The single release of "Shattered" was backed with the non-LP track "Everything Is Turning To Gold," which showed up on the Sucking In The '70s compilation.
"Shattered" was one of the three songs the Stones played in their appearance on Saturday Night Live in December 1978. Fans remember it as the song in which Jagger licked guitarist Ron Wood on the lips.
Some Girls was marked by a cover controversy after the Stones used the faces of several celebrities — including Lucille Ball and Raquel Welch — in what was a mock advertisement for wigs. Several of the stars complained and threatened to sue, and the Stones subsequently pulled and modified the album cover, making the original a collector's item.
The Stones recorded 42 songs for the Some Girls album, from which the final 10 were selected.
Engineer Chris Kimsey described working on Some Girls as "so much fun. It was like being at a club every night, like a nightclub atmosphere. What they would do — it was either Mick or Keith's song — was to jam it for a couple of hours and then fine-tune it and get it down."
Prior to the album, Wood gave Jagger guitar lessons so he could play on the songs "Respectable," "Lies," and "When The Whip Comes Down."
Some Girls has sold well over six million copies.
