MUSIC
Why is the new Rolling Stones album called ‘Hackney Diamonds’?
The veteran English rockers have released their first studio album of original material since 2005′s “A Bigger Bang”.
It’s been 18 years since The Rolling Stones treated fans to a new studio album with 2005′s ‘A Bigger Bang’ being the last full album of new material.
“Hackney Diamonds” has now seen the light of day and has been greeted with a hail of positivity from music critics. Scoring an average of 79 on Metacritic, the likes of The Telegraph have been raving about the record claiming: ‘The new Rolling Stones album is the best thing they have made since their Seventies glory days’ with the Independent stating: ‘A late-career Exile on Main Street? Their best since the Seventies? Arguably, but such hyperbole undeniably rests on the broad shoulders of the seven-minute “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”, the album’s spectacular spiritual crescendo’.
Hackney Diamonds is the band’s first studio album of original material since 2005 and is first recording since longtime drummer Charlie Watts died in 2021. The surviving core of the group consists of Jagger and guitarists Keith Richards, 79, and Ron Wood, 76.
At a secret gig in Manhattan’s West Side late on Thursday night, the band played a short set for a crowd of hundreds at the Racket NYC club in support of the new studio album with the short gig also featuring classics alongside an appearance from Lady Gaga for a version of ‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven’.
What are Hackney Diamonds?
The band recently held a press conference with Jimmy Fallon in Hackney (East London) and after being asked by the famous US chat show about the album title, Keith Richards responded: “It got called ‘Hackney Diamonds’ because we were flinging ideas around for titles, and we went from ‘Hit And Run’ [to] ‘Smash And Grab’. And somehow, between that, we came up with ‘Hackney Diamonds’ which is like a variation of both.”
Fallon then asked if ‘Hackney Diamonds’ was “a type of slang”, to which Jagger replied: “Yeah, it’s like when you get your windscreen broken on Saturday night in Hackney, and all the bits go on the street… that’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’.”
Hackney Diamonds is a commonly used term to describe broken glass specifically relating to a burglary.