"Too Much Blood" is a song by

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

featured on their 1983 album ''

Undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

''. Credited to

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

, "Too Much Blood" is largely a Jagger composition. The song is a reflection of the many influences the Stones had during their career in the mid-1980s. Jagger said at the time of its release, "I had made out a very honest burden of mind before everyone had arrived one night. It was just Charlie attsand Bill yman And one of our roadies called Jim Barber, he was playing guitar on it too. And I just started playing this riff I had, with this middle part, I didn't have any words to it and then I just suddenly started rapping out these words which are the ones you hear." Barber remarked that "Mick asked me if I could do an '

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated wi ...

' on the track." The song itself deals with the growing depictions of violence in the media at the time and the case of

Issei Sagawa also known as Pang or The Kobe Cannibal, was a Japanese murderer, cannibal, and necrophiliac known for the killing of Renée Hartevelt in Paris in 1981. Sagawa murdered Hartevelt then mutilated, cannibalized, and performed necrophilia on her ...

, with Jagger saying, "Well there was this scandalous, murderous story in France - it was a true story - about this Japanese guy who murdered this girl and it sort of captured the imagination of the French public, and the Japanese. The Russians wanted to make a movie out of it. So that was the first bit and then I started becoming more light-hearted about it, movies and all. ...it came out as a sort of anti-gratuitous cinema of violence. And it's a kind of anti-violent thing." Jagger uses a half-hearted

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

delivery for some lines, saying at the time, "I'm not a great rapper... It's just made up on the spot as well. It's completely extemporized, as well, most of it. A couple words I cleaned up. I don't mean clean up, just made better sounds. That was just rap off the top of my head. I didn't write it down, even." Recording took place at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

' Pathé Marconi Studios and

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Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, a singer, record producer, and one of the principal owners of the Record Plant Studios New York, purchased the ...

between October and November 1982. With Jagger on lead vocals, he also performs electric guitars with Barber and Wood. Horns are provided by Chops and percussion by Sly Dunbar. A dance version of "Too Much Blood," remixed by Arthur Baker, was released as a twelve-inch single in December 1984. '' Cash Box'' said that "heavy percussion fills and an almost tribal groove marks this Arthur Baker mix, yet even his bag full of tricks can not turn this fundamentally soul-less tune into a party stopper." A music video, directed by Julien Temple, was produced in support showing the band performing the song as well as Richards and guitarist

Ron Wood Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

chasing Jagger with chainsaws. The trio also appear, without chainsaws but still in character, on the record sleeve for the single. The video opens with an excerpt from the first movement of the String Quartet Number 3 by Béla Bartók. "Too Much Blood" has never been performed live by the Stones and appears on no compilations albums.

References

{{Authority control The Rolling Stones songs 1983 songs Songs based on actual events Songs about cannibalism Songs written by Jagger–Richards Song recordings produced by Jagger–Richards Song recordings produced by Chris Kimsey Music videos directed by Julien Temple Virgin Records singles