Rolling Stones (music)

Vanguard British musical group. The Rolling Stones brought rhythm and blues to a young, White audience by mixing it with mainstream rock and roll.

Origins and History

The revived friendship between childhood friends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who had met again by chance in 1960, marked the birth of the Rolling Stones. Vocalist Jagger and guitarist Richards, both rhythm-and-blues fanatics, joined with fellow blues lover and guitarist Brian Jones in 1962. Working with temporary bandmates, they played the Ealing Blues Club and the Richmond Station Hotel. Bass player Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts joined the group just as it was establishing a loyal following. They played their first date as the Rolling Stones on July 12, 1962, at the Marquee Club. They soon became the house band at the Crawdaddy Club, owned by Giorgio Gomelsky, their first manager.

Andrew Loog Oldham, an employee of the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, saw the band’s commercial potential. He and industrialist Eric Easton managed the Rolling Stones in the mid-1960s. Oldham transformed the group into the “anti-Beatles” by having them do publicity stunts that created a rebellious image that hinted of drugs, sex, androgyny, violence, and occultism. Lending credence to this image were songs such as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (which they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1967, mumbling or changing the controversial lyrics), and “Sympathy for the Devil.”

“The Last Time” became their first top-ten US hit in January 1965. They followed that success with more hit songs, including “Get Off My Cloud” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and during the next two years had numerous hits, such as “Ruby Tuesday,” “Paint It Black,” “Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown,” and “Mother’s Little Helper.” Their 1967 album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, a psychedelic album released in answer to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), although successful, received a mixed reaction from critics. In 1968, the group released the hit song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and album Beggar’s Banquet, which critics praised. In 1969, the group’s “Honky Tonk Woman” was a number-one hit, and the Let It Bleed album, which contained “Gimme Shelter,” became a gold record.

One aspect of the group’s bad-boys image—drugs—drew police attention. In a 1966 News of the World interview, Jones (misidentified as Jagger) admitted to drug use. After the interview was published, Jagger sued for libel. On February 12, 1967, police raided Richards’s house, arresting him and Jagger on drug possession charges. Several months later, Jones was arrested. At about the same time, Jones lost his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg to bandmate Richards, and his drug use escalated. By 1969, he was a liability to the band and a lure for police surveillance. The convictions of Jagger and Richards were overturned, but Jones was repeatedly arrested.

In June 1969, Jones released a public statement citing his desire to pursue a different musical direction, and he was replaced by Mick Taylor. On July 3, 1969, Jones’s girlfriend, Anna Wohlin, found him dead in his swimming pool. Mysteries surround his demise, but the coroner’s report stated “death by misadventure.” Taylor first played live as a member of the Rolling Stones at Jones’s memorial concert on July 5. By this time the Stones, as they were often called by fans, were widely recognized as one of, if not the, most preeminent rock bands in the world.

Later in 1969 the band launched a US tour, countering criticism of high ticket prices by promising to play at a free festival at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco on December 6. The Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang was hired to provide security. Early on, the bikers clashed with the audience and performers. When the Rolling Stones performed, brawls were constant, and sometime after they played the disturbing “Sympathy for the Devil,” audience member Meredith Hunter got into a fight with members of the motorcycle gang. The documentary film Gimme Shelter (1970) captures Hunter being stabbed to death, an event that generated much scandal.

The members of the Rolling Stones changed over the years, but the group continued to record and perform, with Jagger, Richards, and Watts remaining constants. Drug arrests and scandals did not put off the band’s multigenerational audience, which stayed loyal into the twenty-first century. Some of their 1970s hits were “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” (from the 1971 Sticky Fingers album), “Angie,” and “It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll.” Taylor left the band in 1974; he was replaced by Ronnie Wood. Hits from the 1980s include the albums Tattoo You (which contained “Start Me Up” and “Waiting on a Friend”), Undercover (1983), and Dirty Work (1986). Wyman left the group in 1993 and was replaced by Darryl Jones.

The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. The group received two Grammy Awards in 1994, for best rock album for that year's Voodoo Lounge and for best short form music video for "Love Is Strong." They were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. The band continued to tour throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, with their Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994–95), Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997–99), Licks Tour (2002–3), and A Bigger Bang Tour (2005–7) each reaching the top-five highest-grossing concert tours ever at the time. They also played the halftime show at Super Bowl XL in 2006.

Although generally focused on live performances and releasing archival material or special editions in the twenty-first century, the Stones did occasionally record new material. Later albums included A Bigger Bang (2005) and Blue & Lonesome (2016), which won a Grammy for best traditional blues album. In 2017 the band began the No Filter Tour covering Europe and North America. The slate of shows was interrupted in March 2019 after Jagger received emergency surgery for a heart condition, and after resuming later that year it was halted again in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Founding drummer Charlie Watts died at the age of eighty in August 2021, leaving Richards and Jagger as the remaining original and consistent members. The band announced it would nevertheless resume the No Filter Tour, with Steve Jordan replacing Watts on drums, and toured throughout 2022.

In October 2023 the Stones released Hackney Diamonds, its first album of newly recorded, original material since 2005. The album, which featured prominent guests such as Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, and Elton John, was met with positive critical reception.

Impact

The Rolling Stones are widely considered one of the greatest rock bands and overall musical acts of all time, and they are one of the few groups of their kind to remain active for well over a half century. Much of their work is not only critically acclaimed but recognized as cultural touchstones, while their commercial success has been sustained for decades. They are also famed for their consistent and highly popular live performances. The Stones' brand of roots-inflected rock and roll shaped the direction of popular music in the twentieth century, and the band influenced countless other musicians and artists.

Bibliography

Booth, Stanley. The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. Chicago Review Press, 2002.

Browne, David. "It’s 2023, and the Rolling Stones Have Made a Record You’ll Want to Play More Than Once—Seriously." Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2023, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/rolling-stones-hackney-diamonds-review-1234837336/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.

Cohen, Rich. The Sun and the Moon and the Rolling Stones. Spiegel & Grau, 2016.

Dalton, David. The Rolling Stones: The First 20 Years. Random House, 1981.

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Rolling Stones: Biography." AllMusic, 2021, www.allmusic.com/artist/the-rolling-stones-mn0000894465/biography. Accessed 1 Sep. 2021.

Greenfield, Robert. S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones. De Capo Press, 1974.

Lawless, Jill, and Gregory Katz. "Drummer Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones Backbone, Dies at 80." AP, 24 Aug. 2021, apnews.com/article/rolling-stones-charlie-watts-died-c9551b21e2806b679bd0eeec0bb4ef2b. Accessed 1 Sep. 2021.

The Rolling Stones 50. Hyperion, 2012.