The Rolling Stones

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The Rolling Stones
Trs 20150623 milwaukee jp 105.jpg
The Rolling Stones performing at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 2015
Left to right: Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Background information
OriginLondon
GenresRock
Years active1962–present
Labels
Associated actsThe New Barbarians, Billy Preston, Faces, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings
Websiterollingstones.com
Members
Past members

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first stable line-up consisted of Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Mick Jagger (lead vocals), Keith Richards (guitar, backing vocals), Bill Wyman (bass), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued as a touring member until his death in 1985. Jones left the band less than a month prior to his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor, who remained until 1974. After Taylor left the band, Ronnie Wood took his place in 1975 and has been on guitar in tandem with Richards ever since. Following Wyman's departure in 1993, Darryl Jones joined as their touring bassist. Touring keyboardists for the band have been Nicky Hopkins (1967–1982), Ian McLagan(1978–1981), Billy Preston (through the mid-1970s) and Chuck Leavell (1982–present). The band was first led by Brian Jones, but after teaming as the band's songwriters, Jagger and Richards assumed leadership while Jones dealt with legal and personal troubles.

The Rolling Stones were at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the US in 1964, and identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the group began a short period of musical experimentation in the mid-1960s that peaked with the psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967). Subsequently, the group returned to its "bluesy" roots with Beggars Banquet (1968) which along with its follow-ups Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972) is generally considered to be the band's best work and is seen as their "Golden Age". During this period, they were first introduced on stage as "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band".[1][2] Musicologist Robert Palmer attributed the endurance of the Rolling Stones to their being "rooted in traditional verities, in rhythm-and-blues and soul music", while "more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone".[3]

The band continued to release commercially successful albums, including Some Girls (1978) and Tattoo You (1981), which were their most popular albums worldwide. From 1983 to 1987, tensions between Jagger and Richards almost caused the band to split. However, they managed to patch up their friendship after they separated temporarily to work on solo projects, and experienced a comeback with Steel Wheels (1989), which was followed by a large stadium and arena tour. Since the 1990s, new recorded material from the group has been less well-received and less frequent. Despite this, the Rolling Stones have continued to be a huge attraction on the live circuit, with stadium tours in the 1990s and 2000s. By 2007, the band had four of the top five highest-grossing concert tours of all time: Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994–1995), Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997–1998), Licks Tour (2002–2003) and A Bigger Bang Tour (2005–2007).[4]

The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them fourth on the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list and their estimated album sales are above 250 million. They have released 30 studio albums, 18 live albums and numerous compilations. Let It Bleed (1969) was their first of five consecutive No. 1 studio and live albums in the UK. Sticky Fingers (1971) was the first of eight consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the US. In 2008, the band ranked 10th on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists chart. In 2012, the band celebrated its 50th anniversary.

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger became childhood friends and classmates in 1950 in Dartford, Kent,[5][6] before the Jagger family moved to Wilmington, five miles (8.05 km) away, in 1954.[7] In the mid-1950s, Jagger formed a garage band with his friend Dick Taylor; the group mainly played material by Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley.[7] Jagger met Richards again in 1960 on Dartford railway station,[8] and the Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records that Jagger was carrying revealed a common interest. A musical partnership began shortly afterwards.[8][9] Richards joined Jagger and Taylor at frequent meetings at Jagger's house. The meetings switched to Taylor's house in late 1961, where the three were joined by Alan Etherington and Bob Beckwith; the quintet called themselves the Blues Boys.[10]

In March 1962 the Blue Boys read about the Ealing Jazz Club in Jazz News newspaper, which mentioned Alexis Korner's rhythm and blues band, Blues Incorporated. The Blue Boys sent a tape of their best recordings to Korner, who was favourably impressed.[11] The Blue Boys visited Ealing Jazz Club on 7 April where they met the members of Blues Incorporated, who included the slide guitarist Brian Jones, the keyboardist Ian Stewart and the drummer Charlie Watts.[11] After a meeting with Korner, Jagger and Richards started jamming with the group.[11]

Jones, no longer in a band, advertised for bandmates in Jazz News, while Stewart found them a practice space;[12] together they decided to start a band playing Chicago blues. Soon after, Jagger, Taylor and Richards left Blues Incorporated to join Jones and Stewart. At the first rehearsal were also the guitarist Geoff Bradford and the vocalist Brian Knight, both of whom decided not to join the band, citing objections to playing the Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley songs preferred by Jagger and Richards.[13] In June 1962 the line-up of Jagger, Richards, Jones, Stewart and Taylor was completed with the addition of the drummer Tony Chapman. According to Richards, Jones named the band during a phone call to Jazz News. When asked by a journalist for the band's name, Jones saw a Muddy Waters LP lying on the floor; one of the tracks was "Rollin' Stone".[14][15]

1962–1964: Building a following[edit]

The back room of what was the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, London where the Rolling Stones had their first residency in 1963

Jones, Jagger, Richards, Stewart and Taylor played a gig billed as "the Rollin' Stones" on 12 July 1962, at the Marquee Club in London.[16][17][a] Shortly afterwards the band went on their first tour of the UK, which they called a "training ground" tour, because it was a new experience for all of them. Their material included the Chicago blues as well as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley songs.[20] The line-up did not at that time include Charlie Watts on drums or the bassist Bill Wyman. By 1963 they were finding their musical stride as well as popularity,[21] and in 1964 two unscientific opinion polls rated them as Britain's most popular group, even outranking the Beatles.[22] Wyman joined in December 1962 and Watts joined the following January, forming the band's original rhythm section.[23][24] The name of the band was changed shortly after their first gig to "The Rolling Stones".[25][26] The group's then acting manager Giorgio Gomelsky secured a Sunday afternoon residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond in February 1963,[27] which, Gomelsky claimed, triggered an "international renaissance for the blues".[28]

In May 1963, The Rolling Stones signed Andrew Loog Oldham as their manager;[29] he was a former publicist who had been directed to the band by his previous clients, the Beatles.[30][17] Because Oldham was only nineteen and had not reached the age of majority—he was also younger than anyone in the band—he could not get an agent's licence nor sign any contracts without his mother also signing.[30] By necessity he joined with booking agent Eric Easton[31] in order to secure record financing and assistance booking venues.[32] Gomelsky, who had no written agreement with the band, was not consulted.[33] Initially, Oldham tried to apply the strategy used by Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager: making the band members wear suits. Later, he changed his mind and imagined a band which contrasted with the Beatles, featuring unmatched clothing, long hair, an unclean appearance. He later said he wanted to make the Stones "a raunchy, gamy, unpredictable bunch of undesirables" and to "establish that the Stones were threatening, uncouth and animalistic".[34] Stewart left the official line-up, but remained road manager and touring keyboardist. On Stewart's decision, Oldham later said "Well, he just doesn't look the part, and six is too many for [fans] to remember the faces in the picture."[35] Later, Oldham reduced the ages of the band members in publicity to make them appear as teenagers.[36]

Decca Records, which had declined to enter into a deal with the Beatles, gave the Rolling Stones a recording contract with favourable terms.[37] The band got three times a new act's typical royalty rate, full artistic control of recordings and ownership of the recording master tapes.[38][39] The deal also let the band use non-Decca recording studios. Regent Sound Studios, a mono facility equipped with egg boxes on the ceiling for sound treatment, became their preferred location.[40][41] Oldham, who had no recording experience but made himself the band's producer, said Regent had a sound that "leaked, instrument-to-instrument, the right way" creating a "wall of noise" that worked well for the band.[39][42] Because of Regent's low booking rates, the band could record for extended periods rather than the usual three-hour blocks then common at other studios. All tracks on the first Rolling Stones album were recorded there.[43][44]

Oldham contrasted the Rolling Stones' independence with the Beatles' obligation to record in EMI's studios, saying it made them appear as "mere mortals ... sweating in the studio for the man".[45] He promoted the Rolling Stones as the nasty counterpoints to the Beatles by having the band pose unsmiling on the cover of their first album. He also encouraged the press to use provocative headlines such as "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?",[46][47] although Wyman says "Our reputation and image as the Bad Boys came later, completely there, accidentally. ... [Oldham] never did engineer it. He simply exploited it exhaustively".[48] In a 1972 interview, Wyman stated "We were the first pop group to break away from the whole Cliff Richard thing where the bands did little dance steps, wore identical uniforms and had snappy patter."[49]

A cover version of Chuck Berry's "Come On" was the Rolling Stones' first single, released on 7 June 1963. The band refused to play it at live gigs,[50] and Decca bought only one ad to promote the record. With Oldham's direction, fan-club members bought copies at record shops polled by the charts,[51] helping "Come On" rise to No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart.[52] Having a charting single gave the band entree to play outside London, starting with a booking at the Outlook Club in Middlesbrough on 13 July, sharing the billing with the Hollies.[53][b]

Later in 1963 Oldham and Easton arranged the band's first big UK concert tour as a supporting act for American stars including Bo Diddley, Little Richard and the Everly Brothers. The tour gave the band the opportunity to hone their stagecraft.[39][55][56] During the tour the band recorded their second single, a Lennon–McCartney-penned number entitled "I Wanna Be Your Man";[57] it reached No. 12 in the UK charts. "I Wanna Be Your Man" was written and given to the Stones when John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited them in the studio as the two Beatles liked to give the copyrights to songs away to their friends.[58] A Beatles version of the song was also recorded and released on the 1963 album With the Beatles.[59] The third single by the Stones, Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", itself based on Bo Diddley's style, was released in February 1964 and reached No. 3.[60]

Oldham saw little future for an act that lost significant songwriting royalties by playing songs of what he described as "middle-aged blacks", limiting the appeal to teenage audiences. Jagger and Richards decided to write songs together, the first batch of which Oldham described as "soppy and imitative".[61] Because the band's songwriting developed slowly, songs on their first album The Rolling Stones (1964; issued in the US as England's Newest Hit Makers), were primarily covers, with only one Jagger/Richards original—"Tell Me (You're Coming Back)"—and two numbers credited to Nanker Phelge, the pen name for songs written by the entire group.[62]

The Rolling Stones' first US tour in June 1964 was, according to Wyman, "a disaster. ... When we arrived, we didn't have a hit record [there] or anything going for us."[63] When the band appeared on the variety show The Hollywood Palace, that week's guest host Dean Martin mocked both their hair and their performance.[64] During the tour they recorded for two days at Chess Studios in Chicago, meeting many of their most important influences, including Muddy Waters.[65][66] These sessions included what would become the Rolling Stones' first No. 1 hit in the UK, their cover version of Bobby and Shirley Womack's "It's All Over Now".[67]

The Stones followed the Famous Flames—featuring James Brown—in the filmed theatrical release of the 1964 film T.A.M.I. Show, which showcased American acts with British Invasion artists. According to Jagger, "We weren't actually following James Brown because there was considerable time between the filming of each section. Nevertheless, he was still very annoyed about it ..."[68] On 25 October the band also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Because of the initial pandemonium the Rolling Stones caused, Sullivan banned the band from his show,[69] though he booked them for subsequent appearances in the following years.[70] Their second LP, 12 X 5, which was only available in the US, was released during the tour.[71]

During the early Stones releases, Richards was typically credited as 'Richard'.[72][73][74] The Rolling Stones' fifth UK single, a cover of Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster"—with "Off the Hook", credited to Nanker Phelge, as the B-side—was released in November 1964 and became their second No. 1 hit in the UK.[60] The band's US distributors, London Records, declined to release "Little Red Rooster" as a single. In December 1964, the distributor released the band's first single with Jagger/Richards originals on both sides: "Heart of Stone", with "What a Shame" as the B-side; the single went to No. 19 in the US.[75]

1965–1967: Height of fame[edit]

The Rolling Stones performing at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, Georgia, May 1965

The band's second UK LP, The Rolling Stones No. 2, was released in January 1965 and reached No. 1 in the charts. The US version was released in February as The Rolling Stones, Now! and reached No. 5. The album was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago and RCA Studios in Los Angeles.[76] In January and February that year the band played 34 shows for around 100,000 people in Australia and New Zealand.[77] The single "The Last Time", released in February, was the first Jagger/Richards composition to reach No. 1 in the UK charts;[60] it reached No. 9 in the US. It was later identified by Richards as "the bridge into thinking about writing for the Stones. It gave us a level of confidence; a pathway of how to do it."[78]

Their first international No. 1 hit was "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", recorded in May 1965 during the band's third North American tour. Richards recorded the guitar riff that drives the song with a fuzzbox, planning to be a scratch track to guide a horn section. Nevertheless, the final cut was without the planned horn overdubs. Issued in the summer of 1965, it was their fourth UK No. 1 and first in the US where it spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, establishing worldwide commercial success for the band.[78][79] The US version of the LP Out of Our Heads, released in July 1965, also went to No 1; it included seven original songs, three Jagger/Richards numbers and four credited to Nanker Phelge.[80] Their second international No. 1 single, "Get Off of My Cloud" was released in the autumn of 1965,[70] followed by another US-only LP, December's Children.[81]

A trade ad for the 1965 Rolling Stones' North American tour

The album Aftermath, released in the late spring of 1966, was the first LP to be composed entirely of Jagger/Richards songs;[82] it reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US.[83] On this album Jones' contributions expanded beyond guitar and harmonica. To the Middle Eastern-influenced "Paint It, Black"[c] he added sitar, to the ballad "Lady Jane" he added dulcimerand to "Under My Thumb" he added marimbas. Aftermath also contained "Goin' Home", a nearly 12-minute-long song that included elements of jamming and improvisation.[84]

The Stones' success on the British and American singles charts peaked during the 1960s.[85][86] "19th Nervous Breakdown"[87] was released in February 1966, and reached No. 2 in the UK[88] and US charts;[89] it was followed by their "Paint It, Black", which reached No. 1 in the UK and US in May 1966.[60][86] "Mother's Little Helper", released in June 1966, reached No. 8 in the US;[89] it was one of the first pop songs to address the issue of prescription drug abuse.[90][91] The single "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" was released in September 1966 single and reached No. 5 in the UK[92] and No. 9 in the US.[89] It had a number of firsts for the group: it was the first Stones recording to feature brass horns, the back-cover photo on the original US picture sleeve depicted the group satirically dressed in drag and the song was accompanied by one of the first official music videos, directed by Peter Whitehead.[93][94]

January 1967 saw the release of Between the Buttons (UK No. 3; US 2); the album was Andrew Oldham's last venture as the Rolling Stones' producer; Oldham's role as the band's manager was taken over by Allen Klein in 1965 to "get [them] out of the original English scene"[95] and due to Oldham's fear, after the 12 February drug bust in Sussex, of being arrested.[96][97] The US version included the double A-side single "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday",[98] which went to No. 1 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. When the band went to New York to perform the numbers on The Ed Sullivan Show, they were ordered to change the lyrics of the refrain to "let's spend some time together".[99][100]

In early 1967, Jagger, Richards and Jones began to be hounded by authorities over their recreational drug use, after News of the World ran a three-part feature entitled "Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You".[101] The series described alleged LSD parties hosted by the Moody Blues and attended by top stars including the Who's Pete Townshend and Cream's Ginger Baker, and alleged admissions of drug use by leading pop musicians. The first article targeted Donovan (who was raided and charged soon after); the second instalment (published on 5 February) targeted the Rolling Stones.[102]

A reporter who contributed to the story spent an evening at the exclusive London club Blaise's, where a member of the Rolling Stones allegedly took several Benzedrine tablets, displayed a piece of hashish and invited his companions back to his flat for a "smoke". The article claimed that this was Mick Jagger, but it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity; the reporter had in fact been eavesdropping on Brian Jones. On the night the article was published Jagger appeared on the Eamonn Andrews chat show and announced that he was filing a writ for libel against the News of the World.[103][102]

Brian Jones, 1965

A week later on 12 February, Sussex police, tipped off by the paper, who in turn were tipped off by Richards' chauffeur,[104] raided a party at Keith Richards' home, Redlands. No arrests were made at the time but Jagger, Richards and their friend art dealer Robert Fraser were subsequently charged with drug offences. Richards said in 2003, "When we got busted at Redlands, it suddenly made us realize that this was a whole different ball game and that was when the fun stopped. Up until then it had been as though London existed in a beautiful space where you could do anything you wanted."[105] On the treatment of the man responsible for the raid he later added: "As I heard it, he never walked the same again."[104]

In March 1967, while awaiting the consequences of the police raid, Jagger, Richards and Jones took a short trip to Morocco, accompanied by Marianne Faithfull, Jones' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg and other friends. During this trip the stormy relations between Jones and Pallenberg deteriorated to the point that Pallenberg left Morocco with Richards.[106] Richards said later: "That was the final nail in the coffin with me and Brian. He'd never forgive me for that and I don't blame him, but hell, shit happens."[107] Richards and Pallenberg would remain a couple for twelve years. Despite these complications, the Rolling Stones toured Europe in March and April 1967. The tour included the band's first performances in Poland, Greece, and Italy.[108]

On 10 May 1967, the same day Jagger, Richards and Fraser were arraigned in connection with the Redlands charges, Jones' house was raided by police and he was arrested and charged with possession of cannabis.[99] Three out of five Rolling Stones now faced drug charges. Jagger and Richards were tried at the end of June. On 29 June, Jagger received a three-month prison sentence for the possession of four amphetamine tablets; Richards was found guilty of allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property and sentenced to one year in prison.[109][110] Both Jagger and Richards were imprisoned at that point, but were released on bail the next day pending appeal.[111] The Times ran the famous editorial entitled "Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?" in which conservative editor William Rees-Mogg surprised his readers by his unusually critical discourse on the sentencing, pointing out that Jagger had been treated far more harshly for a minor first offence than "any purely anonymous young man".[112]

While awaiting the appeal hearings, the band recorded a new single, "We Love You", as a thank-you for the loyalty shown by their fans. It began with the sound of prison doors closing, and the accompanying music video included allusions to the trial of Oscar Wilde.[113] On 31 July, the appeals court overturned Richards' conviction, and Jagger's sentence was reduced to a conditional discharge.[114] Brian Jones' trial took place in November 1967; in December, after appealing the original prison sentence, Jones received a £1000 fine and was put on three years' probation, with an order to seek professional help.[115]

December 1967 also saw the release of Their Satanic Majesties Request (UK No. 3; US No. 2), which received unfavourable reviews and was widely regarded as a poor imitation of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[116][117] Satanic Majesties had been recorded in difficult circumstances while Jagger, Richards and Jones were dealing with their court cases. The band parted ways with Oldham during the sessions. The split was amicable, at least publicly,[118] but in 2003 Jagger said: "The reason Andrew left was because he thought that we weren't concentrating and that we were being childish. It was not a great moment really – and I would have thought it wasn't a great moment for Andrew either. There were a lot of distractions and you always need someone to focus you at that point, that was Andrew's job."[99]

Satanic Majesties thus became the first album the Rolling Stones produced on their own. Its psychedelic sound was complemented by the cover art, which featured a 3D photo by Michael Cooper, who had also photographed the cover of Sgt. Pepper. Bill Wyman wrote and sang a track on the album: "In Another Land", which was also released as a single, the first on which Jagger did not sing lead.[119]

1968–1972: "Back to basics"[edit]

Keith Richards, 1972

The band spent the first few months of 1968 working on material for their next album. Those sessions resulted in the song "Jumpin' Jack Flash", released as a single in May. The song and the subsequent album, Beggars Banquet (UK No. 3; US 5), an eclectic mix of country and blues-inspired tunes, marked the band's return to their roots, and the beginning of their collaboration with producer Jimmy Miller. It featured the lead single "Street Fighting Man" (which addressed the political upheavals of May 1968) and "Sympathy for the Devil".[120][121]

Beggars Banquet was delayed for nearly six months due to controversy over the design of the album cover, which featured a public toilet with graffiti covering the walls of the stall.[122]Beggars Banquet was well received at the time of release. Richards said, "There is a change between material on Satanic Majesties and Beggars Banquet. I'd grown sick to death of the whole Maharishi guru shit and the beads and bells. Who knows where these things come from, but I guess [the music] was a reaction to what we'd done in our time off and also that severe dose of reality. A spell in prison ... will certainly give you room for thought ... I was fucking pissed with being busted. So it was, 'Right we'll go and strip this thing down.' There's a lot of anger in the music from that period."[123]

The end of 1968 saw the filming of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which originally started as an idea about "the new shape of the rock-and-roll concert tour".[17] It featured John Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Dirty Mac, the Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull, and Taj Mahal. The footage was shelved for twenty-eight years but was finally released officially in 1996,[124] with a DVD version released in October 2004.[125]

By the release of Beggars Banquet, Brian Jones was only sporadically contributing to the band. Jagger said that Jones was "not psychologically suited to this way of life".[126] His drug use had become a hindrance, and he was unable to obtain a US visa. Richards reported that, in a June meeting with Jagger, Richards, and Watts at Jones' house, Jones admitted that he was unable to "go on the road again", and left the band, saying "'I've left, and if I want to I can come back'".[9] On 3 July 1969, less than a month later, Jones drowned in the swimming pool under mysterious circumstances at his home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex.[127]

Mick Taylor, 1972

The Rolling Stones were scheduled to play at a free concert for Blackhill Enterprises in London's Hyde Park, two days after Jones' death; they decided to proceed with the show as a tribute to him. The concert, their first with new guitarist Mick Taylor, was performed in front of an estimated 250,000 fans.[99] The performance was filmed by a Granada Television production team, and was shown on British television as The Stones in the Park.[2] The Blackhill Enterprises stage manager Sam Cutler introduced them as "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World",[1][128] a description he repeated throughout their 1969 US tour, and which has stuck to this day (Cutler left Blackhill Enterprises to become the Stones' road manager following the Hyde Park concert).[129][130]

Jagger read an excerpt from Shelley's poem Adonaïs, an elegy written on the death of his friend John Keats, and they released thousands of butterflies in memory of Jones[99]before opening their set with "I'm Yours and I'm Hers", a Johnny Winter number.[128] Also performed, but previously unheard by the audience, were "Midnight Rambler" and "Love in Vain" from their forthcoming album Let It Bleed (released December 1969) and "Give Me A Drink" which eventually appeared on Exile on Main St. (released May 1972). The show also included the concert debut of "Honky Tonk Women", which the band had just released the previous day.[131][132][133]

Let It Bleed (UK No. 1; US 3) was released in December.[73] Their last album of the sixties, it featured "Gimme Shelter" with guest lead female vocals from Merry Clayton (sister of Sam Clayton, of the American rock band Little Feat).[134] Other tracks include "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (with accompaniment by the London Bach Choir, who initially asked for their name to be removed from the album's credits after being apparently 'horrified' by the content of some of its other material, but later withdrew this request), "Midnight Rambler" as well as a cover of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain". Jones and Taylor are both featured on the album.[135]

Just after the US tour the band performed at the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway, about 50 miles east of San Francisco. The biker gang Hells Angels provided security, and a fan, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels after they realised that he was armed.[136] Part of the tour and the Altamont concert were documented in Albert and David Maysles' film Gimme Shelter. As a response to the growing popularity of bootleg recordings (in particular Live'r Than You'll Ever Be, recorded during the 1969 tour), the album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! (UK 1; US 6) was released in 1970; it was declared by critic Lester Bangs to be the best ever live album.[137]

At the end of the decade the band appeared on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene Pop Go the Sixties, performing "Gimme Shelter", which was broadcast live on 31 December 1969. That following year, the band wanted out of contracts with both Klein and Decca, but still owed them a Jagger/Richards credited single. To get back at the label, and fulfil their final contractual obligation, the band came up with the track "Schoolboy Blues" – deliberately making it as crude as they could in hopes of forcing the Decca to keep it "in the vaults."[138] Amid contractual disputes with Klein, they formed their own record company, Rolling Stones Records. Sticky Fingers (UK No. 1; US No. 1), released in March 1971, the band's first album on their own label, featured an elaborate cover design by Andy Warhol.[139] The cover of the album was an Andy Warholphotograph of a man in tight jeans (from the waist down) featuring a functioning zipper. When unzipped, it revealed the subject's underwear, imprinted with a saying – "This Is Not Etc."[139] In some markets, an alternate cover was released due to the zippered cover's offensive nature at the time.[139][140] The Stones' Decca catalogue is currently owned by Klein's ABKCO label.[141][142][143]

In 1968, the Stones, following a suggestion by pianist Ian Stewart, put a control room in a van and created a mobile recording studio so that they would not be limited to the standard 9–5 hours most recording studios operated by.[144] The band lent the mobile studio out to other artists,[144][145] including Led Zeppelin, which used it to record Led Zeppelin III (1970)[146] and Led Zeppelin IV (1971).[144][146]

The Rolling Stones' logo, designed by John Pasche and modified by Craig Braun,[147] was introduced in 1971.

Sticky Fingers was the first to feature the logo of Rolling Stones Records, which effectively became the band's logo. It consisted of a pair of lips with a lapping tongue. Designer John Paschecreated the logo following a suggestion by Jagger to copy the outstuck tongue of the Hindu goddess Kali.[147] Critic Sean Egan has said of the logo, "Without using the Stones' name, it instantly conjures them, or at least Jagger, as well as a certain lasciviousness that is the Stones' own ... It quickly and deservedly became the most famous logo in the history of popular music."[148] The tongue and lips design was part of a package that, in 2003, VH1 named the "No. 1 Greatest Album Cover" of all time.[139]

The album contains one of their best known hits, "Brown Sugar", and the country-influenced "Dead Flowers". Both were recorded at Alabama's Muscle Shoals Sound Studio during the 1969 American tour. The album continued the band's immersion into heavily blues-influenced compositions. The album is noted for its "loose, ramshackle ambience"[149] and marked Mick Taylor's first full release with the band.[150][151]

Following the release of Sticky Fingers, the Rolling Stones left England after receiving financial advice from their financial manager at the time, Prince Rupert Loewenstein, recommending that they go into tax exile before the start of the next financial year. They had learned that despite promises made that taxes were taken care of, they had not been paid for seven years and that they owed the UK government a relative fortune that could have meant the end of the band.[152] They moved to the South of France, where Richards rented the Villa Nellcôte and sublet rooms to band members and entourage. Using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, they held recording sessions in the basement; they completed the resulting tracks, along with material dating as far back as 1969, at Sunset Studios in Los Angeles. The resulting double album, Exile on Main St. (UK No. 1; US No. 1), was released in May 1972. Given an A+ grade by critic Robert Christgau[153] and disparaged by Lester Bangs – who reversed his opinion within months – Exile is now accepted as one of the Stones' best albums.[154] The films Cocksucker Blues (never officially released) and Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones (released in 1974) document the subsequent highly publicised 1972 North American Tour.[155]

The band's double compilation, Hot Rocks 1964–1971 (US No. 4), was released in 1972. It is certified Diamond in the US having sold over 12 million copies, and has spent over 264 weeks on the Billboard album chart.[156] In 1974 Wyman released his first solo album, Monkey Grip, making him the first Rolling Stone to release solo material, predating later material released by Richards and Jagger in the 1980s and later.[157] As of 2017, Wyman has published 5 solo albums, with the latest, Back to Basics, released in 2015.[157][158]

1972–1977[edit]

Members of the band set up a complex financial structure in 1972 to reduce payment of taxes.[159][160] Their holding company, Promogroup, has offices in both The Netherlands and the Caribbean.[159][160] The Netherlands was chosen because it does not directly tax royalty payments. The band has been tax exiles ever since, meaning they no longer can use Britain as their main residence. Due to the arrangements with the holding company, the band has reportedly paid a tax of just 1.6% on their total earnings of £242 million over the past 20 years."[159][160]

In November 1972 the band began recording sessions in Kingston, Jamaica for the album Goats Head Soup; it was released in 1973 and reached No. 1 in both the UK and US. The album, which contained the worldwide hit "Angie", proved to be the first in a string of commercially successful but tepidly received studio albums.[161] The sessions for Goats Head Soup contained unused material, most notably an early version of the popular ballad "Waiting on a Friend", which was not released until the LP Tattoo You eight years later.[162]

Bill Wyman, 1975

The making of the record was interrupted by another legal battle over drugs, dating back to their stay in France; a warrant for Richards' arrest had been issued, and the other band members had to return briefly to France for questioning.[163] This, along with Jagger's convictions on drug charges (in 1967 and 1970[164]), complicated the band's plans for their Pacific tour in early 1973: they were denied permission to play in Japan and almost banned from Australia. This was followed by a European tour (bypassing France) in September/October 1973 – prior to which Richards had been arrested once more on drug charges, this time in England.[165]

The 1974 album It's Only Rock 'n Roll was recorded in the Musicland studios in Munich, Germany; it reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the US.[166] Miller was not invited,[166] and Jagger and Richards produced the album under the credit of "the Glimmer Twins".[167] Both the album and the single of the same name were hits.[168][169][170]

Near the end of 1974, Taylor began to lose patience.[171] The band's situation made normal functioning complicated, with band members living in different countries, and legal barriers restricting where they could tour. In addition, drug use was starting to affect Richards' productivity, and Taylor felt some of his own creative contributions were going unrecognised.[172]At the end of 1974, with a recording session already booked in Munich to record another album, Taylor quit the Rolling Stones.[173]

Taylor said in 1980, "I was getting a bit fed up. I wanted to broaden my scope as a guitarist and do something else ... I wasn't really composing songs or writing at that time. I was just beginning to write, and that influenced my decision ... There are some people who can just ride along from crest to crest; they can ride along somebody else's success. And there are some people for whom that's not enough. It really wasn't enough for me."[174]

Ronnie Wood (left) and Jagger (right) in Chicago, 1975

The Rolling Stones needed to find a new guitarist, and the recording sessions for the next album, Black and Blue (UK 2; US 1) (1976) in Munich provided an opportunity for some hopefuls to work while trying out for the band. Guitarists as stylistically disparate as Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck were auditioned as well as Robert A. Johnson and Shuggie Otis. Both Beck and Irish blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher later claimed that they had played without realising they were being auditioned, and both agreed that they would never have joined. American session players Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel also tried out but Richards and Jagger had a preference for the band to remain purely British. When Ronnie Wood auditioned, everyone agreed that he was the right choice.[175] He had already recorded and played live with Richards, and had contributed to the recording and writing of the track "It's Only Rock 'n Roll". He had earlier declined Jagger's offer to join the Stones, because of his commitment to the Faces, saying "that's what's really important to me".[176] Faces' lead singer Rod Stewart went so far as to say he would take bets that Wood would not join the Stones.[176]

Wood officially joined the Rolling Stones in 1975 for their upcoming Tour of the Americas, while the Faces disbanded. Unlike the other band members, however, Wood was paid an employee's salary, and that remained the case until the early 1990s, when he finally joined the Rolling Stones' business partnership.[177]

The 1975 Tour of the Americas kicked off in New York City with the band performing on a flatbed trailer being pulled down Broadway. The tour featured stage props including a giant phallus and a rope on which Jagger swung out over the audience. Jagger had booked live recording sessions at the El Mocambo club in Toronto to balance a long-overdue live album, 1977's Love You Live (UK 3; US 5), the first Stones live album since Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!.[178]

Tour of the Americas '75, 23 July 1975. Wood, Richards and Jagger.

Richards' addiction to heroin delayed his arrival in Toronto; the other members had already arrived, waiting for him, and sent him a telegram asking him where he was. On 24 February 1977, when Richards and his family flew in from London, they were temporarily detained by Canada Customs after Richards was found in possession of a burnt spoon and hash residue. Three days later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, armed with an arrest warrant for Pallenberg, discovered 22 grams of heroin in Richards' room.[179] Richards was charged with importing narcotics into Canada, an offence that carried a minimum seven-year sentence.[180]

Later the Crown prosecutor conceded that Richards had procured the drugs after arrival.[181] Despite the incident, the band played two shows in Toronto, only to raise more controversy when Margaret Trudeau, then-wife of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was seen partying with the band after one show. The band's two shows were not advertised to the public. Instead, the El Mocambo had been booked for the entire week by April Wine for a recording session. 1050 CHUM, a local radio station, ran a contest for free tickets to see April Wine. Contest winners who selected tickets for Friday or Saturday night were surprised to find the Rolling Stones playing.[182]

On 4 March, Richards' partner Anita Pallenberg pleaded guilty to drug possession and incurred a fine in connection with the original airport incident.[182] The drug case against Richards dragged on for over a year. Ultimately, Richards received a suspended sentence and was ordered to play two free concerts for the CNIB in Oshawa;[181] both shows featured the Rolling Stones and the New Barbarians, a group that Wood had put together to promote his latest solo album, and which Richards also joined. This episode strengthened Richards' resolve to stop using heroin.[99] It also ended his relationship with Pallenberg, which had become strained since the death of their third child, Tara. Pallenberg was unable to curb her heroin addiction while Keith struggled to get clean.[183] While Richards was settling his legal and personal problems, Jagger continued his jet-set lifestyle. He was a regular at New York's Studio 54 disco club, often in the company of model Jerry Hall. His marriage to Bianca Jagger ended in 1977, although they had long been estranged.[184]

Although the Rolling Stones remained popular through the early 1970s, music critics had begun to grow dismissive of the band's output, and record sales failed to meet expectations.[70] By the mid-1970s, after punk rock became influential, many people had begun to view the Rolling Stones as an outdated band.[185]

1978–1982: Commercial peak[edit]

The group's fortunes changed in 1978, after the band released Some Girls (UK No. 2; US No. 1), which included the hit single "Miss You", the country ballad "Far Away Eyes", "Beast of Burden", and "Shattered". In part as a response to punk, many songs, particularly "Respectable", were fast, basic, guitar-driven rock and roll,[186] and the album's success re-established the Rolling Stones' immense popularity among young people. Following the US Tour 1978, the band guested on the first show of the fourth season of the TV series Saturday Night Live.

Following the success of Some Girls, the band released their next album Emotional Rescue (UK 1; US 1) in mid-1980.[187] During the recording sessions of the album, a rift between Jagger and Richards was slowly beginning to form. Richards wanted to tour in summer or autumn of 1980 to promote the new album. Much to his disappointment, Jagger declined.[187] Emotional Rescue hit the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and the title track reached No.3 in the US.[187]

The Rolling Stones performing in December 1981

In early 1981, the group reconvened and decided to tour the US that year, leaving little time to write and record a new album, as well as rehearse for the tour. That year's resulting album, Tattoo You (UK 2; US 1), featured a number of outtakes, including lead single "Start Me Up", which reached No.2 in the US and ranked No.22 on Billboard's Hot 100 year-end chart. Two songs ("Waiting on a Friend" (US No. 13) and "Tops") featured Mick Taylor's unused rhythm guitar tracks, while jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins played on "Slave" and "Waiting on a Friend".[188]

The Rolling Stones scored one more top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, the No. 20 hit "Hang Fire". The Stones' American Tour 1981 was their biggest, longest and most colourful production to date, with the band playing from 25 September through 19 December. It was the highest grossing tour of that year.[189] The tour included a concert at Chicago's Checkerboard Lounge with Muddy Waters, in what would be one of his last performances before his death in 1983.[190] Some shows were recorded, resulting in the 1982 live album Still Life (American Concert 1981) (UK 4; US 5), and the 1983 Hal Ashby concert film Let's Spend the Night Together, which was filmed at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona and the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands, New Jersey.[191]

In mid-1982, to commemorate their 20th anniversary, the Rolling Stones took their American stage show to Europe. The European Tour 1982 was their first European tour in six years, with a similar format to the American tour. The band were joined by former Allman Brothers Band keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who continues to perform and record with the Rolling Stones.[192] By the end of the year, the band had signed a new four-album recording deal with a new label, CBS Records, for a reported $50 million, then the biggest record deal in history.