The Rolling Stones is among the greatest rock bands in history and one of the most influential since they have experimented with various music styles such as blues, rock and roll, psychedelia, country, folk and more. They started from London in 1962, when schoolmates Mick Jagger (vocals) and Keith Richards (guitars), along with Jagger’s friend Dick Taylor (bass) created a new line-up, which included Brian Jones (guitar), Ian Stewart (keyboards) and Tony Chapman (drums). Charlie Watts became the new bassist, in 1963 and Stones’ first release was the cover of “Come On”, while their first top 5 single was the cover of “Not Fade Away” and their self titled album was released in 1964, reaching the top of the UK chart.
Stones's second album “12 X 5”, came out in 1964 and reached no. 3 on the Billboard 200, containing the song “It’s All Over Now”, their first no.1 song in the UK chart. The next 2 albums were “The Rolling Stones No. 2” in early 1965, which topped the UK charts and “Out of Our Heads” in July of that year, entering at the top of Billboard 200. The song “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction” became one of the band’s most timeless songs. The single “Get Off of My Cloud” entered also the top of the charts and became part of the album “December's Children (And Everybody's)”.
The 1966's top album “Aftermath”, included the songs “Under My Thumb and “Paint It Black”, which became two of Stone’s most famous songs. Three also very successful albums came out the next years. Among their hits are “Let's Spend the Night Together”, “Ruby Tuesday”, “She’s a Rainbow”, “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Street Fighting Man”, “Gimme Shelter” and many more. In the meantime, Jones who had problems with his drug addiction was found dead by drowning in his swimming pool and was replaced by Mick Taylor later.
The next decade started even better for Stones, with the release of “Sticky Fingers” in 1971, one of the band’s best albums. It topped both UK and USA charts and included Stones’ international hits “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses”. Until the end of 70’s, Stones had recorded 5 top albums, including “Some Girls” of 1978, which is their most-selling album in the USA. They continued writing history with songs like “Tumbling Dice”, “Angie”, “Fool to Cry”, “Miss You”, “Beast of Burden” and other. In 1975, Taylor abandoned the band and Ronnie Wood took his place later.
Stones managed to adapt their style and music in the coming decades, depending on the requirements of the music industry and this is shown by the 9 successful albums they have made until 2016, with many hits such as “Emotional Rescue”, “Start Me Up”, “Undercover of the Night”, “Harlem Shuffle” (cover), “Mixed Emotions”, “Love Is Strong”, “Anybody Seen My Baby?”, “Rain Fall Down” and many more. In 1993, it became known that Wyman had left the band.
The Rolling Stones’ great discography includes also many live and compilation albums, while they have recorded a lot of covers of successful songs from the past. They have toured around the world and they have worked with artists and bands of various music genres. Among the awards that Stones have received are four Grammys and two World Music Awards, while the band has been inducted in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and is ranked at number 4 in the list of the best-selling bands of all time.
The Rolling Stones
