As the Rolling Stones geared up for their 60th-anniversary tour, which is now in full swing, many fans were left wondering, “should I grab tickets? Is this the last time? When will the Stones call it quits?”
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Never, it seems, is the answer to that question. If you’re under 30 and you’re reading this, people have been prematurely wrapping up the Stones well before you were born.
It’s a natural progression—a young rock band gets its big break, spends a few years atop the world, and eventually fizzles out thanks to some colossal rift among the group. A Rock n’ Roll group drives on passion, exhilaration, and the hormonal youth—it stands to reason they eventually run out of fuel.
The Stones however have almost single-handedly written the playbook on how to stay together for decades on end while continuing to evolve and inspire. And with the way Mick Jagger is carrying on at 78, who knows how long they could go for.
Their 60 years as a group have been one iconic moment after another, solidifying their spot as one of the greatest rock bands of all time—certainly the most enduring if nothing else. Let’s go through just a few moments from the Stones’ unmatched history below.
1. Mick Meets Keith: The Blues Boys
The iconic duo of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards has been going strong since the ’50s. The pair lived just a few doors down from each other in Dartford, Kent growing up, sparking a friendship between the two youngsters. A few years later Richards’ family moved to “the other side of the tracks” and the two seldom saw each other—until one fateful day in October 1961.
On a platform at the Dartford railway station, Richards took note of Jagger carrying “Rockin’ at the Hops” by Chuck Berry and “The Best of Muddy Waters.” Their shared love of music sparked an R&B band, The Blues Boys, which saw Richards playing the guitar and Jagger taking on lead vocals.
By 1962, the band was merging with Blues Incorporated, an outfit featuring their future Stones bandmates Brian Jones and Charlie Watts. Taking their name from a Muddy Waters song, they played their first gig together as the Rollin’ Stones (sans the ‘g’).
2. Full-Scale British Invasion
While the Beatles’ maiden tour of the United States in 1964 was a full-on British Invasion, the Stones more so just washed up on the other side of the pond. By ’64 their only big hit in the U.S. was a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away.” Two days after being ridiculed by Dean Martin for their long hair on the “The Hollywood Palace,” the band played their first show in San Bernardino, California.
It wasn’t until they returned to the U.S. for a second time that they enjoyed the same fanfare as the Beatles, now having an Ed Sullivan Show debut in their rearview. By the time they sat down with Sullivan to chat, the screams from the audience drowned out the famed variety show host tenfold.
3. The Stones Get Some Satisfaction
Newsweek called them the “five notes that shook the world.” After garnering a measure of success on both sides of the Atlantic, the Stones’ manager Andrew Oldham suggested that the group start writing their own songs. Jagger and Richards got right down to it, sparking what would become an iconic writing partnership.
Though they had shared a few original offerings prior, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” took the band to the next level. The riff came to Richards in the middle of the night, when he quickly got up and jotted it down with the help of a Philips cassette player. Jagger then added the lyrics by a hotel pool in Clearwater, Florida and the rest is Stones history.
In 1965, the anthem of teen sexual frustration and American commercialism came growling out of the speakers, making everything else seem tame in comparison.
4. Pop Stars: The Truth That Will Shock You
By 1967, the Stones were superstars with nine Top 10 U.S. hits and multiple arena tours.
Around the same time, Ed Sullivan was making them change the words to “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” they were also becoming the subjects of a three-part exposé titled Pop Stars: The Truth That Will Shock You— making Sullivan’s attempt to make the band more PG a bit moot.
The News of the World piece provided a vivid portrayal of rock star debauchery and drug use. The author also caused a stir by mixing up Jones and Jagger, who subsequently decided to sue the publication.
During the suit process, police raided a party at Richards’ Redlands estate, arresting the guitarist along with Jagger on drug charges. Though they were able to avoid prison sentences, the incident unveiled the rampant drug use going on in the Rock N’ Roll sphere.
As 1967 came to a close, the Stones were embracing the rainbow of psychedelia on their eighth album Their Satanic Majesties Request. The whole endeavor marked the beginning of the unshakeable connection between the Stones and hedonism.
5. Beggars Banquet and the Death of Brian Jones
“Please allow me to introduce myself…” was the provocative come-on that opened the Stones Beggars Banquet and started arguably the greatest four-album run by any band ever.
Moving on from the psychedelia of Satanic Majesties, the Stones delved back into their blues roots, took a foray into country, and unveiled a pair of classic rock masterpieces—”Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man.” It was also the last Stones album to feature Jones before his dismissal from the group, largely due to his drug use.
In 1969, Jones was found in his swimming pool, a victim of what the coroner called “death by misadventure.” Two days later, the Stones played their first show with guitarist Mick Taylor, creating a new line-up that would work its magic across their next five albums.
6. The Stones’ Concert at Altamont
By the end of the ’60s, the band was playing a major role in ushering out the peace and love movement of the era, trading it in for conflict and mayhem. Though it may not have been their idea, during a show at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in Northern California, security for their headlining set came from the notorious motorcycle club Hell’s Angels.
Midway through the Stones’ set, an 18-year-old wielding a pistol was stabbed to death by one of the angels. It was captured on film for Gimme Shelter, adding a key moment to the legendary rock documentary.
Writing for Esquire, Ralph Gleason said, “If the name ‘Woodstock’ has come to denote the flowering of one phase of the youth culture, ‘Altamont’ has come to mean the end of it.”
7. Sticky Fingers Album Cover
On top of being one of the band’s biggest albums, boasting top songs “Wild Horses” and “Brown Sugar,” Sticky Fingers brought more than just hits to the Stones-sphere. They commissioned Andy Warhol for the famous jeans shot on the cover, which would go on to become one of the most iconic album covers of all time. In 2003, VH1 gave it the highest honor, dubbing it the greatest cover art in rock history.
The iconic tongue and lips logo, designed by John Pasche, was also introduced on the album cover. Emblematic of the Hindu goddess Kali, the logo is so iconic it doesn’t even require the band’s name to be included, even casual music fans know just who it represents.
8. “Some Girls” and Ronnie Wood
Most bands would have been well satisfied with albums like Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” and Black and Blue but by the Stones’ standards, the three mid-’70s albums were not up to snuff following the success of Exile on Main Street.
Though it took a minute for the group to get back on track, the Stones brought things back to their former glory with Some Girls in 1978. Non-coincidentally, the album was also the first to fully feature Ronnie Wood, the former Faces guitarist who had signed up for their 1975 tour.
The Stones pumped out a disco club hit with “Miss You,” took a stab at punk with “Shattered” and made waves with the enduring ballad “Beast of Burden.” Sixteen albums in, the group was as good as they ever had been, with a U.S. chart-topper and the best U.S. selling album of their career.
9. Tribute to Charlie Watts
While many of the other British Invasion bands had lovable goofball drummers, Charlie Watts was anything but. Instead, the engine of the Stones was also the gentleman of the group – the visual artist, the jazz sophisticate.
“I loved playing with Keith and the band – I still do – but I wasn’t interested in being a pop idol sitting there with girls screaming,” he said in the 2003 book According to the Rolling Stones. “It’s not the world I come from. It’s not what I wanted to be, and I still think it’s silly.”
Watts played with the band for 58 of their continued 60 years together before his death on August 24, 2021. Two songs into the launch of their No Filter Tour in St. Louis, Jagger and Richards stepped to the front of the stage and somberly addressed Watts’ absence.
“I just want to say that it’s quite emotional seeing those images of Charlie up on the screen,” Jagger said, referencing a video montage that had preceded the show. “This is our first tour that we’ve ever done without him.”
10. The Stones’ ‘Sixty’ Tour
The Stones are celebrating all of those iconic moments and more along their 60th-anniversary tour, which is currently trekking along in Europe. The tour has proven to be a special run of shows, with the group bringing out a few deep-cut tracks alongside their fan favorites. Some tour highlights so far include a collaboration with a Ukrainian choir as a tribute to the embattled nation and the live debut of their 1996 track “Out of Time.”
In addition to the diamond anniversary tour, the Stones are set to release a new docuseries on August 7, which boasts to be the most in-depth look at the band yet.
Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images
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