5 Things to Know About the Rolling Stones

The cover of the new Rolling Stones album, “Hackney Diamonds,” shows Mick Jagger walking down an alleyway accompanied by guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Woods, guitar cases in hand. It almost seems to convey that the Stones, who formed in the early 1960s, haven’t stopped moving ahead.

That’s saying something when you consider this 12-track album, set for October release, is the first in recent memory without the late drummer Charlie Watts, though two tracks do feature his playing.

‘Ever since Charlie’s gone, it’s been different,” Jagger tells Billboard. “He’s number four. Of course, he’s missed, incredibly.”

But the band moved ahead with its 24th studio album that features Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Lady Gaga. Those who are surprised by the guests might want to take a look back at the band’s rich history, which includes plenty of surprises. Here are some of our favorite Stones facts: 

1. Andy Warhol is behind the Sticky Fingers Cover

The Rolling Stone 1971 album cover for Sticky Fingers was an extreme close-up shot of a man’s crotch clad in tight jeans. The working zipper on the crotch revealed white men’s underwear. What many people don’t know is that Andy Warhol collaborated with Craig Braun, a graphic designer who worked as a creative and marketing director for Warner Music Group until his 2001 retirement, according to an interview Braun gave to Vanity Fair magazine. Just three years later, Braun won a Grammy Award for designing the cover of the orchestral version of The Who’s album Tommy.

But the original idea for the Sticky Fingers cover art came from Warhol after he and Mick Jagger talked in a club late one night. As funky as the concept of the hidden underwear was, Braun told Vanity Fair, “I said it sounded like a real challenge because putting something like that on the cover could easily do damage (to the record). It was a very complicated project.”

One problem was where to find a mass quantity of zippers. Braun told Vanity Fair his first stop was Talon Zipper, the oldest zipper company in the world. Braun failed to convince the company’s executive vice president to donate the zippers in return for the massive publicity they’d gain from the album design.

“I don’t think you understand, sir, but our customers are not people who buy records. They’re the garment industry,” Braun recalled to Vanity Fair. “And we already have all of that. So, no, I’m not going to go for it.”

Braun obtained the zippers for free from a different supplier.

2. Charlie Watts generally didn’t partake in the partying

The Rolling Stones have always been known as a hard-partying band with one exception—the late drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021 at age 80. Even in the 1960s and 1970s, when his bandmates heavily used drugs, drank, and developed a reputation as the bad boys of rock, Watts generally didn’t join in. However, People magazine reported he did teeter toward excess during a few of the early years.

“I’ve said it myself, but people don’t believe it. I nearly killed myself. At the end of two years on speed and heroin, I was very ill,” Watts told Rolling Stone about his 1980s addictions. “My daughter used to tell me I looked like Dracula. I just stopped cold – for me and for my wife. It was never me, really.”

At his death, Watts had been married for almost 60 years and was known for a disciplined exercise and healthy eating lifestyle.

3. The band started as The Blue Boys

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones, who died in 1969, were childhood friends. The Dartford, England schoolmates were all rock and blues fans and, in 1962, decided to form a band called “The Blue Boys.” Jagger became the lead singer, and Richards was a guitarist, roles they have held throughout their careers. Jones was a multi-instrumentalist. 

After Jones’ death, Mick Taylor replaced him. Jagger asked him to leave in 1974 after the guitarist had run-ins with the group’s engineer and producer, Glyn Johns. “He turned from being a quiet, softly spoken, charming young man into a raving egomaniac junkie,” Johns told MOJO in 2015. “I was mixing the record… and said to Mick Jagger, ‘Either he goes or I go.’”

Ron Wood, who is still a current band member, replaced Taylor. Taylor did rejoin the band in 2013 for its 50 & Counting Tour. 

4. Leaving on a Jet Plane … or Several

It’s not surprising that the Rolling Stones have flown on private jets for decades. The jets were almost necessary—and comforts they could afford—to stay comfortable during their jam-packed touring schedules.

In fact, when the band travels on more extensive tours, they chartered or customized airplanes for their crew and equipment. 

What may surprise some is that the band members have been known to take commercial flights. That was especially true during international tours. Crew, equipment, and stagecraft do not fly commercially because of the number of members and equipment. 

5. The Stones were not rivals with The Beatles

Some muckrakers invented feuds among well-known artists even before online tabloids were everywhere. That was the case in the 1960s and 1970s when news circulated that the two British bands were rivals.

Yes, the groups competed but had separate sounds and fan bases. And they helped each other, such as when The Beatles wrote the song “I Wanna Be Your Man” for the Rolling Stones.

As American Songwriter previously reported, John Lennon and Paul McCartney originally wrote the song for Ringo Starr. Still, they offered it to the Stones when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards asked them for a piece for a recording session.

Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage