The Rolling Stones PART 1: THE 1960s and ’70s

The Rolling Stones crowned themselves “The World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band” in 1969 as a marketing slogan, but they’d long since established it as a fact. Formed in London in 1962, they were a bad-boy alternative to the Beatles; their attitude of defiance and nonchalance became the perennial rock & roll posture. Led by the songwriting team of London School of Economics graduate Mick Jagger and living drug sponge Keith Richards, anchored by bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts, the Stones changed styles—Renaissance balladry, psychedelia, disco, country—as often as they changed girlfriends. They remained loyal only to the blues, which they channeled to create dark, swinging, transcendent rock, soaked in sex and decadence. In the ’60s and ’70s, deaths, lineup changes, drug busts and paternity suits threatened to eclipse the music, but ultimately added to their mystique.

ESSENTIAL
Aftermath
Beggars Banquet
Sticky Fingers
Exile on Main St.
Some Girls
Singles Collection: The London Years

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