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The Rolling Stones

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Performers and composers

            The Rolling Stones
          Background information
   Origin       London, England England
   Genre(s)     Rock and Roll
                Country
                R&B
                Reggae
                Blues
   Years active 1962 — Present
   Label(s)     Decca, Rolling Stones Records
   Website      RollingStones.com
                  Members
   Mick Jagger
   Keith Richards
   Ron Wood
   Charlie Watts
              Former members
   Brian Jones (deceased)
   Mick Taylor
   Bill Wyman
   Ian Stewart (deceased)

   The Rolling Stones are an English rock band that helped spearhead the
   British Invasion of the early 1960s. During their 1969 American tour,
   the Stones were introduced and have often since been referred to as
   "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World."

   Originally an R&B outfit that recorded rock n' roll as well as ballads
   on their first album, they later took up country blues, country music,
   psychedelia, and reggae. By 1965 lead singer and harmonica player Mick
   Jagger (born July 26, 1943) and guitarist Keith Richards (born December
   18, 1943) wrote almost all of the band's new material, including a
   string of number one songs for The Stones that continued until the
   early eighties.

   The Rolling Stones still record and perform and are one of the longest
   running and most successful acts in show business. They are often the
   highest grossing concert act the years they tour, and every album of
   primarily new studio material has placed in the top 5 in the United
   States.

   For more than forty years of The Stones' existence Jagger, Richards,
   and drummer Charlie Watts, have been constant members.

   The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
   1989, and they were rated #4 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest
   Artists of All Time.

History

1962-1965

   The Rolling Stones came into being in 1962 when former schoolmates Mick
   Jagger and Keith Richards met Brian Jones, who was playing with Alexis
   Korner's band Blues Incorporated. Brian named their new group after the
   title of the Muddy Waters song " Rollin' Stone". The original line-up
   included Mick Jagger ( vocals, harmonica), Brian Jones, (guitar,
   harmonica, vocals), Keith Richards ( guitarist, vocals), Ian Stewart
   (piano), Dick Taylor ( bass) and various drummers such as Mick Avory
   (later of The Kinks), Tony Chapman and Carlo Little. Guitarist Geoff
   Bradford participated in some rehearsals in June 1962 but left before
   the band's first official gig. Taylor left shortly after to return to
   art school, and was later to form Pretty Things. He was replaced by
   Bill Wyman. Charlie Watts joined the Stones in January 1963 as their
   new permanent drummer.

   United by their shared interest in rhythm and themselves as London's
   premier live act, the band was even honoured with a visit from The
   Beatles. At first, Jones (who was ostensibly the band's lead guitarist
   but could play just about any instrument he could get his hands on),
   was their creative leader, despite Jagger increasingly becoming the
   focus during live performances. The band rapidly gained a reputation
   for their frantic, highly energetic covers of the rhythm and blues
   songs of their idols and, through their recently appointed manager
   Andrew Loog Oldham, were signed to Decca Records (who had passed when
   offered The Beatles, but were now tipped to the Stones by Beatle George
   Harrison ).

   By the time of their first single release - a cover of Chuck Berry's "
   Come On" (UK #21) - Ian Stewart was, at the insistence of Andrew
   Oldham, not officially listed as part of the band, though he continued
   to record and perform with them. Another of Oldham's ideas was to
   convince Richards to drop the 's' from his last name to become "Keith
   Richard", matching the surname spelling of British pop star Cliff
   Richard.

   The choice of material on their first, self-titled EP, reflected their
   live shows. Similarly, the album The Rolling Stones (England's Newest
   Hitmakers) (UK #1; US #11), which appeared in April 1964 featured
   versions of such classics as " Route 66" (originally recorded by Nat
   King Cole), " Mona" ( Bo Diddley) and "Carol" (Chuck Berry). The
   performances were pivotal in introducing a generation of white British
   youth to rhythm and blues music, and helped to fuel the British
   Invasion of America. More importantly perhaps, while The Beatles were
   still suited, clean-cut boys with mop-top haircuts, The Stones
   cultivated the opposite image: decidedly unkempt, and posing for
   publicity photographs like a gang of surly yobs. This made many girls
   go crazy for their bad boy image, and soon made them a teen idol group.
   Their follow-up album, The Rolling Stones No. 2 ( The Rolling Stones,
   Now! in the United States) (UK #1; US #5), was also composed mainly of
   cover tunes, now augmented by a couple of tracks penned by the emerging
   Jagger/Richards songwriting partnership, having been locked in a room
   by their manager, who refused to let them out until they had written
   something they could release. Encouraged by Oldham, the band toured
   Europe and America continuously, playing to packed crowds of screaming
   teenagers in scenes reminiscent of the height of Beatlemania. While on
   tour, they took time to visit important locations in the history of the
   music that inspired them, recording the EP Five By Five at the studios
   of Chess Records in Chicago.

1965-1968

   On June 30, 1965, the Stones released the album Out of Our Heads (UK
   #2; US #1). The US version included the song " Satisfaction". Keith
   Richards apparently wrote the memorable introductory riff in his sleep.
   He had been recording riffs on a tape recorder and fell asleep; when he
   woke up, he almost erased the tape, but decided to listen to it again.
   He said it was, "two minutes of Satisfaction and forty minutes of me
   snoring".

   Back at home, these early years of success represented a rare period of
   stability in the personal relationship between the band members.
   Jagger, Richards and Jones shared a squalid London flat in Edith Grove,
   Chelsea, throughout much of 1963 along with friend, reprobate, and
   later biographer James Phelge. The three Stones became so fond of
   Phelge that they used his name as part of the ' Nanker/Phelge'
   pseudonym to indicate early band writing compositions. Two years later,
   Brian Jones began to see Anita Pallenberg, an actress and model who
   introduced them to the circle of society in which she moved: a group of
   young artists, musicians and filmmakers. Prompted by Oldham, who
   possessed sufficient business acumen to see where money was to be made,
   Jagger and Richards became more prolific songwriters and the US version
   of 1965's Out of Our Heads contained seven original songs, including
   the classic " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as mentioned above. The UK
   version, however, contained only four Jagger/Richards compositions with
   both Satisfaction and The Last Time being omitted. It was common
   practice at the time (in the UK) not to include hit singles on albums
   as this was thought to be cheating the public who would already have
   bought the song once. Many of the Beatles' and Stones' early albums
   omitted previously released hit singles.

   In the United States, it took the Rolling Stones longer to catch on -
   longer than British counterparts such as The Beatles, The Dave Clark
   Five and others who became famous in 1964. Their first "big" hit came
   later in 1964 with " Time Is on My Side". They continued, but it wasn't
   until "Satisfaction" in the summer of 1965 that the group entered its
   "hit-making" stride.

   It was also in this period that, according to the book Rolling With The
   Stones by Bill Wyman, Tom Wolfe offered his 1965 summary that "The
   Beatles want to hold your hand, but The Stones want to burn your town".
   Their burgeoning songwriting talent changed the dynamic of the band,
   with Jagger and Richards starting to emerge as the perceived leaders of
   the band. Jones, not unaware of his reduced importance, retreated into
   drug abuse, alienating both Richards and Pallenberg, who began a
   relationship that would last more than ten years. During this period,
   Pallenberg seemed to exert an influence on the music as somebody whose
   opinions the band trusted, particularly on the dark single " Paint It,
   Black", and the sexually ambiguous video for " Have You Seen Your
   Mother Baby (Standing in the Shadows)?" With the main songwriters
   maintaining their rate of production, Aftermath (UK #1; US #2) ( 1966)
   continued the progression, consisting entirely of Jagger/Richards
   compositions including " Mother's Little Helper", about pill abuse, and
   " Under My Thumb", whereas on Between the Buttons (UK #3; US #2) (
   1967) they displayed the influences of their many contemporaries,
   including The Who and The Kinks.

   1967 also saw one of the most notorious episodes in the Rolling Stones
   history, the drugs bust at Redlands, Keith Richard's Sussex home. On
   the weekend of 11/12 February 1967 a party was held at Richard's house
   near West Wittering in Sussex. Among those present were Richards,
   Jagger, Marianne Faithful, photographer Michael Cooper, and art dealer
   Robert Fraser ( George Harrison and Pattie Boyd had been present but
   left prior to the raid). It is believed that drugs had been circulating
   over the weekend, including LSD (possibly Jagger's first experience
   with the drug). Following a tip off from the UK tabloid newspaper, News
   of the World, the house was raided by 20 police officers from the Drugs
   Squad. Police found four Amphetamine 'pep pills' in Jagger's possession
   and also took away ash from bowls which had been used as ash trays.
   Despite Jagger's protestation that the pills were legally available in
   Italy he was charged with their possession and Richards was charged
   with allowing his home to be used for consumption of drugs. During the
   raid, Marianne Faithfull had apparently been lying naked under a fur
   rug. When she opened the rug to reveal her naked body, her apparent
   immodesty was used as evidence in the later trial that she had been
   under the influence of drugs. Faithfull was also the subject of
   widespread salacious rumours that Jagger had been performing a sex act
   on her (with a Mars Bar) when police raided the house. She
   categorically denies this and it is likely that the story was invented
   to demonise the couple as depraved and of low morals. Despite all
   denials the story is still widely believed and can be found on the
   Urban Legends website.

   Lord Havers, later the Attorney General, and father of the actor Nigel
   Havers was the defence barrister for Jagger and Richards at their
   trial. However, on June 29 at Chichester Crown Court, both Stones were
   found guilty, with Richards sentenced to a year in prison and fined
   £500 with Jagger receiving three months and a £200 fine. A hand-cuffed
   Jagger was caught on film waving to the crowd as he was driven away
   from the court. They both spent an uncomfortable night in jail before
   being granted bail as part of their appeal.

   Subsequently there was widespread feeling that Jagger and Richards had
   been treated unfairly. The draconian sentence was questioned in a
   famous editorial in a conservative daily newspaper known for its
   staunch support of the establishment - The Times by the editor William
   Rees-Mogg (now Lord Rees-Mogg) - under the headline Who breaks a
   butterfly upon a wheel?. The editorial challenged the severity of the
   sentence, noting that it was "as mild a drug case as can ever have been
   brought before the courts." The article added: "There must remain a
   suspicion in this case that Mr Jagger received a more severe sentence
   than would have been thought proper for any purely anonymous young
   man." The following week, Richards' conviction was quashed on appeal
   and Jagger's prison sentence was reduced to a conditional discharge. A
   few days later Rees-Mogg was among a panel of establishment figures who
   interviewed Jagger for the Granada Television programme World in Action
   in a live debate discussing the morals of modern society.

   In May 1967, shortly prior to the Jagger/Richards trial, Brian Jones
   was arrested for the possession of cannabis, cocaine and
   methamphetamine. He escaped with a fine and probation, but was told he
   had to seek professional help.

   The band quickly set about recording a new single, "We Love You",
   officially as a thank you for the loyalty shown by their fans during
   their trial, though privately it was seen as a barbed attack on their
   perceived persecutors: the News of the World, the Metropolitan Police
   and members of the British judiciary. The record featured guest
   appearances on backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and
   opens with the sounds of footsteps and a cell door banging shut, which
   it is rumoured was taken from a secret recording from within Wormwood
   Scrubs, the London prison where Richards was held overnight. The
   promotional film for the song compared The Stones' persecution and
   trial to that of Oscar Wilde, portraying Jagger as Wilde receiving
   sentence from Richards' Marquis of Queensbury.

   Work then commenced on a new psychedelic album, which Jagger envisioned
   as the group's equivalent of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
   Club Band. The record, which would eventually be released as Their
   Satanic Majesties Request (UK #3; US #2), was recorded in difficult
   circumstances with various members of the band living under the threat
   of imprisonment; so much so that Bill Wyman was able to get one of his
   songs, "In Another Land", onto the album. The resulting record received
   lukewarm reviews observing that the songs and arrangements did not lend
   themselves to the band's natural style, though an increasingly
   drugged-out Jones continued an impressive display of instrumental
   experimentation. The front cover of the album bears a remarkable
   similarity to the montage of the Sgt. Pepper album, which gave
   ammunition to critics (including John Lennon) who accused the Stones of
   riding in The Beatles' slipstream. The first 25,000 copies of the
   record had a 3D sleeve, argued by some as being the best bit of the
   album. Despite Jagger later denouncing the album as "complete crap", a
   number of songs showcased the improving songwriting of Jagger and
   Richards, in particular the spacey "2000 Light Years From Home"
   (written by Jagger while he was briefly in jail), which showcased Brian
   Jones' mellotron, and which has been revived for live performances in
   the 2000s.

   Within the band, however, the two principal writers were continuing
   their wrestling of power (and in Richards' case, the stealing of
   girlfriend Anita Pallenberg) from their former leader Jones, whose
   mental stability was steadily deteriorating.

   With personal relations between Jones and Richards increasingly frayed,
   the release in May 1968 of the single " Jumpin' Jack Flash" and, later
   that year, the album Beggars Banquet (UK #3; US #5), saw the band
   return to their roots. Despite the tension, and aided by an excellent
   sound from up-and-coming producer Jimmy Miller, Jagger and Richards
   produced some of their most memorable work, including the distorted
   acoustic guitar-driven " Street Fighting Man" and the anthemic "
   Sympathy for the Devil", and the Stones entered the phase that would
   see them billed as "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band." The songs
   themselves were firmly rooted in the blues, but tempered by the changes
   that had occurred in 1960s music and assimilating the imagery of Bob
   Dylan, the emergent heavy rock of Cream and Jimi Hendrix and the
   increasingly adventurous aural textures of the Beatles. Two other
   events contributed to the change in the Stones' sound. Firstly,
   Richards started using open tunings, most prominently an open-G 5
   string tuning that is heard on the 1969 single " Honky Tonk Women", "
   Brown Sugar" ( Sticky Fingers, 1971), " Tumbling Dice" ( Exile On Main
   Street, 1972), and " Start Me Up" ( Tattoo You, 1981).

   An ever-increasing consumption of drugs, however, was making Brian
   Jones less and less reliable. The ill-fated Rolling Stones Rock and
   Roll Circus was one of his last projects with the band and increasingly
   he was either absent from recording sessions by choice, or simply not
   invited to attend. With a reduced contribution to Beggars Banquet and a
   minimal one to Let It Bleed, he found himself forced out of the band
   for good after an infamous late-night visit to his rural home from
   Jagger, Richards and Charlie Watts on June 8, 1969, to be replaced by
   the young, twenty year-old jazz-influenced guitarist Mick Taylor,
   drafted in from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, auditioned on 14th May
   1969 and unveiled to the media during a press conference on June 13th
   in Hyde Park.

   Jones retreated to his Cotchford Farm home in Kent, a house formerly
   owned by Winnie the Pooh author A. A. Milne, drinking heavily in the
   local pub and planning his comeback with a blues band. However, within
   a month of his departure, and two days before the Stones were due to
   play a free concert in Hyde Park, London, he was dead, found at the
   bottom of his swimming pool surrounded by statues of Christopher Robin
   and Winnie the Pooh. Although his death was ajudicated as being by
   misadventure, to this day some regard the cause of the drowning a
   mystery.

1968-1972

   Despite Brian Jones' sudden death, the Hyde Park concert went ahead in
   front of an audience of 200,000 fans, with Jagger reading from
   Shelley's Adonais and releasing hundreds of (mostly dead) butterflies
   by way of tribute to the late guitarist. The band's performance,
   under-rehearsed and suffering from some of the remaining members'
   narcotic intake, was somewhat shambolic and was captured by a Granada
   Television production team, later to be shown on British television as
   Stones in the Park. The band had just released the first recording with
   the new line up, a single called "Honky Tonk Women", which was recorded
   with Jones but had sections of his guitar part edited out and Taylor's
   part dubbed in at the last minute. It was released on July 3, 1969,
   coinciding with the death of Jones, and remains the band's last number
   1 single in the UK. Let It Bleed (UK #1; US #3) followed in December
   and was rapidly hailed as another classic, featuring the brooding "
   Gimme Shelter", " You Can't Always Get What You Want", and a further
   nod to their roots with a cover of Robert Johnson's " Love in Vain".

   The Stones had been described as "past it" by some critics. The
   emergence of influential guitar-led bands such as Cream, Free and Led
   Zeppelin (not to mention the arrival of Jimi Hendrix in England) meant
   that the Stones had to prove that they could still cut it live. In
   November, the band set off on their 1969 U.S. Tour. American audiences
   were no longer drowning out the music with their screaming but had
   become critical listeners (as Charlie Watts described it later, it was
   the first time they could actually hear what they were playing). The
   exciting interplay between Keith Richards and Mick Taylor (in 2004
   elected by Guitarplayer Magazine as "best guitar duo ever") was heavily
   featured on this tour.

   In an attempt to recreate the success of the free concert at Hyde Park,
   and offer the Stones' own one-day equivalent of the widely publicized
   Woodstock festival, the tour culminated with the staging of the
   Altamont Free Concert, at the then-disused Altamont Speedway located
   about 40 miles east of San Francisco. The concert was a disaster. The
   Rolling Stones had hired the local chapter of the Hell's Angels to
   undertake of security, as The Grateful Dead had had a long and
   successful history of using the Angels for security. However, the
   Angels at Altamont were intoxicated by the copious amounts of free beer
   given to them in partial payment for their services and did not share
   the "mellow vibe" of the 300,000 concert-goers. The running battles
   between fans and security reached a head when Meredith Hunter, a young
   black man, was stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels after drawing
   a firearm in response to the Angels manhandling him during the band's
   performance of " Under My Thumb". The Altamont concert - and the murder
   itself, were memorably documented in Albert and David Maysles' film
   Gimme Shelter.

   Although the 1969 tour was forever besmirched by the chaos at Altamont,
   it in fact saw the Stones playing at the top of their game.
   Unencumbered by Jones and strengthened with the fluent blues playing of
   Taylor, the rhythm section could put its foot down. Their producer,
   Jimmy Miller, called them "the greatest white rhythm section I've ever
   seen." The live recording Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! (UK #1; US #6) (1970)
   documented this tour. Considered by famed critic Lester Bangs the best
   live record ever, the Stones paid their dues to Chuck Berry with
   renditions of "Little Queenie" and "Carol", staples from their pub days
   in south London.

   1969 saw the end of the band's 1963 contract with Decca Records. The
   intervening years since they had signed with the record company had
   seen them become global superstars, and despite overtures they refused
   to sign a new contract. They recorded one final single to fulfill their
   contractual obligation, the bawdy, intentionally unreleaseable ballad
   "Cocksucker Blues", and left to form their own record company under the
   financially astute eye of merchant banker Prince Rupert Loewenstein
   (who had been hired by Mick Jagger to oversee the band's business
   affairs). Sticky Fingers (UK #1; US #1), released in March 1971 as the
   band's first album on their own Rolling Stones Records label, continued
   where Let It Bleed had left off, featuring one of their best known
   hits, " Brown Sugar", the country-influenced " Wild Horses", the moody
   "Moonlight Mile" (featuring Paul Buckmaster's evocative string
   arrangement and one of Jagger's finest vocal performances), and a
   version of Marianne Faithfull's "Sister Morphine" about her own
   ambiguous relationship with heroin. Mick Taylor collaborated on several
   songs with Jagger, partially due to Richards' escalating drug
   addictions and Jagger's growing irritation with Richards'
   unreliability. However, all the songs were credited as usual to
   "Jagger/Richards", which frustrated Taylor and perhaps contributed to
   his eventual exit from the group.

1972-1974

   As Keith Richards' problems with drugs deepened, Mick Jagger began to
   move in more elevated social circles. He married the Nicaraguan model
   Bianca Perez Moreno de Macias, and the couple's jet-set lifestyle put
   further distance between himself and Richards. Pressured by the UK
   Inland Revenue service for several years of unpaid income tax, their
   recently appointed business manager Prince Rupert Lowenstein, a
   "society" friend of Jagger's and descendant of the Rothschild family,
   advised the band to move abroad to avoid bankruptcy caused by the high
   rates of taxation of the Labour government of Harold Wilson. They
   eventually decided to quit Britain for the South of France, the band
   members taking to this enforced change of lifestyle with varying
   degrees of success. Bill Wyman, in particular, soon felt at home in his
   new mountainside house and became friendly with French painter Claude
   Chagall. Richards, however, adopted a more 'head-in-the-sand' approach,
   ensconced in his London Cheyne Walk home in a state of insurrection
   until the very last minute.

   Once in France, Richards rented a gothic chateau, Villa Nellecote,
   which had been used as the headquarters for the local Nazi SS during
   the Second World War, and sublet rooms to the band members and a
   multitude of assorted hangers-on. Using The Rolling Stones Mobile
   Studio (now owned by the Cantos Music Foundation), they began recording
   the double album Exile on Main St. (UK #1; US #1) ( 1972) in the
   basement of their new home, reputedly using electricity purloined from
   nearby railway lines. Dismissed by some on its release as sprawling and
   self-indulgent, the record is now considered among the band's greatest.
   The film Cocksucker Blues, never officially released, documents the
   subsequent, highly publicised 1972 North American ("STP") Tour.

   By the time Exile on Main St. had been completed, Jagger had made the
   other band members aware that he was more interested in the celebrity
   lifestyle than working on its follow-up, and increasingly their records
   were made piecemeal, with tracks and parts laid down as and when the
   band, Jagger and Richards in particular, could get together and remain
   amicable long enough to do so. When it finally arrived, Goats Head Soup
   (UK #1; US #1) ( 1973) featured strong tracks such as "Winter,"
   "Heartbreaker" and the Keith Richards-sung "Coming Down Again," and was
   memorable largely for the hit single "Angie", popularly believed to be
   about David Bowie's new wife, but in reality was another of Richards'
   odes to Anita Pallenberg.

   Interestingly, the popular ballad "Waiting on a Friend" was recorded
   during the Goats Head Soup sessions, but not released until Tattoo You,
   nearly ten years later. The making of the record was not helped by
   another legal battle over drugs, this one dating back to their stay in
   France. But the fall 1973 European Tour showed The Rolling Stones in
   top form, particularly Taylor, who played extensive solos on songs like
   "Midnight Rambler" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in an
   exciting interplay with Richards on rhythm guitar.

   A live recording made in Brussels on 17 October was intended for an
   official release, but owing to legal problems it appeared only on
   bootlegs (Nasty Music, The Bedspring Symphony and Brussels Affair) and
   many fans and critics regard these as the best Rolling Stones concert
   recordings. By the time they came to the Musicland studios in Munich to
   record 1974's It's Only Rock'n Roll (UK #2; US #1), there were even
   more problems, and regular producer Jimmy Miller was not asked to
   participate because of his increasing unreliability and drug abuse. The
   new record was generally written off as being an uninspiring piece of
   work from a band seen as stagnating, but both album and the single of
   the same name were hits, even without the customary tour to promote
   them. Although perhaps not in the same exalted company as 'Beggars
   Banquet', 'Let It Bleed', 'Sticky Fingers' and 'Exile on Main Street',
   'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll' still stands as one of the better albums the
   band produced during the '70s showing plenty of vim and vigour with
   tracks such as "Time Waits For No One" and "Short And Curlies."

   Taylor had begun to get impatient because there had been no tours
   between October of '73 and December of '74. The band found itself in
   stalemate, with bandmembers opting to spend their time abroad between
   recording sessions while Jagger was getting increasingly exasperated
   with Richards, whose behaviour was becoming more and more
   unpredictable. The other members of the band ended up paying for the
   fines and legal bills resulting from Richards' convictions, which also
   led to the entire band being denied entry to certain countries and
   meant missed out income for all. Taylor spent his time helping Jagger
   composing and recording songs in the studio while Richards was often
   "a.w.o.l.". Jagger promised Taylor he would get recognition for his
   contributions in the form of official credits on tracks from Goats Head
   Soup and It's Only Rock'n Roll. When this did not happen and it
   transpired there were still no tours in sight by the end of '74, with
   the next album's recording session already booked, Taylor shocked the
   music world by announcing he was quitting The Rolling Stones.

1974-1982

   The rest of the band started sessions for the next album, Black and
   Blue (UK #2; US #1) ( 1976). The band used the album's recording
   sessions (again in Munich) to audition possible replacements.
   Guitarists as stylistically far-flung as Humble Pie lead Peter Frampton
   and ex- Yardbirds virtuoso Jeff Beck were auditioned. American session
   players Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel appeared on much of the album,
   but the band settled on Ron Wood. Wood had asked Mick Taylor for his
   help when he wanted to put his first solo album together. Taylor
   started hanging out at The Wick (Ronnie's house) and one day brought
   Keith Richards along who then also befriended Wood. Taylor and Wood had
   known each other since they were teenagers, playing the same clubs in
   London with their respective bands, The Gods and The Birds. In 1974
   Wood was still the guitarist with The Faces, whose singer Rod Stewart
   had recently gone solo full-time.

   Wood had already contributed to It's Only Rock 'N' Roll, but his first
   public act with the band would be the 1975 Tour of the Americas. The
   shows featured a new format for The Stones with their usual act being
   aided by theatrical stage props and gimmicks, including a giant
   inflatable phallus and a cherry picker on which Jagger would soar out
   over the audience. This represented a further breakdown in Jagger and
   Richards' relationship; the pragmatic Richards considering the
   theatrics entirely superfluous and distracting from the music, but once
   again, Jagger was, if nothing else, shrewdly interpreting market trends
   - the mid-1970s were the era of extravagant stage shows from the likes
   of Queen and Elton John, and the band's tours were to become even more
   expensive and elaborate in years to come.

   Although The Rolling Stones remained hugely popular through the 1970s,
   music critics had grown increasingly dismissive of the band's output
   (that is, until the seminal late-1970s album Some Girls). Keith
   Richards would have more serious concerns in 1977: Despite having spent
   much of the previous year undergoing a series of drug therapies to help
   withdraw from heroin, including (allegedly) having his blood filtered,
   after a tip-off to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police from Canadian
   Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Richards and Pallenberg were arrested in
   a Toronto hotel room and charged with possession of heroin. The case
   would drag on for a year, with Richards eventually receiving a
   suspended sentence and ordered to play two free concerts for a local
   charity. This sparked one of Richards's first musical projects outside
   of the Stones (with more to come as Jagger's own solo interests dawned
   in the 80's), as he and Wood formed a band, The New Barbarians, to
   perform at the shows. This motivated a final, concerted attempt to end
   his drug habit, which proved largely successful. It also coincided with
   the end of his relationship with Anita Pallenberg, which had become
   increasingly strained since the tragic death of their third child (an
   infant son named Tara) and her own inability to curb her heroin
   addiction while Keith struggled to finally get clean.

   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 would end in 1977. By this time punk rock had become highly
   influential, and The Stones were increasingly criticized as being
   decadent, aging millionaires and their music considered by many to be
   either stagnant or irrelevant. The Clash vocalist Joe Strummer even
   went so far as to declare "no Elvis, Beatles or Rolling Stones" in
   their song "1977". What people did not realise at the time was that
   many punk bands idolised The Stones, Keith Richards in particular, and
   this does not seem surprising given the band's earlier rebellious
   image.

   In 1978, the band recorded Some Girls (UK #2; US #1), their most
   focused and successful album in years, despite the perceived misogyny
   of the title track. Jagger and Richards seemed to channel much of the
   personal turmoil surrounding them into renewed creative vitality. With
   the notable exception of the disco-influenced "Miss You" (a hit single
   and a live staple) and the country ballad "Far Away Eyes", the songs in
   this album were fast, basic guitar-driven rock 'n' roll (motivated by
   the punk rock music scene) or impeccable ballads like "Beast of Burden"
   (which prominently features the Richards-Wood guitar-playing style, the
   ancient art of weaving), and the album was widely praised as both a
   Stones classic and a summation of late 1970s music trends. The group's
   subsequent US Tour 1978, dogged by frequently sloppy drunken
   performances, was nevertheless a massive success. However the group did
   not tour Europe the following year, breaking the every-3-year touring
   routine of Europe in place since 1967.

   Entering the 1980's on a renewed commercial high due to the success of
   Some Girls, the next album Emotional Rescue (UK #1; US #1), released in
   the summer of 1980, was of a similar vein in musical style of its
   predecessor but severely lacked its redeeming features. The recording
   of the album was reportedly plagued in turmoil, with Jagger and
   Richards' relationship reaching a new low. Richards, more sober than
   ever in the previous 10 years, had began to assert more control in the
   studio again, more than Jagger had become used to, and a power stuggle
   had ensued and clashes were rife. Though Emotional Rescue hit the top
   of the charts on both sides of the Altantic it was panned by critics as
   a lackluster and inconsistent effort. Following a bogged press
   conference, due to an extremely drunken Richards, announcing the
   release of the album, the group decided not to tour in support of the
   album and went on hiatus.

   In early 1981 the group reconvened and decided they would tour the US
   that year, however that wouldn't leave much time to write and record a
   new album to promote the tour as well as rehearse for it... that year's
   resulting album, Tattoo You (UK #2; US #1), was composed of patched-up
   tracks unused or unfinished from earlier recording sessions (the ballad
   " Waiting On A Friend" dated back to the 1972 Goats Head Soup sessions)
   as well as 2 new songs ("Neighbours" and "Heaven"). It also featured
   the hugely popular single " Start Me Up", (first recorded in 1977 as a
   reggae number but never released) showing that Richards was still
   capable of writing monster guitar parts of the same calibre as ten or
   fifteen years earlier. Several songs on the album ("Waiting on a
   Friend" and "Tops") featured Mick Taylor's guitar playing, while jazz
   saxophonist Sonny Rollins played on "Slave" and did an overdub on
   "Waiting on a Friend". Upon its release Tattoo You was praised by
   critics as a solid effort, ironically, and a true return to form for
   the group. It is now considered one of their most classic albums, and
   the last classic album they ever made.

   In the summer of 1981, the band rehearsed for its upcoming US tour at
   Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR) at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue in
   Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, the site of the former Cheetah Club. During
   this time at SIR, The Stones recorded the music video "Start Me Up" in
   rehearsal studio #1. They also recorded the "Waiting On a Friend" video
   in the streets of Manhattan's East Village around the same time. The
   Stones' American Tour 1981 was their biggest, longest and most colorful
   stage production to date, playing indoor arenas and outdoor stadiums
   for over 2 months, and became the highest grossing tour of that year.
   Some shows were recorded and filmed, resulting in the 1982 live-album
   Still Life (American Concert 1981), and in the 1982 Hal Ashby concert
   film The Rolling Stones: Let's Spend The Night Together.

   In the summer of 1982, to commemorate their 20th Anniversary as a band,
   the Stones' took their successful American stage show to Europe;
   European Tour 1982 was their first European tour in 6 years, and was
   joined by former Allman Brothers Band piano player Chuck Leavell who
   continues to play with the Stones to this day. By the end of the year
   they had signed a new multi-million dollar recording deal with a new
   label, CBS Records - it seemed the Rolling Stones were on top of the
   world once again.

1983-1993

   Throughout the early and mid 1980s the Jagger/Richards partnership
   continued to falter, and their records would suffer because of it.
   1983's Undercover (UK #3; US #4) was widely seen as Jagger's attempt to
   make The Rolling Stones' sound more compatible with current musical
   trends. Despite initial critical enthusiasm ( Rolling Stone gave the
   album four and a half stars), its slick production and violent
   political and sexual content were coolly received by fans, and it
   ultimately sold below expectations. The decision to not tour behind it
   surely didn't help matters, and the band's accompanying videos, which
   were filmed in Mexico solely to save money, were not without
   controversy (the video for "Undercover of the Night" was said to
   include real assassination footage from Latin America and the
   guilty-pleasure "Too Much Blood" was criticized for being inspired too
   closely by slasher films and imagery). To make matters worse, Ron Wood
   was now suffering from his own growing drug habit.

   When the Stones had signed their recording contract with CBS Records in
   1982, Jagger had also signed a major solo record deal with them. This
   angered Richards who saw it as a lack of commitment to the band but
   despite this Jagger commenced to record his first solo album in 1984.
   Before the end of the year Bill Wyman put together a video compilation
   called Rewind that Jagger helped out with. CBS released a hits
   compilation from 1971-1984 called Rewind as well. To add to the band's
   woes, in 1985 pianist, road manager and long-time friend Ian Stewart
   died of a heart attack. It cannot be overstated how important the
   gentle, cool-headed pianist's contribution to The Rolling Stones had
   been, from driving the tour van in the early days to keeping the
   warring band members from each other's throats during some of their
   darker moments. Without his presence, the band could well have imploded
   countless times. The band took his death very hard, and they performed
   a tribute concert for Stewart, which was their only live appearance
   during this time.

   Indeed, Jagger was spending more time on his solo recordings than on
   the Stones, and much of the material on 1986's turgid Dirty Work (UK
   #4; US #4) was authored solely by Keith Richards, with more
   contributions by Ron Wood than was ever aloud on previous Stones
   albums. The album sold poorly and Jagger's decision not to tour in
   support of it surely did not help boost sales. Though the Stones were
   awarded a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, it was by this point
   that Jagger and Richards had begun to openly criticizing each other in
   the press. The Glimmer Twins' relationship had hit rock bottom, and
   many observers assumed the band was near the brink of destruction or
   had already broken up.

   By 1988, neither the quality nor the sales of Jagger's solo records,
   She's the Boss (UK #6; US #13) ( 1985) and Primitive Cool (UK #26; US
   #41) ( 1987)), lived up to expectations. Ironically, it was Keith
   Richards' first solo record, Talk is Cheap (UK #37; US #24) ( 1988),
   which he had been reluctant to make because of his loyalty to The
   Stones but had nothing else to do otherwise, that was the most well
   received by fans and critics.

   In early- 1989, The Rolling Stones, including Mick Taylor and Ronnie
   Wood along with Ian Stewart (posthumously), were inducted into the Rock
   and Roll Hall of Fame. And after much time to cool off, Jagger and
   Richards appeared to bury the hatchet, and, with a new understanding
   and appreciation for each other, re-focused on the recording of a new
   album as the Rolling Stones, which would eventually become Steel Wheels
   (UK #2; US #3). Widely heralded at the time as a return to form, the
   slick conventional-rock album included the hit singles "Mixed
   Emotions", "Rock In A Hard Place" and "Almost Hear You Sigh" and well
   as a song called "Continental Drift" which featured the musicians of
   the Moroccan mountain village of Joujouka, previously recorded by Brian
   Jones during the ill-fated 1967 trip to North Africa with Keith
   Richards and Anita Pallenberg.

   The subsequent US Steel Wheels Tour saw the Stones finally touring for
   the first time in 7 years (since Europe 1982), and was their biggest
   stage production to date. By the time the massive tour reached Europe
   in 1990, it had changed its name to the Urban Jungle Tour. Recordings
   made from the tour produced the 1991 live-album Flashpoint.

   This tour would be the last for Bill Wyman who, after years of
   deliberation and unwillingness to tour any longer, finally left the
   band for good in 1993. He then published Stone Alone, a frank
   autobiography.

1993-1999

   After Bill Wyman's departure the band continued as a foursome and in
   1991 signed a new recording contract with Virgin Records. Virgin
   remastered and repackaged the Rolling Stones Records back catalog
   (Sticky Fingers through Steel Wheels sans the three live albums) and
   issued a new hits compilation in 1993 Jump Back, which basically
   replaced the 1984 classic hits comp Rewind. Along with long time Stones
   piano player Chuck Leavell they set upon recording their next studio
   album in 1993. Charlie Watts was asked to choose a bass player, and he
   selected the respected session musician and Miles Davis and Sting
   sideman Darryl Jones, who appeared on the subsequent studio album
   Voodoo Lounge (UK #1; US #2) ( 1994) and played on the worldwide
   1994-1995 Voodoo Lounge Tour, another massive stage production. Voodoo
   Lounge received praise from fans and critics, though it failed to
   achieve the acclaim or popularity of The Stones' 1970s and 1980s
   records.

   During the world tour they recorded various shows and rehearsals and
   the result was the 1995 album Stripped which featured a cover of Bob
   Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" as well as other classic underplayed
   Stones songs like "Shine A Light", "Sweet Virginia" and "The Spider And
   The Fly".

   The Stones' song "Start Me Up" was used by Microsoft to launch their
   Windows 95 operating system. Some critics noted that the group who
   epitomised the way that rock 'n' roll commercialised earlier rhythm and
   blues by delivering it to a global audience provided the soundtrack for
   the corporation, which did the same with software. The Rolling Stones
   had previously never licensed their music for commercial use. According
   to legend, Microsoft founder Bill Gates asked Jagger how much the
   rights to the song would cost; rather than refuse outright, Jagger
   replied with $14 million, a sum that he thought would be outrageously
   high, but Gates immediately agreed to the amount. In reality, the
   Stones were in negotiations with Microsoft for three months and
   accepted a far lower amount than was made known, promulgating the $14
   million figure for their own publicity purposes. In addition, the band
   initially submitted a version of the song without the departed Wyman,
   in an attempt to avoid paying him royalties; Microsoft demanded, and
   received, the original recording. Several years later, in 1999, the
   song "She's a Rainbow" was used by Apple Computer to advertise the
   introduction of the multicoloured iMacs.

   The Verve's 1997 hit “ Bitter Sweet Symphony” uses a small five-note
   sample from an orchestral version of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last
   Time.” After “Bittersweet Symphony” became a hit single, The Verve was
   sued by Allen Klein, who owns the copyrights to The Rolling Stones'
   pre-1970 songs. Klein claimed The Verve broke their licence agreement
   when they used a larger portion than was covered in the license. The
   band handed over 100 percent of their songwriting royalties. They were
   then sued by Andrew Loog Oldham, who claimed to possess the copyright
   on the sampled sound recording. “Bittersweet Symphony” was nominated
   for a Grammy in the Best Song category, which honours songwriters.
   Because the unfavorable settlement transferred the Verve’s copyright
   and songwriting credit to Klein and the Rolling Stones, the Grammy
   nomination went to “Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.”

   The Rolling Stones ended the nineties with their album Bridges To
   Babylon (UK #6; US #3) released in 1997 to mixed reviews. The album
   featured another prolific bassist, Doug Wimbish, a journeyman session
   player and solo artist. Wimbish was offered the permanent position of
   bass player by the band, but declined to focus on his own material, and
   so did not play on the ensuing tour. Darryl Jones was brought back and
   has remained with the band since. Despite its failed singles, Babylon
   sales were reasonably the same as previous records. However, the huge
   success was the Bridges To Babylon Tour which crossed Europe, North
   America and various other destinations. Once again a live album was
   culled from the tour, No Security, only this time all but two songs
   ("Live With Me" and "The Last Time") were never released on any
   previous live albums. The album hardly sold. In 1999 they toured the
   live album in the U.S. as well as continued and finished the Babylon
   tour in Europe.

2000-present

   In 2002, The Rolling Stones released Forty Licks (UK #2; US #2), a
   greatest hits album that spanned their career, that contained four new
   songs recorded with the latter day core band of Jagger, Richards,
   Watts, Wood, Leavell and Jones. The same year, Q magazine named The
   Rolling Stones as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die", and the
   2002-2003 Licks Tour gave people that chance. On July 30, 2003, the
   band headlined the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert in
   Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to help the city - which they had frequently
   used for pre-tour rehearsals - recover financially and psychologically
   from the effects of the 2003 SARS epidemic. It was attended by an
   estimated 490,000 people. On November 9, 2003, the band played its
   first ever concert in Hong Kong as part of the Harbour Fest
   celebration, also for revival from SARS. In November of 2003 the band
   exclusively licensed the right to sell their new 4-DVD boxed set, Four
   Flicks, recorded on their most recent world tour, to the U.S. Best Buy
   chain of stores. In response, other music retail chains (including
   Tower Records, Virgin Megastore and HMV) pulled all Rolling Stones CDs
   and related merchandise from their shelves and replaced them with signs
   explaining the situation.

   On July 26, 2005, coinciding with Jagger's birthday, the band announced
   the name of their new album, A Bigger Bang (UK #2; US #3), which was
   released September 6 to typically strong reviews, including a glowing
   write up in Rolling Stone magazine (often noted for its consistent
   support of the group). The album included perhaps the most
   controversial song from The Stones in years, "Sweet Neo Con", a
   criticism of American Neoconservatism from Jagger. The song was
   reportedly almost dropped from the album due to objections from
   Richards, who prefers to avoid music that's overtly political or
   topical, because he believes that such songs rarely stand the test of
   time.

   The subsequent A Bigger Bang Tour began in August 2005, and visited
   North America, South America, East Asia in a mixture of venues. In
   February 2006 the group played the high-profile slot of half-time of
   Super Bowl XL. By the end of 2005, the tour had set a record of $162
   million gross receipts, breaking the previous North American mark also
   set by the Stones in 1994. Later that month the band played to a
   massive crowd on the beach in Rio de Janeiro. After performances Down
   Under, Keith Richards went in hospital in May 2006 for brain surgery
   after an apparent fall from a coconut tree on the island of Fiji,
   causing a six week postponement in the European leg of the tour. The
   following month, it was reported that Ron Wood was entering rehab for a
   couple of weeks following increased recent alcohol abuse. The Stones
   returned to North America for another round of concerts in September
   2006, and are expected to return to Europe in the summer of 2007. By
   November 2006, A Bigger Bang Tour had been declared the
   highest-grossing tour of all time, earning the band $437 million in
   receipts.

Lineups

   1962 - 1963
     * Mick Jagger - lead vocals, harmonica, percussion
     * Keith Richards - guitar, vocals
     * Brian Jones - guitar, vocals, harmonica, percussion
     * Dick Taylor - bass (1962 only)
     * Bill Wyman - bass, vocals (from December 1962)
     * Ian Stewart - piano, keyboard, percussion
     * Carlo Little, Tony Chapman, Mick Avory - drums (the Stones did not
       have a permament drummer until Charlie Watts joined in early 1963

   1963 - 1969
     * Mick Jagger - lead vocals, harmonica, percussion, guitar
     * Keith Richards - guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards
     * Brian Jones - guitar, vocals, harmonica, keyboard, sitar, reeds,
       marimbas, percussion, dulcimer, woodwind, accordion, tamboura
     * Bill Wyman - bass, vocals, percussion, keyboards
     * Charlie Watts - drums, percussion

   1969 - 1974
     * Mick Jagger - lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, percussion
     * Keith Richards - guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards
     * Mick Taylor - guitar, bass, synthesiser, percussion, vocals
     * Bill Wyman - bass, synthesiser
     * Charlie Watts - drums, percussion

   1975 - 1992
     * Mick Jagger - lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
     * Keith Richards - guitar, vocals, bass
     * Ron Wood - guitar, bass, vocals, percussion
     * Bill Wyman - bass, synthesiser
     * Charlie Watts - drums, percussion

   1993 - present
     * Mick Jagger - lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion, bass,
       keyboards
     * Keith Richards - guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards
     * Ron Wood - guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, bass
     * Charlie Watts - drums, percussion

Tours

     * 2005/2006 - A Bigger Bang Tour
     * 2002/2003 - Licks Tour
     * 1999 - No Security Tour/ Bridges To Babylon Tour
     * 1997/1998 - Bridges To Babylon Tour
     * 1994/1995 - Voodoo Lounge Tour
     * 1989/1990 - Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour
     * 1982 - European Tour 1982
     * 1981 - American Tour 1981
     * 1978 - US Tour 1978
     * 1976 - Tour of Europe '76
     * 1975 - Tour of the Americas '75
     * 1973 - 1973 European Tour
     * 1973 - Winter Tour '73 (Hawaii/New Zealand/Australia)
     * 1972 - American Tour 1972 (also known as S.T.P. Tour)
     * 1971 - UK Tour 1971
     * 1970 - European Tour 1970
     * 1969 - American Tour 1969 (famous but didn't seem to have a name)
     * 1967 - European Tour
     * 1966 - Australia and New Zealand Tour, European Tour, North
       American Tour, British Tour
     * 1965 - 1 Far East tour, 4 European tours, 3 British tours, 2 North
       American tours
     * 1964 - 4 British tours, 2 US tours
     * 1963 - British Tour (as an opening act)

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