History
Early history
1962–1964: Building a following
The band played their first show billed as "the Rollin' Stones" on 12 July 1962, at the1965–1967: Height of fame
The band's second UK LP, '' The Rolling Stones No. 2'', was released in January 1965 and reached number 1 on the charts. The US version, released in February as ''1968–1972: Jones' departure and death, Mick Taylor joins, "Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World"
The band spent the first few months of 1968 working on material for their next album. Those sessions resulted in the song "1972–1977: Critical fluctuations and Ronnie Wood replaces Taylor
In 1972, members of the band set up a complex financial structure to reduce the amount of their taxes. Their holding company, Promogroup, has offices in both the Netherlands and the Caribbean. The Netherlands was chosen because it does not directly tax1978–1982: Commercial peak
The group's fortunes changed in 1978, after the band released ''1983–1988: Band turmoil and solo projects
Before leaving Atlantic, the Rolling Stones released ''Undercover (The Rolling Stones album), Undercover'' in late 1983. It reached number 3 in the UK and number 4 in the US. Despite good reviews and the peak Top Ten position of the title track, the record sold below expectations and there was no tour to support it. Subsequently, the Stones' new marketer/distributor Sony Music Entertainment, CBS Records took over distributing their Atlantic catalogue. By this time, the Jagger/Richards rift had grown significantly. To Richards' annoyance, Jagger signed a solo deal with CBS Records and spent much of 1984 writing songs for his first album. He also declared his growing lack of interest in the Rolling Stones. By 1985, Jagger was spending more time on solo recordings. Much of the material on 1986's ''Dirty Work (The Rolling Stones album), Dirty Work'' was generated by Richards, with more contributions from Wood than on previous Rolling Stones albums. It was recorded in Paris, and Jagger was often absent from the studio, leaving Richards to keep the recording sessions moving forward. In June 1985, Jagger teamed up with David Bowie for "Dancing in the Street#Bowie/Jagger version, Dancing in the Street", which was recorded for the Live Aid charity movement. This was one of Jagger's first solo performances, and the song reached number 1 in the UK, and number 7 in the US. In December 1985, Ian Stewart died of a heart attack. The Rolling Stones played a private tribute concert for him at London's 100 Club in February 1986. Two days later they were presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. ''Dirty Work'' was released in March 1986 to mixed reviews, reaching number 4 in both the US and UK. It was the Stones' first album for CBS with an outside producer, Steve Lillywhite. With relations between Richards and Jagger at an all-time low, Jagger refused to tour to promote the album and instead undertook a solo tour, where he performed some Rolling Stones songs. As a result of their animosity, the Stones almost broke up. Jagger's solo records, ''She's the Boss'' (1985), which reached number 6 in the UK and number 13 in the US, and ''Primitive Cool'' (1987), which reached number 26 in the UK and number 41 in the US, met with moderate commercial success. In 1988, with the Rolling Stones mostly inactive, Richards released his first solo album, ''Talk Is Cheap'', which reached number 37 in the UK and No. 24 in the US. It was well received by fans and critics, and was certified Gold in the US. Richards has subsequently referred to this late-80s period, when the two were recording solo albums with no obvious reunion of the Stones in sight, as "World War III".1989–1999: Comeback, record-breaking tours and Wyman's departure
In early 1989, the Stones - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Ronnie Wood, Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ian Stewart - were inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Jagger, Richards, Wood and Taylor in attendance. Jagger and Richards set aside their animosity and went to work on a new Rolling Stones album, '' Steel Wheels''. Heralded as a return to form, it included the singles "Mixed Emotions (The Rolling Stones song), Mixed Emotions" (US number 5), "Rock and a Hard Place (song), Rock and a Hard Place" (US number 23) and "Almost Hear You Sigh". The album also included "Continental Drift", which the Rolling Stones recorded in Tangier, Morocco, in 1989, with the Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar, coordinated by Tony King and Cherie Nutting. Nigel Finch produced the BBC documentary film ''The Rolling Stones in Morocco''. Finch also directed ''25x5: The Continuing Adventures of the Rolling Stones'', a documentary spanning the band's 25 year history, featuring new interviews with the five current members and archival interview materiel of Brain Jones and Mick Taylor. ''25x5'' aired on the BBC in late 1989 and was released on home video early the following year. ''Steel Wheels'' reached number 2 in the UK and number 3 in the US. The Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour was the band's first world tour in seven years and their biggest stage production to date. Opening acts included Living Colour and Guns N' Roses. Recordings from the tour include the 1991 concert album ''Flashpoint (album), Flashpoint'', which reached number 6 in the UK and number 16 in the US, and the concert film ''Stones at the Max, Live at the Max'' released in 1991. The tour was Bill Wyman's last. After years of deliberation he decided to leave the band, although his departure was not made official until January 1993. He then published ''Stone Alone'', an autobiography based on scrapbooks and diaries he had kept since the band's early days. A few years later he formed Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings and began recording and touring again. After the successes of the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tours, the band took a break. Watts released two jazz albums; Wood recorded his fifth solo album, the first in 11 years, called ''Slide On This''; Wyman released his fourth solo album; Richards released his second solo album in late 1992, ''Main Offender'', and did a small tour, including big concerts in Spain and Argentina. Jagger got good reviews and sales with his third solo album, ''Wandering Spirit (album), Wandering Spirit'', which reached number 12 in the UK and number 11 in the US. The album sold more than two million copies worldwide, being certified Gold in the US. After Wyman's departure, the Rolling Stones' new distributor/record label, Virgin Records, remastered and repackaged the band's back catalogue from ''Sticky Fingers'' to ''Steel Wheels'', except for the three live albums. They issued another hits compilation in 1993 entitled ''Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones, Jump Back'', which reached number 16 in the UK and number 30 in the US. By 1993, the Stones were ready to start recording another studio album. Charlie Watts recruited bassist2000–2011: 40th anniversary, ''A Bigger Bang'' and continued success
In late 2001, Mick Jagger released his fourth solo album, ''Goddess in the Doorway''. It met with mixed reviews; it reached number 44 in the UK and number 39 in the US. A month after the September 11 attacks, Jagger, Richards, and a backing band took part in The Concert for New York City, performing "Salt of the Earth (song), Salt of the Earth" and "Miss You". In 2002, the Stones released ''Forty Licks'', a greatest hits double album, to mark forty years as a band. The collection contained four new songs recorded with the core band of Jagger, Richards, Watts, Wood, Leavell, and Jones. The album has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. It reached number 2 in both the US and UK. The same year, Q (magazine), ''Q'' magazine named the Rolling Stones one of the 50 Bands To See Before You Die. The Stones headlined the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert in Toronto, Canada, to help the city—which they had used for rehearsals since the Voodoo Lounge tour—recover from the 2003 Severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS epidemic; an estimated 490,000 people attended the concert. On 9 November 2003, the band played their first concert in Hong Kong, as part of the Harbour Fest celebration, in support of its SARS-affected economy. The same month, the band licensed the exclusive rights to sell the new four-DVD boxed set ''Four Flicks'', recorded on their recent world tour, to the US Best Buy chain of stores. In response, some Canadian and US music retail chains (including HMV Canada and Circuit City (1949–2009 company), Circuit City) pulled Rolling Stones CDs and related merchandise from their shelves and replaced it with signs explaining why. In 2004, a double live album of the Licks Tour, ''Live Licks'', was released and certified gold in the US. It reached number 2 in both the UK and US. In November 2004, the Rolling Stones were among the inaugural inductees into the2012–2016: 50th anniversary, documentary and ''Blue & Lonesome''
The Rolling Stones celebrated their 50th anniversary in the summer of 2012 by releasing the book ''The Rolling Stones: 50''. A new take on the band's lip-and-tongue logo, designed by Shepard Fairey, was also revealed and used during the celebrations. Jagger's brother Chris Jagger, Chris performed a gig at The Rolling Stones Museum in Slovenia, in conjunction with the celebrations. The documentary ''Crossfire Hurricane'', directed by Brett Morgen, was released in October 2012. He conducted approximately fifty hours of interviews for the film, including extensive interviews with Wyman and Taylor. This was the first official career-spanning documentary since ''25x5: The Continuing Adventures of the Rolling Stones'', filmed for their 25th anniversary in 1989. A new compilation album, ''GRRR!'', was released on 12 November. Available in four different formats, it included two new tracks, "Doom and Gloom" and "One More Shot", recorded at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris, France, in the last few weeks of August 2012. The album went on to sell over two million copies worldwide. The music video for "Doom and Gloom", featuring Noomi Rapace, was released on 20 November. In November 2012, the Stones began their 50 & Counting... tour at London's O2 Arena, where they were joined by Jeff Beck. At their second show, in London, Eric Clapton and Florence Welch joined the group onstage. The third anniversary concert took place on 8 December at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. The last two dates were at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on 13 and 15 December. Bruce Springsteen and blues–rock band the Black Keys joined the band on the final night. The stage on this tour was designed so that the lips could "inflate and deflate during different parts of the show." The band also played two songs at ''12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief''. The Stones played nineteen shows in the US in spring 2013 with various guest stars, including Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, before returning to the UK. In June, the band performed at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival 2013, Glastonbury Festival. They returned to Hyde Park in July and performed the same set list as their 1969 concert at the venue. ''Hyde Park Live'', a live album recorded at the two Hyde Park gigs on 6 and 13 July, was released exclusively as a Online distribution, digital download through iTunes later that month. An award-winning live DVD, ''Sweet Summer Sun: Live in Hyde Park'', was released on 11 November. In February 2014, the band embarked on their 14 On Fire tour, scheduled for the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and Europe and to go until the summer. On 17 March, Jagger's long-time partner L'Wren Scott died suddenly, resulting in the cancellation and rescheduling of the opening tour dates to October. On 4 June, the Rolling Stones performed for the first time in Israel. ''Haaretz'' described the concert as being "Historic with a capital H". In a 2015 interview with Jagger, when asked if retirement crosses his mind he stated, "Nah, not in the moment. I'm thinking about what the next tour is. I'm not thinking about retirement. I'm planning the next set of tours, so the answer is really, 'No, not really. The Stones embarked on their América Latina Olé Tour 2016, Latin American tour in February 2016. On 25 March, the band played a bonus show, a free open-air concert in Havana, Cuba, which was attended by an estimated 500,000 concert-goers. In June of that year, the Rolling Stones released ''Totally Stripped'', an expanded and reconceived edition of ''Stripped (The Rolling Stones album), Stripped'', in multiple formats. Their concert on 25 March 2016 in Cuba was commemorated in the film ''The Rolling Stones: Havana Moon, Havana Moon''. It premiered on 23 September for one night only in more than a thousand theatres worldwide. The film ''Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America, Olé Olé Olé: A Trip Across Latin America'', a documentary of their 2016 Latin America tour, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 16 September 2016; it came out on DVD and Blu-ray on 26 May 2017. The Stones performed at the Desert Trip festival held in Indio, California, playing two nights, 7 and 14 October, the same nights as Bob Dylan. The band released ''Blue & Lonesome (The Rolling Stones album), Blue & Lonesome'' on 2 December 2016. The album consisted of 12 blues covers of artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, and Little Walter. Recording took place in British Grove Studios, London, in December 2015, and featured Eric Clapton on two tracks. The album reached number 1 in the UK, the second-highest opening sales week for an album that year. It also debuted at number 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200.2017–present: No Filter Tour, Watts' death, and ''Hackney Diamonds''
In July 2017, the ''Toronto Sun'' reported that the Stones were getting ready to record their first album of original material in more than a decade, but recording was later ultimately delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ''On Air (The Rolling Stones album), On Air'', a collection of 18 recordings the band performed on the BBC between 1963 and 1965, was released in December 2017. The album featured eight songs the band had never recorded or released commercially. In May 2017, the No Filter Tour was announced, with fourteen shows in twelve different venues across Europe in September and October of the same year. It was later extended to go from May to July 2018, adding fourteen new dates across the UK and Europe, making it the band's first UK tour since 2006. In November 2018, the Stones announced plans to bring the No Filter Tour to US stadiums in 2019, with 13 shows set to run from April to June. In March 2019, it was announced that Jagger would be undergoing heart valve replacement surgery, forcing the band to postpone the 17-date North American leg of their No Filter Tour. On 4 April 2019, it was announced that Jagger had completed his heart valve procedure in New York, was recovering (in hospital) after a successful operation, and could be released in the following few days. On 16 May, the Rolling Stones announced that the No Filter Tour would resume on 21 June with the 17 postponed dates rescheduled up to the end of August. In March 2020, the No Filter Tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rolling Stones—featuring Jagger, Richards, Watts, and Wood at their homes—were one of the headline acts on Global Citizen's ''Together at Home, One World: Together at Home'' on-line and on-screen concert on 18 April 2020, a global event featuring dozens of artists and comedians to support frontline healthcare workers and the World Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 23 April, Jagger announced through his Facebook page the release (the same day at 5pm British Summer Time, BST) of the single "Living in a Ghost Town", a new Rolling Stones song recorded in London and Los Angeles in 2019 and finished in isolation (part of the new material that the band were recording in the studio before the COVID-19 lockdown), a song that the band "thought would resonate through the times we're living in" and their first original one since 2012. The song reached number 1 on the German Singles Chart, the first time the Stones had reached the top spot in 52 years, and making them the oldest artists ever to do so. The band's 1973 album ''Goats Head Soup'' was reissued on 4 September 2020 and featured previously unreleased outtakes: such as "Criss Cross", which was released as a single and music video on 9 July 2020; "Scarlet (The Rolling Stones song), Scarlet", featuring Jimmy Page; and "All the Rage". On 11 September 2020, the album topped the UK Albums Chart as the Rolling Stones became the first artist to List of artists who topped the UK Albums Chart in five or more decades, top the chart across six different decades. In August 2021, it was announced that Watts would undergo an unspecified medical procedure and would not perform on the remainder of the No Filter tour; the longtime Stones associate Steve Jordan filled in as drummer. Watts died on 24 August 2021, at the age of 80, in a London hospital with his family around him. For 10 days, the contents of the Rolling Stones' official website were replaced with a picture of Watts, in his memory. On 27 August, the band's social media accounts shared a montage of pictures and videos of Watts. The band subsequently showed pictures and videos of Watts at the beginning of each concert on the No Filter tour. The short segment is roughly a minute long and plays a simple drum track by Watts. They became the highest-earning live act of 2021, surpassing Taylor Swift; since 2018 the two have traded the top two spots. The band Sixty (tour), began a new tour in 2022, with Jordan on drums. Following reports in February 2023 that former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr would appear on their yet-named new album, representatives for the band confirmed that McCartney will appear but stated that Starr would not. This will mark the first time that McCartney and the Stones have collaborated on a studio album. Four months later, it was reported that Wyman would return for a song, more than 30 years after his departure from the band; the album is expected to be released in late 2023. In August 2023, media outlets reported, based on an advertisement in a local UK newspaper, that a new Stones album might be released in September 2023. The ''Hackney Gazette'' advertisement made reference to several previous Stones hits, and linked to a fictitious diamond jeweller called "Hackney Diamonds", whose website privacy policy is that of Universal Music Group; the band's logo was used to dot the letter "i" in "diamonds". On 29 August, the band confirmed association with the website through posts on its social media profiles. Because of the advertisement, it was suspected that the album could be called ''Musical development
The Rolling Stones have assimilated various musical genres into their own collective sound. Throughout the band's career, their musical contributions have been marked by a continual reference to and reliance on musical styles including blues, psychedelia, R&B, country, folk, reggae, dance, and world music—exemplified by Jones' collaboration with the Master Musicians of Jajouka—as well as traditional English styles that use stringed instruments such as harps. Brian Jones experimented with the use of non-traditional instruments, such as the sitar and slide guitar, in their early days. The group started out covering early rock 'n' roll and blues songs, and have never stopped playing live or recording cover songs. According to biographer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the Stones "pioneered the gritty, hard-driving blues-based rock & roll that came to define hard rock with a "strong yet subtly swinging rhythm" provided by Wyman and Watts. Jagger and Richards had a shared admiration of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf. Little Walter influenced Brian Jones. Richards recalls, "He was more into T-Bone Walker and jazz blues stuff. We'd turn him onto Chuck Berry and say, 'Look, it's all the same shit, man, and you can do it. Charlie Watts, a traditional jazz drummer, was also introduced to the blues through his association with the pair, stating in 2003, "Keith and Brian turned me on to Jimmy Reed and people like that. I learned that Earl Phillips was playing on those records like a jazz drummer, playing swing, with a straight four." Jagger, recalling when he first heard the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Fats Domino, and other major American R&B artists, said it "seemed the most real thing" he had heard up to that point. Similarly, Keith Richards, describing the first time he listened to Muddy Waters, said it was the "most powerful music [he had] ever heard ... the most expressive". He also recalled, "when you think of some dopey, spotty seventeen year old from Dartford, who wants to be Muddy Waters—and there were a lot of us—in a way, very pathetic, but in another way, [it was] very ... heartwarming". Despite the Rolling Stones' predilection for blues and R&B numbers on their early live set lists, the first original compositions by the band reflected a more wide-ranging interest. Critic Richie Unterberger described the first Jagger/Richards single, "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)", as a "pop rock ballad ... When [Jagger and Richards] began to write songs, they were usually not derived from the blues, but were often surprisingly fey, slow, Beat music, Mersey-type pop numbers". "As Tears Go By (song), As Tears Go By", the ballad originally written for Marianne Faithfull, was one of the first songs written by Jagger and Richards and one of many written by the duo for other artists. Jagger said of the song, "It's a relatively mature song considering the rest of the output at the time. And we didn't think of [recording] it, because the Rolling Stones were a butch blues group." The Rolling Stones did later record a version which became a top five hit in the US. Richards said of their early writing experiences, "The amazing thing is that although Mick and I thought these songs were really puerile and kindergarten-time, every one that got put out made a decent showing in the charts. That gave us extraordinary confidence to carry on, because at the beginning songwriting was something we were going to do in order to say to Andrew [Loog Oldham], 'Well, at least we gave it a try ... Jagger opined, "We were very pop-orientated. We didn't sit around listening to Muddy Waters; we listened to everything. In some ways it's easy to write to order ... Keith and I got into the groove of writing those kind of tunes; they were done in ten minutes. I think we thought it was a bit of a laugh, and it turned out to be something of an apprenticeship for us." The writing of "The Last Time", the Rolling Stones' first major single, proved a turning point. Richards called it "a bridge into thinking about writing for the Stones. It gave us a level of confidence; a pathway of how to do it." The song was based on a traditional gospel song popularised by the Staple Singers, but the Rolling Stones' number features a distinctive guitar riff, played by Brian Jones. Prior to the emergence of Jagger/Richards as the Stones' songwriters, the band members occasionally were given collective credit under the pseudonym Nanker Phelge. Some songs attributed to Nanker Phelge have been re-attributed to Jagger/Richards. Beginning with Jones and continuing with Wood, the Rolling Stones have developed what Richards refers to as the "ancient art of weaving" responsible for part of their sound—the interplay between two guitarists on stage. Unlike most bands, the Stones follow Richards' lead rather than the drummer's. Likewise, Watts was primarily a jazz player who was able to bring that genre's influences to the style of the band's drumming. The following of Richards' lead has led to conflicts between Jagger and Richards, and they have been known to annoy one another, but they have both agreed it makes for a better record; Watts in particular has praised Jagger's production skills. In the studio the band have tended to use a fluid personnel for recordings and not use the same players for each song. Guest pianists were commonplace on recordings; several songs on ''Beggars Banquet'' are driven by Nicky Hopkins' piano playing. On ''Exile on Main St.'', Richards plays bass on three tracks while Taylor plays on four. Richards started using open tunings for rhythm parts (often in conjunction with a Capo (musical device), capo), most prominently an open-E or open-D tuning in 1968. Beginning in 1969, he often used 5-string open-G tuning (with the lower 6th string removed), as heard on the 1969 single "Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar" (''Sticky Fingers'', 1971), "The Rolling Stones turn 50 next year, an unprecedented milestone for a rock group and confirmation of an obvious truism: Nobody survives like the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band. Starting out as a purist blues combo that fronted a bad-boy image while recording the occasional Lennon/McCartney pop tune and string-laden ballad to help secure their popularity, the Stones deftly moved through a number of guises in the '60s and '70s while remaining essentially the same band at its core. When arena-rock reigned, the Stones became an excessive live act whose decadence was on par with Led Zeppelin; when David Bowie and glam rock, glam became the hippest thing in England, Mick Jagger lathered on the mascara and campy posturing. By the time of 1978's ''Some Girls ''Some Girls'' is the 14th UK and 16th US album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 9 June 1978 by Rolling Stones Records. It was recorded in sessions held between October 1977 and February 1978 at Pathé Marconi Studios in ...'', the Stones absorbed the energy of New York City's punk rock, punk and disco scenes so completely that it reinvigorated the band's career, spawning their final (to date) No. 1 single in the U.S., "Miss You."
Legacy
Since their formation in 1962, the Rolling Stones have survived multiple feuds. They have The Rolling Stones discography, released 30 studio albums, 23 live albums, 12 official compilation albums, many recognised bootleg recordings, all of which comprise over 340 songs. According to OfficialCharts.com, the Stones are ranked the fourth bestselling group of all time. Their top single is "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", regarded by many at the time as "the classic example of rock and roll". The Stones contributed to the blues lexicon, creating their own "codewords" and slang, such as "losing streak" for Menstrual cycle, menstrual period, which they have used throughout their catalogue of songs. They pioneered the "raw, blues-based sound" that came to define hard rock and has been viewed as the musical "vanguard of a major transfusion" of various cultural attitudes, making them accessible to youth in Britain and the rest of the world. Muddy Waters was quoted as saying that the Rolling Stones and other English bands piqued the interest of American youth in blues musicians. After they came to the United States, sales of Waters' albums—and those of other blues musicians—increased public interest, thus helping to reconnect the country with its own music. The Stones were supporters of the civil rights movement, having a clause in period contracts stating that they would not perform in Racial segregation, segregated venues. Breach of this clause would fine the promoter £30,100 and allow the band to walk away. Their support of civil rights causes has continued to the current era. In 1981, ''The Rolling Stones are my life. If it wasn't for them, I would have been a The Sopranos, Soprano for real. I first saw the Stones on TV, on The Hollywood Palace in 1964. In '64,''The Telegraph'' has called Mick Jagger "the Rolling Stone who changed music". The band has been the subject of numerous documentaries and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Pete Townshend in 1989. The Rolling Stones have inspired and mentored new generations of musical artists both as a band and individually. They are also credited with changing the "whole business model of popular music". The only artists to top the UK Album Charts in six different decades, they are tied with Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams for the second most number 1 albums on the Official UK Chart, surpassed only by the Beatles. In 2002, CNN called the Stones "far and away the most successful act in rock today", adding, "since 1989 alone, the band has generated more than $1.5 billion in gross revenues. That total includes sales of records, song rights, merchandising, sponsorship money, and touring. The Stones have made more money than U2, or Springsteen, or Michael Jackson, or Britney Spears, or the Who—or whoever. Sure, Mick attended the London School of Economics, but his greatest talent, besides strutting and singing, is his ability to surround himself and the rest of the band with a group of very able executives." The Rolling Stones have sold over 240 million albums worldwide. In a review of the band's 2020 acoustic rendition of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" for Global Citizen's ''One World: Together At Home'' on-line and on-screen concert, ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' stated that they are "still the masters of delivering unforgettable live performances." On their enduring appeal and reinvention, Rich Cohen of ''The Wall Street Journal'' wrote in 2016: The band have received and been nominated for multiple awards including three Grammy Awards (and 12 nominations) and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986, the Juno Award for International Entertainer of the Year in 1991, U.K.'s Jazz FM Awards Album of the Year (2017) for their album ''Blue & Lonesome (The Rolling Stones album), Blue & Lonesome'', and ''NME'' (''New Musical Express'') awards such as best live band and the NME award for best music film, for their documentary ''Crossfire Hurricane''. On Jagger's 75th birthday in 2018, scientists named seven fossil stoneflies after present and former members of the band. Two species, ''Petroperla mickjaggeri'' and ''Lapisperla keithrichardsi'', were placed within a new family Petroperlidae. The new family was named in honour of the Rolling Stones, derived from the Greek "petra" that stands for "stone". The scientists referred to the fossils as "Rolling Stoneflies". This theme was continued when NASA named a rock disturbed by the thrusters of the Mars InSight Lander "Rolling Stones Rock", as announced by Robert Downey Jr. during the band's 22 August 2019 performance in Pasadena, California. In 2020, a third species of Petroperlidae, ''Branchioperla ianstewarti'', was named after Ian Stewart, pianist and founding member of the band. In 2019, ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine ranked the Rolling Stones second on their list of the "Greatest Artists of All Time", based on the band's US chart success. In 2022, the band featured on a Great Britain commemorative stamps 2020–2029#2022, series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail and their 60th anniversary was commemorated with a collectible coin by the Royal Mint. The band has 38 top-10 albums in the US, the most of any artist. They have sold more than 250 million albums worldwide.the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...were perfect: the hair, the harmonies, the suits. They bowed together. Their music was extraordinarily sophisticated. The whole thing was exciting and alien but very distant in its perfection. The Stones were alien and exciting, too. But with the Stones, the message was, "Maybe you can do this." The hair was sloppier. The harmonies were a bit off. And I don't remember them smiling at all. They had the R&B traditionalist's attitude: "We are not in show business. We are not pop music." And the sex in Mick Jagger's voice was adult. This wasn't pop sex — holding hands, playing spin the bottle. This was the real thing. Jagger had that conversational quality that came from R&B singers and bluesmen, that sort of half-singing, not quite holding notes. The acceptance of Jagger's voice on pop radio was a turning point in rock & roll. He broke open the door for everyone else. Suddenly, Eric Burdon and Van Morrison weren't so weird — even Bob Dylan.
Live performances
Since their first concert on 12 July 1962 at the Marquee Club in London, the Rolling Stones have performed more than two thousand concerts around the world and have gone on over 48 tours of varying length, including three of the highest-grossing tours of all time: Bridges to Babylon, Voodoo Lounge, and A Bigger Bang. From small clubs and hotels in London with little room for Jagger to move around to selling out stadiums worldwide, Rolling Stones tours have changed significantly over the decades. The Stones' early setups were simple compared to what they became later in the band's career, when elaborate stage designs, pyrotechnics, and giant screens were used. By the time the Stones toured America in 1969, they began to fill large halls and arenas, such as The Forum (Inglewood, California), The Forum in Inglewood, California. They were also using more equipment, including lighting rigs and better sound equipment, than they had used in clubs. The 1969 tour is considered a "great watershed tour" by Mick Jagger because they "started hanging the sound and therefore hanging the lights". Attributing the birth of arena rock to the Stones 1969 US tour, ''The Guardian'' ranked it 19 on their list of the 50 key events in rock music history. Before this tour the loudest sound at large-capacity shows was often the crowd, so the Stones used lighting and sound systems that ensured they could be seen and heard in the biggest arenas. ''The Guardian'' commented that their "combination of front-of-house excellence and behind-the-scenes savvy took the business of touring to an entirely new level." During the 1972 tour, the Stones developed a complex light show that included giant mirrors that bounced the light off them. During the 1975 Tour of the Americas, arena shows became an industry for the band, and the Stones hired a new lighting director, Jules Fisher. The props the band used on stage increased in both size and sophistication, similar to those on Broadway. They started to use multiple stages, from which they would select for a particular show. On this tour they had two versions of what Jagger referred to as the "lotus stage". One version had a large Venetian (cylindrical) curtain, and the other had leaves that began in a folded up position and opened during the beginning of the concert. This period also included a variety of props, including inflatable penises and other gimmicks, and incorporated a number of circus tricks. During the 1981–1982 American tour, the Stones worked with Japanese designer Kazuhide Yamazari in constructing their stages for stadium-sized locations and audiences. During this period, stages increased in size to include runways and movable sections of the stage going out into the audience. This tour used coloured panels and was one of the last Stones tours to do so before switching to devices such as video screens. Stadium shows provided a new challenge for the band. Over time, their props and stage equipment have become increasingly sophisticated. When the Stones began to fill stadium-sized venues, or larger, they ran into the problem of the audience no longer being able to see them. This was particularly the case when they performed a free concert for an estimated 1.5 million people in Rio de Janeiro on the ''A Bigger Bang'' tour in 2006. The show required over 500 lights, hundreds of speakers, and a video screen almost in length.Cohl, C., Callner, M., Gladstein, R., Howard, S. (Producers), & Strand, C. (Director). (2007). ''The Rolling Stones – Live On Copacabana Beach'' [Motion Picture]. United States: Concert Productions International. Due to the length of the beach on which the Stones performed, sound systems had to be set up in a relay pattern down the length of the beach, to keep the sound in sync with the music from the stage; for every of beach, the sound would be delayed by an additional second.Band members
Current members *Discography
Studio albums * ''Tours
* The Rolling Stones British Tour 1963, British Tour 1963 (1963) * The Rolling Stones 1st British Tour 1964, 1st British Tour 1964 (1964) * The Rolling Stones 2nd British Tour 1964, 2nd British Tour 1964 (1964) * The Rolling Stones 1st American Tour 1964, 1st American Tour 1964 (1964) * The Rolling Stones 3rd British Tour 1964, 3rd British Tour 1964 (1964) * The Rolling Stones 4th British Tour 1964, 4th British Tour 1964 (1964) * The Rolling Stones 2nd American Tour 1964, 2nd American Tour 1964 (1964) * The Rolling Stones Irish Tour 1965, Irish Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones Far East Tour 1965, Far East Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 1st British Tour 1965, 1st British Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 1st European Tour 1965, 1st European Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 2nd European Tour 1965, 2nd European Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 1st American Tour 1965, 1st American Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 3rd European Tour 1965, 3rd European Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 2nd Irish Tour 1965, 2nd Irish Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 4th European Tour 1965, 4th European Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 2nd British Tour 1965, 2nd British Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones 2nd American Tour 1965, 2nd American Tour 1965 (1965) * The Rolling Stones Australasian Tour 1966, Australasian Tour 1966 (1966) * The Rolling Stones European Tour 1966, European Tour 1966 (1966) * The Rolling Stones American Tour 1966, American Tour 1966 (1966) * The Rolling Stones British Tour 1966, British Tour 1966 (1966) * The Rolling Stones European Tour 1967, European Tour 1967 (1967) * The Rolling Stones American Tour 1969, American Tour 1969 (1969) * The Rolling Stones European Tour 1970, European Tour 1970 (1970) * The Rolling Stones UK Tour 1971, UK Tour 1971 (1971) * The Rolling Stones American Tour 1972, American Tour 1972 (1972) * The Rolling Stones Pacific Tour 1973, Pacific Tour 1973 (1973) * The Rolling Stones European Tour 1973, European Tour 1973 (1973) * The Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75, Tour of the Americas '75 (1975) * The Rolling Stones Tour of Europe '76, Tour of Europe '76 (1976) * The Rolling Stones US Tour 1978, US Tour 1978 (1978) * The Rolling Stones American Tour 1981, American Tour 1981 (1981) * European Tour 1982 (1982) * Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour (1989–1990) * Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994–1995) * Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997–1998) * No Security Tour (1999) * Licks Tour (2002–2003) * A Bigger Bang Tour (2005–2007) * 50 & Counting (2012–2013) * 14 On Fire (2014) * Zip Code (tour), Zip Code (2015) * América Latina Olé (2016) * No Filter Tour (2017–2021) * Sixty (tour), Sixty (2022) * Hackney Diamonds Tour (2024)Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Sources
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Further reading
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *External links
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolling Stones, The The Rolling Stones 1962 establishments in England A&M Records artists Atlantic Records artists British Invasion artists English musical trios English musical quartets English blues musical groups British rhythm and blues boom musicians British rock and roll music groups Columbia Records artists Decca Records artists English blues rock musical groups English hard rock musical groups Geffen Records artists Grammy Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Entertainer of the Year winners NME Awards winners London Records artists Musical groups established in 1962 Musical groups from London Super Bowl halftime show performers Virgin Records artists World Music Awards winners