Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years, Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the primary creative force behind the band, alienating Jones, who had developed a drug addiction that interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully.

Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, becoming identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. They then found greater success with their own material, as " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), " Get Off of My Cloud" (1965), and " Paint It Black" (1966) became international number-one hits. '' Aftermath'' (1966) – their first entirely original album – is considered the most important of their formative records. In 1967, they had the double-sided hit " Ruby Tuesday"/" Let's Spend the Night Together" and experimented with psychedelic rock on '' Their Satanic Majesties Request''. They returned to their rhythm and blues roots with hit songs such as " Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) and "Honky Tonk Women" (1969), and albums such as '' Beggars Banquet'' (1968), featuring " Sympathy for the Devil", and '' Let It Bleed'' (1969), featuring " You Can't Always Get What You Want" and " Gimme Shelter". ''Let It Bleed'' was the first of five consecutive number-one albums in the UK.

Jones left the band shortly before his death in 1969, having been replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor. That year they were first introduced on stage as " The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World". '' Sticky Fingers'' (1971), which yielded " Brown Sugar" and included the first usage of their tongue and lips logo, was their first of eight consecutive number-one studio albums in the US. '' Exile on Main St.'' (1972), featuring " Tumbling Dice", and '' Goats Head Soup'' (1973), yielding the hit ballad " Angie", were also best sellers. Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood in 1974. The band continued to release successful albums, including their two largest sellers: '' Some Girls'' (1978), featuring " Miss You", and '' Tattoo You'' (1981), featuring " Start Me Up". ''Steel Wheels'' (1989) was widely considered a comeback album and was followed by '' Voodoo Lounge'' (1994), a worldwide number-one album. Both releases were promoted by large stadium and arena tours, as the Stones continued to be a huge concert attraction; by 2007 they had recorded the all-time highest-grossing concert tour three times, and as recently as 2021 they were the highest-earning live act of the year. From Wyman's departure in 1993 to Watts' death in 2021, the band continued as a four-piece core, with Darryl Jones playing bass on tour and on most studio recordings, while Steve Jordan became their touring drummer following Watts' death. Their 2016 album, '' Blue & Lonesome'', became their twelfth UK number-one album.

The Rolling Stones' estimated record sales of 200 million make them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The band has won three Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. ''Billboard'' magazine and ''Rolling Stone'' have ranked the band as one of the greatest of all time.

History

Early history

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger became classmates and childhood friends in 1950 in Dartford, Kent. The Jagger family moved to Wilmington, Kent, away, in 1954. In the mid-1950s, Jagger formed a garage band with his friend Dick Taylor; the group mainly played material by Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Howlin' Wolf, and Bo Diddley. Jagger next met Richards on 17 October 1961 on platform two of Dartford railway station. The Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records Jagger was carrying revealed to Richards a shared interest. A musical partnership began shortly afterwards. Richards and Taylor often met Jagger at his house. The meetings moved to Taylor's house in late 1961, where Alan Etherington and Bob Beckwith joined the trio; the quintet called themselves the Blues Boys.

In March 1962, the Blues Boys read about the Ealing Jazz Club in the newspaper ''Jazz News'', which mentioned Alexis Korner's rhythm and blues band, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated. The Blues Boys sent a tape of their best recordings to Korner, who was impressed. On 7 April, they visited the Ealing Jazz Club, where they met the members of Blues Incorporated, who included slide guitarist Brian Jones, keyboardist Ian Stewart, and drummer Charlie Watts. After a meeting with Korner, Jagger and Richards started jamming with the group.

Jones, having left Blues Incorporated, advertised for bandmates in ''Jazz Weekly'' the week of 2 May 1962. Ian Stewart was among the first to respond to the ad. In June, Jagger, Taylor, and Richards left Blues Incorporated to join Jones and Stewart. The first rehearsal included guitarist Geoff Bradford and vocalist Brian Knight, both of whom decided not to join the band. They objected to playing the Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley songs preferred by Jagger and Richards. That same month, the addition of the drummer Tony Chapman completed the line-up of Jagger, Richards, Jones, Stewart, and Taylor. According to Richards, Jones named the band during a phone call to ''Jazz News''. When asked by a journalist for the band's name, Jones saw a Muddy Waters LP lying on the floor; one of the tracks was " Rollin' Stone".

1962–1964: Building a following

The group band played their first show billed as "the Rollin' Stones" on 12 July 1962, at the Marquee Club in London.Faulk, B. J. (2011). New Left in Victorian Drag: "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus". ''Texas Studies In Literature & Language'', ''53''(2), 138–158. At the time, the band consisted of Jones, Jagger, Richards, Stewart, and Taylor. Bill Wyman auditioned for the role of bass guitarist at a pub in Chelsea on 7 December 1962 and was hired as a successor to Dick Taylor. The band were impressed by his instrument and amplifiers (including the Vox AC30). The classic line-up of the Rolling Stones, with Charlie Watts on drums, played for the first time in public on Saturday, 12 January 1963 at the Ealing Jazz Club. However, it was not until a gig there on 2 February 1963 that Watts became the Stones' permanent drummer.

Shortly afterwards, the band began their first tour of the UK, performing Chicago blues and songs by Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. By 1963, they were finding their musical stride as well as popularity. In 1964, they beat The Beatles as the number one United Kingdom band in two surveys. The band's name was changed shortly after their first gig to "The Rolling Stones". The group's then acting manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, secured a Sunday afternoon residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, London, in February 1963.

In May 1963, the Rolling Stones signed Andrew Loog Oldham as their manager. He had been directed to them by his previous clients, the Beatles. Because Oldham was only nineteen and had not reached the age of majority—he was also younger than anyone in the band—he could not obtain an agent's licence or sign any contracts without his mother co-signing. By necessity he joined with booking agent Eric Easton to secure record financing and assistance booking venues. Gomelsky, who had no written agreement with the band, was not consulted. Initially, Oldham tried applying the strategy used by Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, and have the band members wear suits. He later changed his mind and imagined a band that contrasted with the Beatles, featuring unmatched clothing, long hair, and an unclean appearance. He wanted to make the Stones "a raunchy, gamy, unpredictable bunch of undesirables" and to "establish that the Stones were threatening, uncouth and animalistic". Stewart left the official line-up, but remained road manager and touring keyboardist. Of Stewart's decision, Oldham later said, "Well, he just doesn't look the part, and six is too many for ansto remember the faces in the picture." Later, Oldham reduced the band members' ages in publicity material to make them appear as teenagers.

Decca Records, which had declined to sign a deal with the Beatles, gave the Rolling Stones a recording contract with favourable terms. The band got three times a new act's typical royalty rate, full artistic control of recordings, and ownership of the recording master tapes. The deal also let the band use non-Decca recording studios. Regent Sound Studios, a mono facility equipped with egg boxes on the ceiling for sound treatment, became their preferred location. Oldham, who had no recording experience but made himself the band's producer, said Regent had a sound that "leaked, instrument-to-instrument, the right way" creating a "wall of noise" that worked well for the band. Because of Regent's low booking rates, the band could record for extended periods rather than the usual three-hour blocks common at other studios. All tracks on the first Rolling Stones album, ''The Rolling Stones'', were recorded there.

Oldham contrasted the Rolling Stones' independence with the Beatles' obligation to record in EMI's studios, saying it made the Beatles appear as "mere mortals ... sweating in the studio for the man". He promoted the Rolling Stones as the nasty counterpoint to the Beatles, by having the band pose unsmiling on the cover of their first album. He also encouraged the press to use provocative headlines such as: "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?" By contrast, Wyman says, "Our reputation and image as the Bad Boys came later, completely there, accidentally. ... ldhamnever did engineer it. He simply exploited it exhaustively." In a 1972 interview, Wyman stated, "We were the first pop group to break away from the whole Cliff Richard thing where the bands did little dance steps, wore identical uniforms and had snappy patter."

A cover version of Chuck Berry's " Come On" was the Rolling Stones' first single, released on 7 June 1963. The band refused to play it at live gigs, and Decca bought only one ad to promote the record. At Oldham's direction, fan-club members bought copies at record shops polled by the charts, helping "Come On" rise to number 21 on the UK Singles Chart. Having a charting single gave the band entrée to play outside London, starting with a booking at the Outlook Club in Middlesbrough on 13 July, sharing the billing with the Hollies. Later in 1963, Oldham and Easton arranged the band's first big UK concert tour as a supporting act for American stars, including Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and the Everly Brothers. The tour gave the band the opportunity to hone their stagecraft. During the tour the band recorded their second single, a Lennon–McCartney-penned number entitled " I Wanna Be Your Man". It reached number 13 on the UK charts. The Beatles 1963 album, '' With the Beatles'', includes their version of the song. On 1 January 1964, the Stones' were the first band to play on the BBC's ''Top of the Pops'', performing "I Wanna Be Your Man". The third single by the Stones, Buddy Holly's " Not Fade Away", reflecting Bo Diddley's style, was released in February 1964 and reached number 3.

Oldham saw little future for an act that gave up the chance to get significant songwriting royalties by only playing songs of what he described as "middle-aged blacks", and limiting their appeal to teenage audiences. Jagger and Richards decided to write songs together. Oldham described the first batch as "soppy and imitative". Because the band's songwriting developed slowly, songs on their first album ''The Rolling Stones'' (1964; issued in the US as ''England's Newest Hit Makers''), were primarily covers, with only one Jagger/Richards original—"Tell Me (You're Coming Back)"—and two numbers credited to Nanker Phelge, the pen name used for songs written by the entire group. The Rolling Stones' first US tour in June 1964 was "a disaster", according to Wyman. "When we arrived, we didn't have a hit record hereor anything going for us." When the band appeared on the variety show '' The Hollywood Palace'', that week's guest host, Dean Martin, mocked both their hair and their performance. During the tour they recorded for two days at Chess Studios in Chicago, meeting many of their most important influences, including Muddy Waters. These sessions included what would become the Rolling Stones' first number 1 hit in the UK, their cover version of Bobby and Shirley Womack's " It's All Over Now".

The Stones followed the Famous Flames, featuring James Brown, in the theatrical release of the 1964 film '' T.A.M.I. Show'', which showcased American acts with British Invasion artists. According to Jagger, "We weren't actually following James Brown because there was considerable time between the filming of each section. Nevertheless, he was still very annoyed about it ..." On 25 October the band appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. Because of the pandemonium surrounding the Stones, Sullivan initially declined to rebook them. However, he booked them for an appearances in 1966 and 1967. Their second LP, ''12 X 5'', which was only available in the US, was released during the tour. The Rolling Stones' fifth UK single, a cover of Willie Dixon's " Little Red Rooster"—with "Off the Hook", credited to Nanker Phelge, as the A-side and B-side, B-side—was released in November 1964 and became their second number 1 hit in the UK. The band's US distributors, London Records, declined to release "Little Red Rooster" as a single. In December 1964, the distributor released the band's first single with Jagger/Richards originals on both sides: "Heart of Stone (The Rolling Stones song), Heart of Stone", with "What a Shame" as the B-side; the single went to number 19 in the US.

1965–1967: 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 ''The Rolling Stones, Now!'', reached number 5. The album was recorded at Chess Records, Chess Studios in Chicago and RCA Records, RCA Studios in Los Angeles. In January and February of that year, the band played 34 shows for around 100,000 people in Australia and New Zealand. The single "The Last Time (The Rolling Stones song), The Last Time", released in February, was the first Jagger/Richards composition to reach number 1 on the UK charts; it reached number 9 in the US. It was later identified by Richards as "the bridge into thinking about writing for the Stones. It gave us a level of confidence; a pathway of how to do it."

Their first international number 1 hit was " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", recorded in May 1965 during the band's third North American tour. Richards recorded the guitar riff that drives the song with a Distortion (music), fuzzbox as a Studio recording#The process, scratch track to guide a horn section. Nevertheless, the final cut was without the planned horn Overdubbing, overdubs. Issued in the summer of 1965, it was their fourth UK number 1 and their first in the US, where it spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was a worldwide commercial success for the band. The US version of the LP ''Out of Our Heads'', released in July 1965, also went to number 1; it included seven original songs, three Jagger/Richards numbers and four credited to Nanker Phelge. Their second international number 1 single " Get Off of My Cloud" was released in the autumn of 1965, followed by another US-only LP, ''December's Children (And Everybody's), December's Children''.

The album ''Aftermath (The Rolling Stones album), Aftermath'', released in the late spring of 1966, was the first LP to be composed entirely of Jagger/Richards songs; it reached number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the US. On this album, Jones' contributions expanded beyond guitar and harmonica. To the Middle Eastern music, Middle Eastern-influenced " Paint It Black" he added sitar; to the ballad "Lady Jane (song), Lady Jane" he added Appalachian dulcimer, dulcimer, and to "Under My Thumb" he added marimbas. ''Aftermath'' also contained "Goin' Home (The Rolling Stones song), Goin' Home", a nearly 12-minute song that included elements of Jam session, jamming and improvisation.

The Stones' success on the British and American singles charts peaked during the 1960s. "19th Nervous Breakdown" was released in February 1966, and reached number 2 in the UK and US charts; "Paint It Black" reached number 1 in the UK and US in May 1966. "Mother's Little Helper", released in June 1966, reached number 8 in the US; it was one of the first pop songs to discuss the issue of prescription drug abuse. "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" was released in September 1966 and reached number 5 in the UK and number 9 in the US. It had a number of firsts for the group: it was the first Stones recording to feature brass horns, and the back-cover photo on the original US picture sleeve depicted the group satirically dressed in Drag (clothing), drag. The song was accompanied by one of the first official music videos, directed by Peter Whitehead (filmmaker), Peter Whitehead.

During The Rolling Stones American Tour 1966, their North American tour in June and July 1966, the Stones' high-energy concerts proved highly successful with young people, while alienating local police who had the physically exhausting task of controlling the often rebellious crowds. According to the Stones historians Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon, the band's notoriety "among the authorities and the establishment seems to have been inversely proportional to their popularity among young people". In an effort to capitalise on this, London released the live album ''Got Live If You Want It! (album), Got Live If You Want It!'' in December.

January 1967 saw the release of ''Between the Buttons'', which reached number 3 in the UK and number 2 in the US. It was Andrew Oldham's last venture as the Rolling Stones' producer. Allen Klein took over his role as the band's manager in 1965. Richards recalled, "There was a new deal with Decca to be made ... and he said he could do it." The US version included the double A-side single " Let's Spend the Night Together" and " Ruby Tuesday", which went to number 1 in the US and number 3 in the UK. When the band went to New York to perform the numbers on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' in January, they were ordered to change the lyrics of the refrain of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "let's spend some time together".

In early 1967, Jagger, Richards, and Jones began to be hounded by authorities over their recreational drug use, after ''News of the World'' ran a three-part feature entitled "Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You". The series described alleged LSD parties hosted by the Moody Blues and attended by top stars including the Who's Pete Townshend and Cream (band), Cream's Ginger Baker, and described alleged admissions of drug use by leading pop musicians. The first article targeted Donovan (who was raided and charged soon after); the second instalment (published on 5 February) targeted the Rolling Stones. A reporter who contributed to the story spent an evening at the exclusive London club Blaise's, where a member of the Rolling Stones allegedly took several Benzedrine tablets, displayed a piece of hashish, and invited his companions back to his flat for a "smoke". The article claimed this was Mick Jagger, but it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity; the reporter had in fact been eavesdropping on Brian Jones. Two days after the article was published, Jagger filed a writ for libel against the ''News of the World''.

A week later, on 12 February, Sussex police, tipped off by the paper, The Rolling Stones' Redlands bust, raided a party at Keith Richards' home, Redlands. No arrests were made at the time, but Jagger, Richards, and their friend art dealer Robert Fraser (art dealer), Robert Fraser were subsequently charged with drug offences. Andrew Oldham was afraid of being arrested and fled to America. Richards said in 2003, "When we got busted at Redlands, it suddenly made us realize that this was a whole different ball game and that was when the fun stopped. Up until then it had been as though London existed in a beautiful space where you could do anything you wanted."

In March 1967, while awaiting the consequences of the police raid, Jagger, Richards, and Jones took a short trip to Morocco, accompanied by Marianne Faithfull, Jones' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, and other friends. During this trip the stormy relations between Jones and Pallenberg deteriorated to the point that she left Morocco with Richards. Richards said later: "That was the final nail in the coffin with me and Brian. He'd never forgive me for that and I don't blame him, but hell, shit happens." Richards and Pallenberg would remain a couple for twelve years. Despite these complications, the Rolling Stones toured Europe in March and April 1967. The tour included the band's first performances in Poland, Greece, and Italy.

On 10 May 1967, the day Jagger, Richards and Fraser were arraigned in connection with the Redlands charges, Jones' house was raided by police. He was arrested and charged with possession of Cannabis (drug), cannabis. Three of the five Stones now faced drug charges. Jagger and Richards were tried at the end of June. Jagger received a three-month prison sentence for the possession of four amphetamine tablets; Richards was found guilty of allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property and sentenced to a year in prison. Both Jagger and Richards were imprisoned at that point but were released on bail the next day, pending appeal. ''The Times'' ran the famous editorial entitled "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?", in which conservative editor William Rees-Mogg surprised his readers by his unusually critical discourse on the sentencing, pointing out that Jagger had been treated far more harshly for a minor first offence than "any purely anonymous young man". While awaiting the appeal hearings, the band recorded a new single, "We Love You", as a thank you for their fans' loyalty. It began with the sound of prison doors closing, and the accompanying music video included allusions to the trial of Oscar Wilde. On 31 July, the appeals court overturned Richards' conviction, and reduced Jagger's sentence to a conditional discharge. Jones' trial took place in November 1967. In December, after appealing the original prison sentence, Jones received a £1,000 fine and was put on three years' probation, with an order to seek professional help.

In December 1967, the band released '' Their Satanic Majesties Request'', which reached number 3 in the UK and number 2 in the US. It drew unfavourable reviews and was widely regarded as a poor imitation of the Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. ''Satanic Majesties'' was recorded while Jagger, Richards, and Jones were awaiting their court cases. The band parted ways with Oldham during the sessions. The split was publicly amicable, but in 2003 Jagger said: "The reason Andrew left was because he thought that we weren't concentrating and that we were being childish. It was not a great moment really—and I would have thought it wasn't a great moment for Andrew either. There were a lot of distractions and you always need someone to focus you at that point, that was Andrew's job." ''Satanic Majesties'' became the first album the Rolling Stones produced on their own. Its psychedelia, psychedelic sound was complemented by the cover art, which featured a 3D photo by Michael Cooper (photographer), Michael Cooper, who had also photographed the cover of ''Sgt. Pepper''. Bill Wyman wrote and sang a track on the album: "In Another Land", also released as a single, the first on which Jagger did not sing lead.

1968–1972: Jones' departure and death, "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 " Jumpin' Jack Flash", released as a single in May. The subsequent album, '' Beggars Banquet'', an eclectic mix of country and blues–inspired tunes, marked the band's return to their rhythm and blues roots. It was also the beginning of their collaboration with producer Jimmy Miller (producer), Jimmy Miller. It featured the lead single "Street Fighting Man" (which addressed the political upheavals of May 1968) and " Sympathy for the Devil". Controversy over the design of the album cover, which featured a public toilet with graffiti covering the wall behind it, delayed the album's release for six months. While the band had "absolute artistic control over their albums", Decca was not enthused about the cover's depiction of graffiti reading "John Loves Yoko" being included; the album was released that December, with a different cover design. It reached number 3 in the UK and number 5 in the US.

''The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus'', which originally began as an idea about "the new shape of the rock-and-roll concert tour", was filmed at the end of 1968. It featured John Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Dirty Mac, the Who, Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull, and Taj Mahal (musician), Taj Mahal. The footage was shelved for 28 years but was finally released officially in 1996, with a DVD version released in October 2004.

By the time of ''Beggars Banquet''s release, Brian Jones was only sporadically contributing to the band. Jagger said that Jones was "not psychologically suited to this way of life". His drug use had become a hindrance, and he was unable to obtain a US visa (document), visa. Richards reported that in a June meeting with Jagger, Watts, and himself at Jones' house, Jones admitted that he was unable to "go on the road again", and left the band saying, "I've left, and if I want to I can come back." On 3 July 1969, less than a month later, Jones drowned under mysterious circumstances in the swimming pool at his home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. The band auditioned several guitarists, including Paul Kossoff, as a replacement for Jones, before settling on Mick Taylor, who was recommended to Jagger by John Mayall.

The Rolling Stones were scheduled to play at a free concert for Blackhill Enterprises in London's Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, two days after Jones' death; they decided to go ahead with the show as a tribute to him. Jagger began by reading an excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem ''Adonais, Adonaïs'', an elegy written on the death of his friend John Keats. They released thousands of butterflies in memory of Jones before opening their set with "I'm Yours and I'm Hers", a Johnny Winter number. The concert, their first with new guitarist Mick Taylor, was performed in front of an estimated 250,000 fans. A Granada Television production team filmed the performance, which was broadcast on British television as ''The Stones in the Park''. Blackhill Enterprises stage manager Sam Cutler introduced the Rolling Stones onto the stage by announcing: "Let's welcome Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World."
Cutler repeated the introduction throughout their The Rolling Stones American Tour 1969, 1969 US tour. The show also included the concert debut of their fifth US number 1 single, "Honky Tonk Women", which had been released the previous day.

The Stones' last album of the sixties was '' Let It Bleed'', which reached number 1 in the UK and number 3 in the US. It featured " Gimme Shelter" with guest lead female vocals by Merry Clayton (sister of Sam Clayton, of the American rock band Little Feat). Other tracks include " You Can't Always Get What You Want" (with accompaniment by the London Bach Choir, who initially asked that their name be removed from the album's credits after apparently being "horrified" by the content of some of its other material, but later withdrew this request), "Midnight Rambler", as well as a cover of Robert Johnson (musician), Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain". Jones and Taylor are both featured on the album.

Just after the US tour ended, the band performed at the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway, about east of San Francisco. The Hells Angels biker gang provided security. A fan, Death of Meredith Hunter, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels after they realised he was armed. Part of the tour, and the Altamont concert, was documented in Albert and David Maysles' film ''Gimme Shelter (1970 film), Gimme Shelter''. In response to the growing popularity of bootleg recordings (in particular ''Live'r Than You'll Ever Be'', recorded during the 1969 tour), the album ''Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!'' was released in 1970. Critic Lester Bangs declared it the best-ever live album. It reached number 1 in the UK and number 6 in the US.

At the end of the decade the band appeared on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene ''Pop Go the Sixties'', performing "Gimme Shelter", which was broadcast live on 31 December 1969. The following year, the band wanted out of contracts with both Klein and Decca, but still owed them a Jagger/Richards–credited single. To get back at the label and fulfil their final contractual obligation, the band came up with the track "Schoolboy Blues"—deliberately making it as crude as they could in hopes of making it unreleasable.

Amid contractual disputes with Klein, they formed their own record company, Rolling Stones Records. '' Sticky Fingers'', released in March 1971, the band's first album on their own label, featured an elaborate cover designed by Andy Warhol. It was an Andy Warhol photograph of a man from the waist down in tight jeans featuring a functioning zipper. When unzipped, it revealed the subject's underwear. In some markets an alternate cover was released because of the perceived offensive nature of the original at the time.

''Sticky Fingers'' cover was the first to feature the Tongue and lips logo, logo of Rolling Stones Records, which effectively became the band's logo. It consisted of a pair of lips with a lapping tongue. Designer John Pasche created the logo, following a suggestion by Jagger to copy the stuck-out tongue of the Hindu goddess Kali. Critic Sean Egan has said of the logo, The tongue and lips design was part of a package that in 2003 VH1 named the best album cover ever. The logo has remained on all the Stones' post-1970 albums and singles, in addition to their merchandise and stage sets. The album contains one of their best-known hits, "Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones song), Brown Sugar", and the country music, country-influenced "Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones song), Dead Flowers". "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones song), Wild Horses" were recorded at Alabama's Muscle Shoals Sound Studio after the 1969 American tour. The album continued the band's immersion into heavily blues-influenced compositions; is noted for its "loose, ramshackle ambience"; and marked Mick Taylor's first full album with the band. ''Sticky Fingers'' reached number 1 in both the UK and the US.

In 1968, the Stones, acting on a suggestion by pianist Ian Stewart, put a control room in a van and created the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio so they would not be limited to the standard 9–5 operating hours of most recording studios. The band lent the mobile studio to other artists, including Led Zeppelin, who used it to record ''Led Zeppelin III'' (1970) and ''Led Zeppelin IV'' (1971). Deep Purple immortalised the mobile studio itself in the song "Smoke on the Water" with the line "the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside, making our music there".

Following the release of ''Sticky Fingers'', the Rolling Stones left England after receiving advice from their financial manager Prince Rupert Loewenstein. He recommended they go into tax exile before the start of the next financial year. The band had learned that they had not paid taxes for seven years, despite being assured that their taxes were taken care of; and the UK government was owed a relative fortune. The Stones moved to the South of France, where Richards rented the Nellcôte, Villa Nellcôte and sublet rooms to band members and their entourage.

Using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, they held recording sessions in the basement. They completed the new tracks, along with material dating as far back as 1969, at Sunset Sound Recorders, Sunset Studios in Los Angeles. The resulting double album, '' Exile on Main St.'', was released in May 1972, and reached number one in both the UK and the US. Given an A+ grade by critic Robert Christgau and disparaged by Lester Bangs—who reversed his opinion within months—''Exile'' is now accepted as one of the Stones' best albums. The films ''Cocksucker Blues'' (never officially released) and ''Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones'' (released in 1974) document the subsequent highly publicised The Rolling Stones American Tour 1972, 1972 North American Tour.

The band's double compilation, ''Hot Rocks 1964–1971'', was released in 1971; it reached number 3 in the UK and number 4 in the US. It is certified Diamond in the US, having sold over 6 million copies, being certified 12× Platinum for being a double album, and spent over 347 weeks on the ''Billboard'' album chart. In 1974, Bill Wyman was the first band member to release solo material, his album ''Monkey Grip (Bill Wyman album), Monkey Grip''.

1972–1977: Critical fluctuations and Ronnie Wood

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 tax royalty payments. The band have been tax exiles ever since, meaning they can no longer use Britain as their main residence. Due to the arrangements with the holding company, the band has reportedly paid a tax of just 1.6% on their total earnings of £242 million over the past 20 years.

In November 1972, the band began recording sessions in Kingston, Jamaica, for the album '' Goats Head Soup''; it was released in 1973 and reached number 1 in both the UK and US. The album, which contained the worldwide hit " Angie", was the first in a string of commercially successful, but critically tepidly received, studio albums. The sessions for ''Goats Head Soup'' also produced unused material, most notably an early version of the popular ballad "Waiting on a Friend", which was not released until the '' Tattoo You'' LP nine years later.

Another legal battle over drugs, dating back to their stay in France, interrupted the making of ''Goats Head Soup''. Authorities had issued a warrant for Richards' arrest, and the other band members had to return briefly to France for questioning. This, along with Jagger's 1967 and 1970 convictions on drug charges, complicated the band's plans for their The Rolling Stones Pacific Tour 1973, Pacific tour in early 1973: they were denied permission to play in Japan and almost banned from Australia. A The Rolling Stones European Tour 1973, European tour followed in September and October 1973, which bypassed France, coming, as it did, after Richards' recent arrest in England on drug charges.

The 1974 album ''It's Only Rock 'n Roll'' was recorded in the Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany; it reached number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US. Miller was not invited to return as the album's producer because his "contribution level had dropped". Jagger and Richards, credited as "the Glimmer Twins", produced the album. Both the album and It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It), the single of the same name were hits.

Near the end of 1974, Taylor began to lose patience after years of feeling like a "junior citizen in the band of jaded veterans". The band's situation made normal functioning complicated, with members living in different countries, and legal barriers restricting where they could tour. In addition, drug use was starting to affect Taylor's and Richards' productivity, and Taylor felt some of his own creative contributions were going unrecognised. At the end of 1974, Taylor quit the Rolling Stones. Taylor said in 1980, "I wanted to broaden my scope as a guitarist and do something else ... I wasn't really composing songs or writing at that time. I was just beginning to write, and that influenced my decision ... There are some people who can just ride along from crest to crest; they can ride along somebody else's success. And there are some people for whom that's not enough. It really wasn't enough for me."

The Stones needed a new guitarist, and the recording sessions in Munich for the next album, ''Black and Blue'' (1976) (number 2 in the UK, number 1 in the US), provided an opportunity for some guitarists hoping to join the band to work while trying out. Guitarists as stylistically disparate as Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck were auditioned, as well as Robert A. Johnson (musician), Robert A. Johnson and Shuggie Otis. Both Beck and Irish blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher later claimed they had played without realising they were being auditioned. American session players Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel also tried out, but Richards and Jagger preferred for the band to remain purely British. When Ronnie Wood auditioned, everyone agreed he was the right choice. He had already recorded and played live with Richards, and had contributed to the recording and writing of the track "It's Only Rock 'n Roll". He had declined Jagger's earlier offer to join the Stones, because of his commitment to Faces (band), Faces, saying "that's what's really important to me". Faces' lead singer Rod Stewart went so far as to say he would take bets that Wood would not join the Stones.

In 1975, Wood officially joined the Rolling Stones for their upcoming Tour of the Americas, which was a contributing factor in the disbandment of Faces. Unlike the other band member