Early history commemorating Jagger and Richards meeting on Platform 2 at
Dartford railway station in Kent, on 17 October 1961
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 again met Richards on 17 October 1961 on platform two at
Dartford railway station. Jagger was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters; these 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. Having left Blues Incorporated, Jones advertised for bandmates in
Jazz News in the week of 2 May 1962. In June, Jagger, Taylor, and Richards left Blues Incorporated to join Jones and Stewart. and a key to the band's early success.
1962–1964: Building a following The band played their first show billed as "the Rollin' Stones" on 12 July 1962, at the
Marquee Club in London. 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, including 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. Their 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. Oldham also 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 were to receive a royalty rate three times as high as that typically given to a new act, 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?" In contrast, Wyman says: "Our reputation and image as the Bad Boys came later, completely there, accidentally. ... [Oldham] never did engineer it. He simply exploited it exhaustively." In a 1971 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." , Netherlands, in 1964. From left to right: Wyman, Richards, Jones, Watts and Jagger 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 song, "
I Wanna Be Your Man". It reached number 13 on the UK charts. The Beatles' own recording of the song is included on the 1963 album
With the Beatles. On 1 January 1964, the Stones' were the first band to play on
BBC's
Top of the Pops, performing "I Wanna Be Your Man". In January 1964 the band released a
self-titled EP, which became their first number 1 record in the UK. 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 the songs of what he described as "middle-aged blacks", thus 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 [there] or 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 appearances in 1966 and 1967. A second EP,
Five by Five, was issued in the UK in August 1964. In the US the EP was expanded into their second LP,
12 X 5, which was released in October 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
B-side—was released in November 1964 and became their second number 1 hit in the UK. 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)''. |alt=A black and white trade ad for the 1965 Rolling Stones' North American tour. The members of the band are sitting on a staircase with either their hands clasped, or arms folded, looking at the camera. From left: The front row contains Brian Jones, Bill Wyman; the second row contains Charlie Watts and Keith Richards; the third (and final) row contains Mick Jagger. The 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. According to
The Daily Telegraph,
Aftermath is often regarded as the most important of the band's formative records. On this album, Jones' contributions expanded beyond guitar and harmonica. To the
Middle Eastern-influenced "
Paint It Black" he added
sitar; to the ballad "
Lady Jane" he added
dulcimer, and to "
Under My Thumb" he added
marimbas.
Aftermath also contained "
Goin' Home", a nearly 12-minute song that included elements of
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. "
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. During
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! in December. The band's first greatest hits album,
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass), was released in the UK in November 1966, a different version of which had been released in the US in March that year. In January 1967,
Between the Buttons was released, and 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 the
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'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,
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 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." , with Watts and Wyman in the background 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. June 1967 saw the release of the US-only compilation album
Flowers. 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. Both Jagger and Richards were imprisoned at that point but were released on bail the next day, pending appeal.
The Times ran an editorial, "
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." 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.
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. with a
DVD version released in October 2004. , who replaced Brian Jones in the band By the time
Beggars Banquet was released, 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. 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, 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, an
elegy written on the death of his friend
John Keats. They released thousands of butterflies in memory of Jones Blackhill Enterprises stage manager
Sam Cutler introduced the Rolling Stones onto the stage by announcing: "Let's welcome
the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World." Cutler repeated the introduction throughout their
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. In September 1969 the band's second greatest hits album,
Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2), was released, featuring a poem in dedication to Jones on the inside cover. The Stones' last album of the 1960s 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'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. A
Hells Angels biker gang provided security, and a fan,
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. 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!'' 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
BBC's review of the 1960s 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 one more Jagger/Richards–credited single. To get back at the label and fulfil their final contractual obligation, the band came up with the track "Cocksucker Blues"—deliberately making it as crude as they could in hopes of making it un-releasable. Decca instead released "
Street Fighting Man" from ''Beggar's Banquet'' as a UK single in July 1971, the track's 1968 single release having been only in the US. 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
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 album contains one of their best-known hits, "
Brown Sugar", and the
country-influenced "
Dead Flowers". "Brown Sugar" and "
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). 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
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 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
1972 North American Tour. The band's double compilation album,
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. A follow-up double compilation album
More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) was released in 1972. In 1974, Bill Wyman was the first band member to release solo material, his album
Monkey Grip.
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 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
Pacific tour in early 1973: they were denied permission to play in Japan and almost banned from Australia. A
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". Both the album and
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 band. 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." (left), on his first tour with the Rolling Stones, with Mick Jagger (right) in
Chicago in 1975|alt=Ronnie Wood and Jagger perform onstage in Chicago, 1975. 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), were effectively used as auditions. Guitarists as stylistically disparate as
Peter Frampton and
Jeff Beck were auditioned, as well as
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
Faces guitarist
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, 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 joined the band as second guitarist for their upcoming Tour of the Americas, which was a contributing factor in the disbandment of Faces. His installment as an official Rolling Stone was announced in 1976; unlike the other band members, however, Wood was a salaried employee, which remained the case until the early 1990s, when he finally joined the Stones' business partnership. The 1975
Tour of the Americas kicked off in New York City with the band performing on a flatbed trailer being pulled down
Broadway. The tour featured stage props including a giant
phallus and a rope on which Jagger swung out over the audience. In June of that year, the Stones' Decca catalogue was purchased by Klein's
ABKCO label. In August 1976, the Stones
played Knebworth in England in front of 200,000—their largest audience to date—and finished their set at 7 a.m. Jagger had booked live recording sessions at the
El Mocambo, a club in Toronto, to produce a long-overdue live album, 1977's
Love You Live, the first Stones live album since ''Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!'' It reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 5 in the US. Although the Rolling Stones remained popular through the early 1970s, music critics had begun to grow dismissive of the band's output, and record sales failed to meet expectations.
1978–1982: Commercial peak in
Lexington, Kentucky, December 1981|alt=The Rolling Stones on stage in December 1981. From left: Mick Jagger wearing a blue jacket with yellow clothing and a black belt singing into a microphone, Keith Richards wearing black pants and a small purple vest (no shirt) playing a black guitar to the left—and slightly in front—of Jagger, Ronnie Wood wearing an orange jacket and black shirt/pants playing a beige guitar behind Jagger and Richards. The group's fortunes changed in 1978, after the band released
Some Girls, which included the hit single "
Miss You", the country ballad "
Far Away Eyes", "
Beast of Burden", and "
Shattered". In part as a response to punk, many songs, particularly "
Respectable", were fast, basic, guitar-driven rock and roll, and the album's success re-established the Rolling Stones' immense popularity among young people. It reached number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US. Following the
1978 US Tour, the band appeared on the first show of the fourth season of the TV series
Saturday Night Live. Following the success of
Some Girls, the band released their next album,
Emotional Rescue, in mid-1980. During recording sessions for the album, a rift between Jagger and Richards slowly developed. Richards wanted to tour in the summer or autumn of 1980 to promote the new album. Much to his disappointment, Jagger declined.
Emotional Rescue hit the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and the title track reached number 3 in the US. In early 1981, the group reconvened and decided to tour the US that year, leaving little time to write and record a new album, as well as to rehearse for the tour. That year's resulting album,
Tattoo You, featured a number of outtakes from other recording sessions, including lead single "
Start Me Up", which reached number 2 in the US and ranked number 22 on
Billboards Hot 100 year-end chart. Two songs ("Waiting on a Friend" (US number 13) and "Tops") featured Mick Taylor's unused rhythm guitar tracks, while jazz saxophonist
Sonny Rollins played on "
Slave", "Neighbours", and "Waiting on a Friend". The album reached number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US. The Rolling Stones reached number 20 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 with "
Hang Fire". Their
1981 American Tour was their biggest, longest, and most colourful production to date. It was the highest-grossing tour of that year. It included a concert at Chicago's
Checkerboard Lounge with Muddy Waters, in one of his last performances before his death in 1983. Some of the shows were recorded. This resulted in the 1982 live album
Still Life (American Concert 1981) which reached number 4 in the UK and number 5 in the US, and the 1983
Hal Ashby concert film ''
Let's Spend the Night Together'', filmed at
Sun Devil Stadium in
Tempe, Arizona and the
Brendan Byrne Arena in the
Meadowlands, New Jersey. In mid-1982, to commemorate their 20th anniversary, the Rolling Stones took their American stage show to Europe. The European tour was their first in six years and used a similar format to the American tour. The band was joined by former
Allman Brothers Band keyboardist
Chuck Leavell, who continues to perform and record with them. By the end of the year, the Stones had signed a new four-album recording deal with a new label,
CBS Records, for a reported $50 million, then the biggest record deal in history.
1983–1988: Band turmoil and solo projects , Italy, in 1982 Before leaving Atlantic, the Rolling Stones released
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
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 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", 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. The Rolling Stones played a private tribute concert for him at London's
100 Club in February 1986.
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. 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. 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 material of Brian 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, which reached number 6 in the UK and number 16 in the US, and the concert film
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, 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. By 1993, the Stones were ready to start recording another studio album. Charlie Watts recruited bassist
Darryl Jones, a former
sideman of
Miles Davis and
Sting, as Wyman's replacement for 1994's
Voodoo Lounge. Jones continues to perform with the band as their touring and session bassist. The album met with positive reviews and strong sales, going double platinum in the US. Reviewers took note and credited the album's "traditionalist" sounds to the Rolling Stones' new producer
Don Was.
Voodoo Lounge won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 1995 Grammy Awards. It reached number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the US. during the
Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1995 The accompanying
Voodoo Lounge Tour lasted into the following year and grossed $320 million, becoming the world's
highest-grossing tour at the time. Mostly
acoustic numbers from various concerts and rehearsals made up
Stripped which reached number 9 in the UK and the US. It featured a cover of Bob Dylan's "
Like a Rolling Stone", as well as infrequently played songs such as "
Shine a Light", "Sweet Virginia", On 8 September 1994, the Stones performed their new song "
Love Is Strong" and "Start Me Up" at the
1994 MTV Video Music Awards at
Radio City Music Hall in New York. The band received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony. The Rolling Stones ended the 1990s with the album
Bridges to Babylon, released in 1997 to mixed reviews. It reached number 6 in the UK and number 3 in the US. The video of the single "
Anybody Seen My Baby?" featured
Angelina Jolie as guest and was given steady rotation on both
MTV and
VH1. Sales were roughly equal to those of previous records (about 1.2 million copies sold in the US). The subsequent
Bridges to Babylon Tour, which crossed Europe, North America, and other destinations, proved that the band remained a strong live attraction. Once again, a live album was recorded during the tour,
No Security; only this time all but two songs ("
Live With Me" and "The Last Time") were previously unreleased on live albums. The album reached number 67 in the UK and number 34 in the US. In 1999, the Rolling Stones staged the
No Security Tour in the US and continued the Bridges to Babylon tour in Europe.
2000–2011: 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" 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 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
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) 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. In November 2004, the Rolling Stones were among the inaugural inductees into the
UK Music Hall of Fame. The band's first new album in almost eight years,
A Bigger Bang, was released on 6 September 2005 to positive reviews, including a glowing write-up in
Rolling Stone magazine. The album reached number 2 in the UK and number 3 in the US. The single "
Streets of Love" reached the top 15 in the UK. The album included the political "
Sweet Neo Con", Jagger's criticism of
American neoconservatism. Richards was initially worried about a political backlash in the US, The subsequent
A Bigger Bang Tour began in August 2005, and included North America, South America, and East Asia. In February 2006, the group played the half-time show of
Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan. By the end of 2005, the Bigger Bang tour had set a record of $162 million in gross receipts, breaking the North American mark set by the band in 1994. On 18 February 2006, the band played a free concert to over one million people at the
Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro—one of the largest rock concerts of all time. After performances in Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand in March and April 2006, the Stones' tour took a scheduled break before proceeding to Europe. During the break, Keith Richards was hospitalised in New Zealand for cranial surgery after a fall from a tree on
Fiji, where he had been on holiday. The incident led to a six-week delay in launching the European leg of the tour. In June 2006, it was reported that Ronnie Wood was continuing his alcohol abuse rehabilitation programme, but this did not affect the rearranged European tour schedule. Mick Jagger's throat problems forced the cancellation of three shows and the rescheduling of several others that fall. The Stones returned to North America for concerts in September 2006, and returned to Europe on 5 June 2007. By November 2006, the Bigger Bang tour had been declared the
highest-grossing tour of all time. 's world premiere of
Martin Scorsese's documentary
Shine a Light. From left to right: Watts, Wood, Richards, and Jagger.
Martin Scorsese filmed the Stones performances at New York City's
Beacon Theatre on 29 October and 1 November 2006 for the documentary film,
Shine a Light, released in 2008. The film features guest appearances by
Buddy Guy,
Jack White, and
Christina Aguilera. An accompanying soundtrack, also titled
Shine a Light, was released in April 2008 and reached number 2 in the UK and number 11 in the US. The album's debut at number 2 on the UK charts was the highest position for a Rolling Stones concert album since ''Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert'' in 1970. At the Beacon Theatre show, music executive
Ahmet Ertegun fell and later died from his injuries. The band toured Europe throughout June and August 2007. 12 June 2007 saw the release of the band's second four-disc DVD set:
The Biggest Bang, a seven-hour film featuring their shows in
Austin, Rio de Janeiro,
Saitama, Shanghai, and
Buenos Aires, along with extras. On 10 June 2007, the band performed their first gig at a festival in 30 years, at the
Isle of Wight Festival, to a crowd of 65,000, and were joined onstage by
Amy Winehouse. On 26 August 2007, they played their last concert of the Bigger Bang tour at
the O2 Arena in London. At the conclusion of the tour, the band had grossed a record-setting $558 million and were listed in the 2007 edition of
Guinness World Records. On 12 November 2007, ABKCO released
Rolled Gold: The Very Best of the Rolling Stones, a double-CD remake of the 1975 compilation
Rolled Gold. In July 2008, the Rolling Stones left EMI to sign with Vivendi's
Universal Music, taking with them their catalogue stretching back to
Sticky Fingers. New music released by the band while under this contract was to be issued through Universal's
Polydor label. During the autumn, Jagger and Richards worked with producer Don Was to add new vocals and guitar parts to ten unfinished songs from the
Exile on Main St. sessions. Jagger and Mick Taylor also recorded a session together in London, where Taylor added a new guitar track to what would be the expanded album's single, "
Plundered My Soul". On 17 April 2010, the band released a limited edition 7-inch vinyl single of the previously unreleased track "Plundered My Soul", as part of
Record Store Day. The track, part of the group's 2010 re-issue of
Exile on Main St., was combined with "
All Down the Line" as its
B-side. The band appeared at the Cannes Festival for the premiere of the documentary
Stones in Exile (directed by
Stephen Kijak) about the recording of the album
Exile on Main St. In the US, the album re-entered the charts at number 2. Loewenstein proposed to the band that they wind down their recording and touring activity and sell off their assets. The band disagreed, and that year Loewenstein parted from the band after four decades as their manager, later writing the memoir
A Prince Among Stones.
Joyce Smyth, a lawyer who had long been working for the Stones, took over as their full-time manager in 2010. Smyth would go on to win Top Manager in the 2019
Billboard Live Music Awards. In October 2010, the Stones released
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones to cinemas and later to DVD. A digitally remastered version of the film was shown in select cinemas across the United States. Although originally released to cinemas in 1974, it had never been available for home release, apart from bootleg recordings. In October 2011, the Stones released ''
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live In Texas '78 to cinemas. A digitally remastered version of the film was shown in select cinemas across the US. This live performance was recorded during one show in Ft. Worth, Texas, in support of their 1978 US Tour and their album Some Girls
. The film was released (on DVD/Blu-ray Disc) on 15 November 2011. On 21 November, the band reissued Some Girls'' as a 2-CD deluxe edition. The second CD included twelve previously unreleased tracks (except "So Young", which was a B-side to "
Out of Tears") from the sessions, with mostly newly recorded vocals by Jagger.
2012–2016: 50th anniversary, documentary and Blue & Lonesome for the first time since 1969, with Mick Taylor performing with the band for the first time since 1974. 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 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. 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 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. 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
digital download through
iTunes later that month. An award-winning live DVD,
Sweet Summer Sun: Live in Hyde Park, was released on 11 November. , Cuba, in March 2016; a spokesman for the band called it "the first open air concert in Cuba by a British rock band". 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
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, in multiple formats. Their concert on 25 March 2016 in Cuba was commemorated in the film
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, 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 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.
2017–2025: 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, 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
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
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. 2022, a year after the death of Watts. Left to right: Jagger, Wood, and Richards. 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", 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
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
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 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. '', at the
Hackney Empire in London (pictured) in a news conference at the venue. 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 might be called
Hackney Diamonds.
Elton John,
Lady Gaga,
Stevie Wonder and
Paul McCartney, among others, were expected to guest on the new album (and they all did). On 6 September 2023, Jagger, Richards and Wood appeared in a live Q&A with
Jimmy Fallon to announce that
Hackney Diamonds would be released on 20 October 2023. The album features the final two songs Charlie Watts recorded with the band prior to his death, and it also features former longtime bassist Bill Wyman on one of the album's tracks, marking only his second studio recording with the band since 1991's
Flashpoint album. "
Angry", the album's first single and music video (starring actress
Sydney Sweeney), was also released during the Q&A, with the song also landing on the
EA Sports FC 24 soundtrack. Jagger speculated that the band's follow-up to
Hackney Diamonds was 75% done by the time that album was released. Ten months later, Jagger stated that it is likely the band would release new music "soon". The subsequent
Hackney Diamonds Tour took place from 28 April 2024 to 21 July 2024 and was generally well received, with the
Los Angeles Times calling the band "still as dangerous and vital as ever" with other papers sharing the sentiment, including the
Vancouver Sun and
The New York Times. The band expressed interest that June in continuing the tour in 2025, telling Reuters "We'll consider those offers, where we're going to go and where it will be fun, you know?...It could be Europe, could be South America, could be anywhere." Wood confirmed in a May 2025 interview with the
Times that the band is still planning a new album. Also in 2025, a remix of British DJ
Fatboy Slim's 1998 single, "
The Rockafeller Skank", incorporating elements of the Rolling Stones' "
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was released under the title "Satisfaction Skank". An earlier version of the remix had been in circulation on
bootleg recordings for many years until the Stones' management eventually agreed to its release after several previous refusals. The refusal was due to a
sample that the Stones' management had refused to sanction. The single was officially released on 11 December 2025.
2026–present: Foreign Tongues On 11 April 2026, under the pseudonym "The Cockroaches", the band issued to select record stores in extremely limited quantities a physical-only release of their new single "Rough and Twisted" from their then-untitled new forthcoming album. It was reported by
The Times that the upcoming album will not be the band's last, citing "at least 10" additional songs outside of the album having been written to date. Reviewing the single for
The Telegraph,
Neil McCormick called it a "raucously fun belter that wouldn't sound out of place on
Exile on Main Street", declaring "it might just be the summer of The Beatles and the Stones. Rock and roll will never die." The album was then rumoured to be released on 10 July. On 25 April 2026, the band posted on their Facebook page 20 photographs taken in different countries showing street views with posters announcing the words
Foreign Tongues written in different languages, seemingly the title of their new studio album. On 5 May 2026, three and a half weeks after the physical release, The Rolling Stones ultimately released through YouTube the complete (4:40) audio version of their new single "Rough and Twisted". On the same day, the band confirmed that their new studio album
Foreign Tongues will be released on 10 July 2026 and also released through YouTube the album's first single, "Into the Stars". ==Musical development==