The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts, after keyboardist Ian Stewart was side-lined by their manager Andrew Loog Oldham (though Stewart was retained as the band's road manager and session/touring keyboardist until his death in 1985). During their early years, Jones was the primary leader. Oldham encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership soon became the band's primary songwriting and creative force.

Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing cover versions and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, becoming identified with the youthful counterculture of the 1960s. They then found greater success with their own compositions: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Get Off of My Cloud" (both 1965) and "Paint It Black" (1966) became international number-one hits. Aftermath (1966), their first album to be entirely of original material, is often considered to be the most important of their early albums. 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. By the end of the 1960s, they had returned to their rhythm and blues-based rock sound, with hit singles "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) and "Honky Tonk Women" (1969), and albums Beggars Banquet (1968), featuring "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man", and Let It Bleed (1969), featuring "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter".

Jones left the band a few weeks before his death in 1969, and was replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor. That year saw the first time they were introduced on stage as "the greatest rock and roll band in the world". Sticky Fingers (1971), which yielded "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" and included the first usage of their tongue and lips logo, was their first of eight consecutive number-one studio albums in the US. It was followed by Exile on Main St. (1972), featuring "Tumbling Dice" and "Happy", and Goats Head Soup (1973), featuring "Angie". Taylor left the band at the end of 1974 and was replaced by Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood. The band released Some Girls in 1978, featuring "Miss You" and "Beast of Burden", and Tattoo You in 1981, featuring "Start Me Up". Steel Wheels (1989) was widely considered a comeback album and was followed by Voodoo Lounge (1994). Both releases were promoted by large stadium and arena tours, as the Stones continued to be a huge concert attraction. By 2007, they had broken the record for the all-time highest-grossing concert tour three times, and they were the highest-earning live act of 2021. Following Wyman's departure in 1993, the band continued as a four-piece core, with Darryl Jones becoming their regular bassist, and then as a three-piece core following Watts' death in 2021, with Steve Jordan becoming their regular drummer. Hackney Diamonds, the band's first new album of original material in 18 years, was released in October 2023, becoming their fourteenth UK number-one album. Their next album, Foreign Tongues, is due for release in July 2026.

The Rolling Stones have estimated album sales of more than 250 million. They have won four 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 and Rolling Stone have ranked them as one of the greatest artists of all time.

History

Early history

thumb|The [[blue plaque 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

thumb|The Rolling Stones in 1963. Left to right: Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Keith Richards

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."

thumb|The Rolling Stones arriving at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, 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).

thumb|An advertisement for the [[The Rolling Stones 1965 tours|1965 Rolling Stones' North American tour|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.

thumb|left|The band performing in Stockholm, Sweden, April 1966

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."

thumb|Jones playing a [[sitar, 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.

thumb|left|[[Mick Taylor, 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."

thumb|upright=0.6|left|[[Ronnie Wood (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 instalment 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

thumb|upright=0.85|The Rolling Stones performing at [[Rupp Arena 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

thumb|left|Richards and Wood during a Stones concert in [[Turin, 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. When Undercover was released, Bill German's then five-year-old Beggars Banquet newsletter was declared to be the official Rolling Stones newsletter, and Undercover included instructions on how to subscribe. 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.

In February 1986, Wyman alleged to author Bill German that Jagger tried several times to throw him out of the band. But German chose not to report this in his Beggars Banquet newsletter at that time given the poor state of relations within the band.

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.

left|alt=Jagger performs in Chile during the Voodoo Lounge Tour.|thumb|upright=0.8|Jagger in [[Chile 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.

thumb|left|The Rolling Stones at the [[Berlin Film Festival'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,