The Rolling Stones
A brief history on how The Rolling Stones went on to become the Greatest Rock Band in the World.
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OTD in 1964, The Rolling Stones released their Debut Album titled "The Rolling Stones", forever changing the face of Rock Music as the world would know it. But how did a group of lads from Dartford, UK end up becoming the longest playing band in the world? Read On 👇🏻
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met at a train station in Dartford in October 1961. Although they knew each other from before, the pair got to talking about the collection of Blues and R&B records under Jagger's arm, and both shared interests in the Blues music scene of America.
Along with mutual friend Dick Taylor, they started jamming and formed a 3 piece band, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, which eventually merged with Brian Jones and Charlie Watt's band Blues Inc. to form the "Rolling Stones" named after a track by Blues legend Muddy Waters.
The next few months were tough for the band living together in a cramped Chelsea apartment off Jagger's scholarship money. However, their break came when they secured a gig at The Crawdaddy Club in London, in Feb 1963, with it billed as the "International Renaissance for Blues".
19-year-old promoter Andrew Oldham managed to convince the Stones to sign with him, and soon a deal with Decca Records was in place. Oldham was crucial in promoting a Bad Boy image for the Stones by making headlines such as, 'Would You Let Your Sister go with a Rolling Stone"
The trick worked, as between 1964 and 1967, the Stones became the hottest Rock band in the world, with 4 back-to-back albums topping the charts in both UK and the US and gave the Stones its first International No.1 hit- "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", a guitar riff for the ages.
In Feb 1967, Jagger and Richards were arrested for possession of drugs as they were apparently coming down from an acid trip. This event was labeled the 'Redlands Raid' and led up to following British Tabloids covering extensively on the drug use by Pop Stars of that time.
Post the saga, the band split with long-time manager Oldham over creative differences, and produced the next album, "Their Satanic Majesties Request" a psychedelic that drew mixed reviews and comparisons with The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club, even for its Album cover.
The criticism led the Stones to go back to their roots in a fashion that shook Rock music to its core. The next decade saw them take over from The Beatles as the Greatest Rock Band of the World with music produced in anger of earlier events. The Acid trip was officially over.
The Stones have never looked back since. In an unheard-of career spanning more than half a century, they recorded 30 Studio Albums, 121 Singles, sold 240 million records & performed more than 2000 concerts around the Globe amassing a collective fortune north of $900 Million.
The Crazy Part? They are still going strong. The pandemic postponed their 2020 "No Filter" tour, but Mick Jagger just released a single with Ex-Nirvana and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, called Eazy Sleazy, check it out here -
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