The Rolling Stones 3

THE LAST TIME?

By this point, the Rolling Stones had fallen into an familiar (if undeniably
profi table) pattern: release an album that’s routinely hyped as a return to
form, followed by an epic stadium tour, with both accompanied by intimations
that they might be the band’s last. The fact that the Stones can continue
to reap massive rewards from this strategy every few years is powerful evidence
of their bigger-than-life status as one of rock’s few living legends.

So it was that in 2005, after countless false alarms and supposed artistic
resurrctions that never quite panned out, the Rolling Stones surprised even
their most skeptical fans with their best and hardest-rocking album in years,
A Bigger Bang . Eight years had passed since Bridges to Babylon —the longestever
gap between new Stones discs—but the new disc embodied much of the
revived spirit that the band had demonstrated on the Forty Licks tour. Where
Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge had been consciously designed to resurrect
the familiar Stones sound, A Bigger Bang (produced once again by Don Was)
sounded more like the band had stopped considering audience expectations
and just set out to make a good record.
Whatever the intentions, A Bigger Bang found the Stones sounding tougher
and greasier than they had in a couple of decades, boasting a spacious sound
that provided a solid framework for the revitalized band’s tough, sinewy playing.
The album’s sixteen new originals represented their strongest batch of new material since Some Girls , including such venomous rockers as “Rough Justice,”
“Look What the Cat Dragged In,” and “Oh No Not You Again,” as well as
some convincing ballads and blues tunes and Keith’s after-hours lament “This
Place Is Empty.” A Bigger Bang briefl y stirred some pre-release controversy
over “Sweet Neo Con,” a pointed Jagger jab at the Bush administration’s
recklessness. The song was reportedly almost left off the album due to the
objections of the staunchly apolitical Richards.
The band began its tour in support of A Bigger Bang in August 2005, covering
North America, South America, and East Asia in a mixture of venues.
By the end of that year, the tour had racked up a record-setting $162 million
in gross receipts, breaking the record that the Stones themselves had set in
1994.
In February 2006, the Stones performed in the high-profi le halftime slot of
the Super Bowl. On April 27, while vacationing on the island of Fiji following
some concerts in Australia, Richards suffered a head injury after a fall from
a coconut tree. A few days later, he underwent successful brain surgery in
Auckland, New Zealand, to relieve a blood clot. One of rock’s most durable
anti-heroes was back on stage within a few months.
Whether A Bigger Bang signaled a long-term return to form or merely a
fond farewell, it made the point that it’s possible to age gracefully and still
make great rock and roll. Nearly four and a half decades after their formation,
the Rolling Stones had successfully defended their status as the World’s
Greatest Rock and Roll Band.

TIMELINE
July 12, 1962
Billed as The Rollin’ Stones, the band plays its fi rst gig at London’s Marquee club,
with a lineup composed of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Dick Taylor on
bass, Ian Stewart on piano, and Mick Avory on drums.
December 1962
Bill Wyman joins the Rolling Stones as bassist.
January 1963
Charlie Watts joins the Rolling Stones as drummer.
February 1963
The new Rolling Stones lineup begins an eight-month residency at London’s Crawdaddy
Club. The band’s performances there will become so popular that the club is
eventually forced to move to a larger location.
June 1963
The Rolling Stones’ fi rst single, consisting of cover versions of Chuck Berry’s “Come
On” and Willie Dixon’s “I Want to Be Loved,” is released in Britain.
January 18, 1964
Gene Pitney’s version of “That Girl Belongs to Yesterday” enters the Billboard Hot
100, becoming the fi rst Jagger/Richards composition to chart in the United States.
February 1964
The Rolling Stones’ third single, a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” becomes
the band’s commercial breakthrough in Britain, reaching number three on the U.K.
pop chart.
June 1, 1964
The Rolling Stones begin their fi rst North American tour, which will include appearances
on The Ed Sullivan Show and Dean Martin’s Hollywood Palace , as well as a
visit to Chicago’s legendary Chess studio. At Chess, the band will record the EP Five
by Five .
June 1966
The Stones release Aftermath , their fi rst album consisting entirely of Jagger/Richards
originals.
June 19, 1965
“Satisfaction” becomes the Rolling Stones’ fi rst number one hit in the United States.
February 1967
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are arrested on drug charges when the police raid a
party at Richards’s estate in Sussex, and fi nd four amphetamine pills in Jagger’s
possession. The pair will be convicted of the charge in June, but public outcry over
the trumped-up charges and excessive sentences will prompt the reversal of their
sentences.
May 1967
Brian Jones is arrested for the possession of cannabis, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
He will escape with a fi ne and probation, but is ordered to seek professional help.
December 1967
The Stones release their controversial psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties
Request .
May 1968
The single “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is released.
July 26, 1968
Decca withdraws the original version of the Stones album Beggars Banquet due to its
controversial cover art.
December 11–12, 1968
The Rolling Stones fi lm their TV special Rock and Roll Circus , with guest appearances
by John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and others.
June 8, 1969
Brian Jones is fi red from the Rolling Stones.
July 3, 1969
Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool.
July 5, 1969
The Rolling Stones play a previously scheduled free concert in London’s Hyde Park,
in front of a crowd of 200,000, as a tribute to Brian Jones. The show is the debut of
new guitarist Mick Taylor.
August 23, 1969
The Rolling Stones reach number one with “Honky Tonk Women.”
November 1969
The band plays its fi rst U.S. tour in three years.
December 6, 1969
The Stones headline an all-star free concert at Altamont Speedway in California. The
event becomes a disaster when it’s disrupted by violence from Hell’s Angel members,
with one audience member stabbed to death. The event will be documented in the
feature fi lm Gimme Shelter .
March 1971
Sticky Fingers , the band’s fi rst album on their own Rolling Stones Records label, is
released.
February 1977
Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg are arrested for heroin and cocaine possession in
a Toronto hotel room. Richards will receive a suspended sentence and be ordered to
play two free concerts for a local charity. The sentence sparks the formation of Richards’s
temporary supergroup the New Barbarians, which plays some U.S. dates as well
as the court-ordered concerts.
1993
Bill Wyman quits the Rolling Stones.