The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones is one of the most popular and long-playing rock-bands in the world. The band's history, that is not over yet, has began in London in 1962. The Rolling Stones was formed by the original leader Brian Jones, and eventually led by the songwriting partnership of singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. They were joined by pianist Ian Stewart, drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman. The band's early albums, such as The Rolling Stones, 12 X 5, Out of Our Heads, were mainly covers of American blues and R&B songs. However, they brought the wide popularity to The Rolling Stones, putting them on the edge of British Invasion. During the 1969 American tour, tour manager Sam Cutler introduced them as "The Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World". The Rolling Stones with their hooligan image soon became the antogonists for the "sleeked"The Beatles.

Starting with The Rolling Stones' 1966 album Aftermath, the songs, written by Jagger and Richards were supplemented with the instrumental experimentation of Jones. But in 1969 Jones was fired from the group and died shortly after. He was replaced by Mick Taylor. The Rolling Stones' line-up has changed many times during their long existance. After Taylor quit in 1974, former Faces' guitarist Ron Wood took over. Wyman retired in 1993 and was replaced by Darryl Jones who has played bass on subsequent recordings, but is not an official member of the band. Ian Stewart was removed from the official lineup in 1963 but continued to work with the band as road manager and keyoboardist until his death in 1985.

The same thing is with The Rolling Stones' music. The Rolling Stones are extremely notable in modern popular music for assimilating various musical genres into their recording and performance. In their albums The Rolling Stones has been using elements of country, folk, reggae, dance as well as English national music that uses stringed instrumentation like harps. But, all in all, the main influence on the group made jazz and blues. Jagger and Richards' shared interest in such musicians as Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters. Jagger also said that music of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Fats Domino "seemed the most real thing" for him.

They have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. Sticky Fingers (1971) has began a string of eight consecutive studio albums at number one in the United States, ending with the Tattoo You (1984), and in 1989 The Rolling Stones were inducted into the American Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Their latest album of new songs, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005, and, according to the Jagger's words, The Rolling Stones are still full of life and not going to retire. In 2007 the musicians released the gorgeous compilation album Rolled Gold: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones, which included songs from such albums as Out Of Our Heads, Aftermath and Between The Buttons. In 2008 the compilation of unquestionable quality Shine A Light was issued.