The Rolling Stones - 1969 to 1974

Two days after the death of Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones were planned to play a free concert in Hyde Park, London. They did the gig as a tribute to Jones and the first ever concert with Mick Taylor happened in front of around 250 thousand fans. All was filmed by a production team of Granada Television and was shown on TV as Stones in the Park. This show featured the debut of "Honky Tonk Women", recently released by the band. Stage Manager Sam Cutler introduced the Rolling Stones then as "the greatest rock & roll band in the world" and this label kept getting repeated in the entire 1969 tour and is even used today.

In December of the same year the band released "Let it Bleed", which reached number 1 in the UK and 3 in US. This was the last album of the sixties and featured tracks like "Midnight Rambler" and "Gimme Shelter". After the tour was over the band staged the Altamont Free Concert where the biker gang Hells Angels were used as security. The problem then was that a fan, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels and the band was considered responsible although video footage released proved that Mick Jagger and the rest of the band tried to stop everything. In 1970 the next album, "Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!" was released and reached number 6 in US and 1 in UK. Critic Lester Bangs declared that album to be the best live album ever.

1970 saw the contracts with Decca Records and Allen Klein come to an end and the result was the band forming their own record company called Rolling Stones Records. March 1971 saw the release of "Sticky Fingers", an album that reached number one both in UK and US and marked the first ever album by the band under their own label. The album was highly successful and features two of the most well known tracks by The Rolling Stones: "Wild Horses" and "Brown Sugar". This album marked the band's entrance into a more blues influenced style and was actually the first band that featured a full release of Mick Taylor with the band.

After the album was released the Rolling Stones moved to the South of France at the advice of financial advisors. They used the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio in order to hold recording sessions in the basement of the Villa Nellcote, rented by Keith Richards. Everything was completed later on and combined with previous unrecorded tracks the result was "Exile on Main St.", released in May of 1972, an album that also reached number one in both US and UK. Critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A+ rating and at the moment "Exile on Main St." is considered to be one of the best ever albums by the Stones.

November 1972 saw the start for the recordings of the follow up album, "Goats Head Soup", another number one hit in US and UK, which was released in 1973. The album features worldwide hit "Angie" and "Waiting for a Friend", although the second one was only released later on, on the album "Tattoo You", eight years later. While making the record another legal battle started, one linked with drugs and dating to the band's stay in France. Jagger was convicted on drug charges in 1967 and 1970 and this made it hard for the band to fulfill their plans for the Pacific Tour in the early 1973 period. They were not allowed to play in Japan and were almost banned in Australia. The result was a European tour that avoided France in the months of September and October of 1973.

The following album was recorded in Musicland studios in Germany and was called "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll", an album that reached number 2 in UK and 1 in US. The album was not produced by Jimmy Miller due to drug abuse problems so the album was produced by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Near the end of 1974 the band was facing difficult times as band members lived in various countries and there were some legal problems that made it hard to choose the tour locations. At the moment, Keith Richards did do drug abuse and this was affecting both productivity and creativity. Mick Taylor had some problems because he thought some of his contributions were not recognized and at the end of 1974 Taylor left the Rolling Stones. He stated in 1980:

"I was getting a bit fed up. 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."

The Rolling Stones Between 1965 and 1969

The first ever composition by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards that reached number one in UK was "The Last Time", recorded in early 1965. Then came the US version of the "Out of Our Heads" LP, which contained 7 original songs including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", which became the first ever number one hit in US. It stayed on the top spot for 4 weeks while making the Rolling Stones known across the world. After a short time the Rolling Stones released another number one, "Get Off of My Cloud".

The first ever album that was composed by Richards and Jagger was Aftermath and it appeared in the late spring of 1966, reaching number 1 in UK and 2 in US. This album also marked the change in leadership of the band from Brian Jones to the songwriting duo. The version of the LP that was launched in US also included huge song "Paint it Black", "Going Home" and "Lady Jane".

This is where problems started to appear for the Rolling Stones as Brian Jones, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger started to be attacked by authorities in linking with illegal drug use. In 1967 police raided a party that was held at Keith RIchards' house. Both Richards and Jagger were charged with drug offences. COncerning the incident Richards declared 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."

The Rolling Stones continued to grow though and the next album was Between the Buttons (number 3 in UK and 2 in US). Once again we had a special US version that included two huge Rolling Stones singles in "Let's Spend the Night Together" and one of my favorites, "Ruby Tuesday". One interesting moment was when the Stones performed on The Ed Sullivan Show but were forced to change the chorus to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" because of fear of censorship. This album was the last one that saw Oldham as manager of The Stones and in his biography he stated that he left the band because of shortage of money, forcing him to give his management contract to others. Mick Jagger said in 2003 about this moment:

"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."

May 1967 saw Brian Jones arrested for possession of cannabis. He got off with just a fine but he needed to seek professional help. June 27 of the same year saw Richards and Jagger convicted and then jailed. After an editorial critical on the convictions in The Times, titled "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?", Richards got off on an appeal and Jagger had a conditional discharge. When they were released the band recorded "We love You", as a thank you addressed to the fans that have shown their loyalty during the trials.

In December of 1967 The Rolling Stones released "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (which reached number 3 in UK and 2 in US), being released shortly after The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The album was hard to record as Jones, Richards and Jagger kept getting in and out of jail. Mick Jagger really loved the psychedelic sound of the album but few of the tracks on it have been played live. It was also the first album that was produced by the band.

The early 1968 period saw The Rolling Stones with a new manager in Allen Klein. The first months of the year were spent recording for the next album and the result was "Jumpin' Jack Flash", which was released in May 1968. This song lead to the launch of the next album, "Beggars Banquet" (which reached number 5 in US and 3 in UK). This album was a return to the blues roots of the band with the help of producer Jimmy Miller. Two songs from the album really stand out in "Street Fighting Man" and controversial "Sympathy for the Devil". Talking about the difference between the two albums, Keith Richards declared:

"There is a change between material on Satanic Majesties and Beggars Banquet. I'd grown sick to death of the whole Maharishi guru shit and the beads and bells. Who knows where these things come from, but I guess [the music] was a reaction to what we'd done in our time off and also that severe dose of reality. A spell in prison... will certainly give you room for thought... I was fucking pissed with being busted. So it was, 'Right we'll go and strip this thing down.' There's a lot of anger in the music from that period."

This time frame marked Richards starting to use open tunings, especially 5-string open-G tuning, as you can hear on popular songs like "Tumbling Dice", "Happy", "Start Me Up", "Brown Sugar" and a whole lot more.

A meeting that was held in June saw an important moment in The Rolling Stones' history. In a meeting at Jones' house with Jagger, Watts and Richards. This is when Brian Jones admitted that he will not be able to go on the road again and he was dealing with serious drug problems. He left the band and was replaced with 20 year old Mick Taylor, known as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. On July 3rd of 1969 Brian Jones drowned in his pool at Cotchford Farm in SUssex. This marked the end of this period of the Rolling Stones' history!