The Rolling
Stones

The Rolling Stones prehaps no rock band has sustained consistent activity and global popularity for so long a period as the Rolling Stones, still capable, more than 50 years after their formation, of filling the largest stadium in the world.

The Rolling Stones were in the vanguard of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the US in 1964–65. They were instrumental in making blues a major part of rock and roll, and of changing the international focus of blues culture to the less sophisticated blues typified by Chess Records artists such as Muddy Waters, writer of “Rollin’ Stone”, the song after which the band is named. Their albums Beggars’ Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), and Exile on Main St. (1972) are generally considered the Rolling Stones’ “Golden Age”. Musicologist Robert Palmer attributed the “remarkable endurance” of the Rolling Stones to being “rooted in traditional verities, in rhythm-and-blues and soul music” while “more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone”. The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Their estimated album sales are above 250 million. In 2012, the band celebrated its 50th anniversary.

To read more about the formation of the band, Crawdaddy Club, Songwriting, and the passing of each individual member, click the green "read more" button to the right.