f you want to get technical about it, The Rolling Stones have been around for much longer than 50 years. Sure, it was July 12, 1962 when they played their first gig and they wouldn’t invade the States for a few more years, but the American blues and soul music they drew inspiration from had already been around for decades at that point.
The Rolling Stones are more than Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and their rotating cast of bandmates. The Stones are Robert Johnson, they’re Chuck Berry, they’re Muddy Waters. They’re something intangible—a renegade spirit that turns up in nearly a century of music. And just as that outlaw aesthetic has been around for far longer than the band itself, The Rolling Stones will be around for much longer than 50 years.
Here are the 50 Best Rolling Stones songs:
1. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
The Rolling Stones wrap up Let It Bleed with a chance at redemption, arguably the greatest album closer of all time. Jagger offers one of his finest moments as a frontman with the support of the London Bach Choir and producer-turned-drummer Jimmy Miller. Throughout the song, the group grapples with finding happiness, convincing listeners with the details, meaning and lessons along the way. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is a song that preaches truisms in the most convincing of ways. It instills hope when there’s despair, faith when there’s doubt. Jagger doesn’t give us a clear and concise meaning or lesson, yet he makes us believe in his optimism. In doing so, The Rolling Stones let us get what we need in a compelling, sweeping seven-minute statement.
2. Gimme Shelter
It’s hard to fathom that “Gimme Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” appear on the same album; the former is as eerie and foreboding as the latter is encouraging and comforting. But with “Gimme Shelter,” the Stones—those Satanic majesties—go full-tilt to the dark side, reflecting all the apocalyptic anxiety of the Vietnam era without ever directly referencing the conflict that defined their generation. Merry Clayton’s wailing vocal solo is positively chilling, but in the end, there’s a glimmer of hope that reminds us that maybe this song and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” aren’t so different after all: “Love, sister, is just a kiss away.”
3. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
If you were to round up a team of the world’s finest scientists, mathematicians and pollsters to determine the most instantly recognizable guitar riff of all time and came back with anything other than the pure bliss of Keith Richards’ fuzzed-out “Satisfaction” intro, we’d tell you to throw out all your data and go back to the drawing board. Beyond Richards’ iconic riff (which he claims came to him in a dream), there’s Mick Jagger—part bluesman, part Marilyn Monroe—in top form, pouting out verses about being sexually frustrated and fed up with commercialism.
4. Sympathy for the Devil
The Rolling Stones developed their reputation as rock ’n’ roll bad boys in part because of this song. Sure, they had written controversial lyrics before “Sympathy,” but this track changed the course of the band’s image. Jagger, who personifies the devil in the song, recounts his role in a string of infamous historical events such as Jesus’ crucifixion and Kennedy’s assassination. The song opens an album that stopped all mention of the band as Beatles imitators. Jagger is at his best as a lyricist here, with lines like “I rode a tank / held a general’s rank / When the Blitzkrieg raged / And the bodies stank.” The band was just beginning to hit its stride.
5. Tumbling Dice
In the basement of the chateau Villa Nellcote in Southern France, The Rolling Stones recorded much of their epic masterpiece Exile on Main St. During this period, they produced numerous sessions for what would become the album’s fifth track, “Tumbling Dice.” The song, written about a gambler unable to remain honest to the women in his life, features a choir-backed Jagger belting out “You got to roll me” with immense conviction, trying to convince someone to take a bet on him despite all his fallen glory. Many of Exile on Main St.’s transcendent moments can be found on this one track. Like the song’s narrator, its greatness lies in its fallacies. The unpolished production (some have claimed that the final version is in fact the wrong mix) makes the song all the better, letting the brightest moments shine even brighter.
6. Beast of Burden
It may be about the difficulties of carrying someone’s emotional baggage, but everything about “Beast of Burden” manages to sound nice and easy. Personally, it’ll always remind me of when I became a regular (OK, some would say “problem”) coffee drinker; I was in high school visiting my aunt and uncle, and its gentle guitar lines were rolling out of their speakers as I nursed that first, delicious cup of the day. “Yep,” I remember thinking to myself. “This is the way to wake up every morning.” I was hooked—to the caffeine, yes, but mainly to this timeless track and the way it made me feel.
7. Get Off Of My Cloud
How do you follow up a monster hit like “Satisfaction”? Simple: get everyone off your back (er, cloud) with twin guitars, defiant lyrics, a screaming call-and-response chorus and a killer Charlie Watts intro. It was penned way back in 1965, but “Get Off Of My Cloud” is a teen anthem for the ages.
8. Street Fighting Man
The Rolling Stones have rarely gotten political over the course of their 50-year career. This 1968 Beggars Banquet track is as overtly revolutionary as they get, calling people to action at the height of the Vietnam era the only way they know how—by singing in a rock and roll band.
9. Dead Flowers
Rock ’n’ roll has been the band’s bread and butter. Their attempts at country weren’t initially received very well. Looking back, however, it seems like people often misjudged the band when it tried something new. “Dead Flowers” sees the group brilliantly succeeding with a stab at making country music. With this song, the Stones’ glowing twang shines amidst their ominous heroin-laced lyrics.
10. Brown Sugar
“Brown Sugar” continued Jagger’s newfound penchant for writing controversial lyrics, touching on issues of interracial sex, slavery and heroin use. Just as importantly, the band originally recorded the song in Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in December 1969. The combination of instantaneous musical elements along with at-times jawdropping lyrics gave the Sticky Fingers opener an added punch.
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