From smoky London clubs to sold-out stadiums, the Rolling Stones have lived out one of the most extraordinary journeys in rock ’n’ roll. More than sixty years on, they remain both a living band and a living legend. With new music on the horizon let’s catch up on the Greatest Rock n Roll band in the world.

The Origins of the Stones (1962)

The story begins in London in 1962. Childhood friends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards reconnected on a train platform, bonding over their love of American blues records. Soon after, they fell in with multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, pianist Ian Stewart, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts.

Their first gigs at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond drew crowds hungry for raw blues, and by 1963 the Stones were on their way to becoming “the bad boys” to the Beatles’ clean-cut charm.

Where did the band name ‘The Rolling Stones’ come from?

The name itself came from the blues. In 1962, when asked for the band’s name during a call with Jazz News magazine, Brian Jones glanced at a Muddy Waters record lying nearby. One track, “Rollin’ Stone,” caught his eye — and in that moment the Rolling Stones were born.

Original Stones Band Members

Mick Jagger – lead vocals (1962–present)
Keith Richards – guitar (1962–present)
Brian Jones – founder, multi-instrumentalist (1962–1969)
Charlie Watts – drums (1963–2021)
Bill Wyman – bass (1962–1993)
Ian Stewart – piano (1962–1985)

Later Additions

Mick Taylor – guitar (1969–1974)
Ronnie Wood – guitar (1975–present)

Turbulence and Transformation

The Stones’ reputation and success came fast. Within months they had outgrown the Crawdaddy Club, replaced by another up-and-coming band, the Yardbirds with Eric Clapton. By 1964 they had a debut album out and were already drawing teenage hysteria on both sides of the Atlantic. The turning point came in 1965 with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” — their breakout hit and first U.S. No.1.

If the Beatles had their coronation on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Stones’ own appearances there sealed their status as the dangerous alternative, the band parents didn’t want their daughters chasing. Between 1964 and 1969 they released a run of albums — Out of Our Heads, Aftermath, Between the Buttons and Beggars Banquet — that built their reputation for menace, swagger, and some of the most enduring songs in rock.

THe Rolling Stones dressed up for the photoshoot of Beggars banquet — The photoshoot for Beggar’s Banquet, on display in London

Success came at a price. By the late ’60s, Brian Jones was struggling, his role in the band diminished. In 1969, just as the Stones were preparing for a U.S. tour, Jones was found dead in his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm. He was only 27.

The band recruited guitarist Mick Taylor, whose fluid playing shaped albums such as Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.

Taylor’s tenure was short but brilliant, and in 1975 he was replaced by Ronnie Wood, who would become an official ‘Stone on their 1976 Black and Blue album.

Exile on the Riviera: Villa Nellcôte

The Stones’ 1972 masterpiece Exile on Main St. was born in unusual circumstances. Facing a huge tax bill in the UK, the band relocated to the French Riviera. Richards rented Villa Nellcôte, a Belle Époque mansion in Villefranche-sur-Mer, where the band and their entourage lived a life of debauchery and excess.

Exile on Main Street - in the South of France — Exile in the South of France

Down in the villa’s humid basement, the Stones recorded much of Exile, producing an album that felt as sprawling and chaotic as the sessions themselves. Today Nellcôte is one of rock’s most mythologised houses — a touchstone for both Stones fans and South of France dreamers like me!

The Stones’ Golden Run

From 1968’s Beggars Banquet through to Exile on Main St. in 1972, the Stones delivered a sequence of albums that remain cornerstones of rock. They captured the chaos of the era — Altamont, riots, drug busts — while creating songs that endure: “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Brown Sugar,” and “Tumbling Dice.”

This was the Stones at their dangerous peak.

Endurance and Stadium Spectacle

By the 1980s the Stones were elder statesmen of rock, but they didn’t slow down. Tattoo You gave them “Start Me Up,” still their most reliable show opener. Steel Wheels in 1989 ushered in a new era of mega-touring.

The Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Album Cover, Insert and Vinyl on a White background — Steel Wheels

The Urban Jungle Tour in 1990 took it even further — a sprawling European stadium run that proved the Stones were the definitive live act. With pyrotechnics, giant screens and Jagger commanding crowds of 70,000 a night, it set the template for the modern rock spectacle. It was also my second true Satdium show that stayed with me forever.

The yellow tour programme for Urban Jungle sits on top of the Stars and Stripes Programme for Steel Wheels Rolling Stones US Tour — Urban Jungle and Steel Wheels Tour Programmes from the WTS collection

Bill Wyman retired in 1993, leaving Jagger, Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts to carry the band forward for the next three decades. They showed that same scale and precision at Desert Trip in California (2016) — one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen, and the last time I saw Charlie behind the kit.

Charlie Watts at Desert Trip 2016 — The late great Charlie Watts

The Rolling Stones Today

The Stones entered the new millennium as a phenomenon beyond music — still touring, still recording, still selling out stadiums. The loss of Charlie Watts in 2021 was a seismic moment, but the band carried on with Steve Jordan on drums, just as Watts himself had urged.

Their 2023 album Hackney Diamonds showed they still had fire left, six decades into their story. Jagger turned 80 that same year, but on stage he moves with the same electricity that defined him in 1962.

Legacy of the Rolling Stones

Few bands have lasted so long, with so much impact. From the tongue-and-lips logo to riffs like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” the Stones are as much cultural symbols as musicians.

They began as London blues disciples. They became the “greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world.” And they remain proof that rock music and some rock stars can defy time.

Six decades on, the Rolling Stones remain more than a band — they’re a living soundtrack. If you’d like to dive deeper, explore our Rolling Stones playlist for the essential tracks, our guide to the best books every Stones fan should read, and a curated list of documentaries that capture the band on film. Each offers another way to experience the swagger, sound, and story of the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band.

A Brief History of the Rolling Stones