Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones, once famously said that he'd “rather be dead than sing “Satisfaction” when (he's) forty-five.” However, Jagger will turn sixty-nine years old this year, the same year the Rolling Stones are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary as “the greatest rock and roll band in the world.” Perhaps in spite of himself, Jagger is still performing…and yes, still singing “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.”

The Rolling Stones, originally composed of members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ian Stewart (Stu) were formed in Great Britain in 1962 by members Jagger, Richards, and Jones. The Rolling Stones were influenced, as were many other British rock bands, by American music: Blues, jazz, R&B (rhythm and blues), and rock and roll. Aesthetically pitted against The Beatles “boy next door” image, the Stones were marketed as “the bad boys” of rock. As the anonymous and origin-less saying goes, “The Stones want to spend the night together while the Beatles just want to hold your hand.” Encouraged and cultivated by their flamboyant band manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones' bad boy image became a defining characteristic of the band. In fact, one press campaign in particular led to the writing of a famous headline: “Would you let your daughter go with a Rolling Stone?”

Sara Powell

Books

Voice