Music Folks

The Rolling Stones: Six Decades of the Band That Never Stopped Rolling

October 16, 2026 · by Music Folks

The Rolling Stones started out in 1962 as a group of young London blues obsessives playing other people’s songs, and they are still making records more than six decades later. Along the way they wrote some of rock’s defining singles, made a run of late 1960s and early 1970s albums that many fans regard as the genre’s high-water mark, and turned the stadium tour into big business. Few bands have lasted so long, and fewer still have stayed this close to the center of the story.

Quick Facts

Formed: 1962, London, England
Core members today: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood
Past members: Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor
Genre: Rock, blues rock, rock and roll
Key albums: Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., Some Girls, Hackney Diamonds
Key songs: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Paint It Black,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Start Me Up”
Honors: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1989), Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1986), Best Rock Album Grammy for Hackney Diamonds (2025)

A Chance Meeting at Dartford Station

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had known each other as small boys at primary school in Dartford, Kent, but the friendship that mattered began on October 17, 1961, when they bumped into each other at Dartford railway station and found they shared a passion for American blues and rhythm and blues. They fell in with the slide guitarist Brian Jones and the pianist Ian Stewart, and on July 12, 1962, the new group played its first show at London’s Marquee Club, billed as “the Rollin’ Stones.”

The classic early lineup settled over the following months. Bassist Bill Wyman was hired in December 1962 and drummer Charlie Watts joined in early 1963. Manager Andrew Loog Oldham soon dropped Stewart from the official lineup on image grounds, but he stayed on as road manager and keyboard player, a quiet fixture of the band for decades.

From Covers to Classics

The first single, a version of Chuck Berry’s “Come On,” came out on June 7, 1963, and reached No. 21 in the UK. Oldham pushed Jagger and Richards to write their own material, and the results changed everything. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” became their first international No. 1 in 1965 and spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Aftermath (1966) was the first Stones album made up entirely of Jagger and Richards songs, and “Paint It Black” topped the charts in both the UK and the US that year.

The Golden Run

Between 1968 and 1972 the band made the records that built their reputation: Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and the double album Exile on Main St. (1972). Singles such as “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women” (their fifth US No. 1) kept the hits coming. Sticky Fingers was the first release on the band’s own label, and it, Exile and Goats Head Soup (1973) all reached No. 1 in both the UK and the US.

The period also brought tragedy. Brian Jones left the band in June 1969 and died at his home, Cotchford Farm, on July 3 that year. Guitarist Mick Taylor took his place and played on the golden run of early 1970s albums before leaving at the end of 1974.

Ronnie Wood and the Stadium Years

Ronnie Wood joined as second guitarist for the 1975 Tour of the Americas, and his membership was made official in 1976. The disco-flavored “Miss You” helped make Some Girls (1978) a US No. 1, and Tattoo You (1981) did the same, led by “Start Me Up,” which reached No. 2 in the US.

From the late 1980s on, the Stones became as famous for touring as for recording. Steel Wheels (1989) and Voodoo Lounge (1994) came with huge world tours, and by 2007 the band had broken the record for the highest-grossing concert tour three times. Bill Wyman left in 1993; Darryl Jones became the regular bassist, though the band officially continued as a four-piece. The Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, and their estimated album sales run to more than 250 million.

Life After Charlie

Charlie Watts, the steady, understated drummer at the heart of the band for nearly six decades, died in 2021. Steve Jordan took over the drum stool, and the Stones carried on as a trio of Jagger, Richards and Wood. They were still the highest-earning live act of 2021.

In October 2023 they released Hackney Diamonds, their first album of new original songs in 18 years. Produced by Andrew Watt, it became their 14th UK No. 1 album, and in February 2025 it won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. Watt produced the follow-up, Foreign Tongues, recorded in under a month at Metropolis Studios in West London and released in July 2026. It features guest turns from Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood and Chad Smith, plus Charlie Watts on a recording from one of his final sessions. The album debuted at No. 1 in the UK, the band’s 15th chart-topping album there, and at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, extending their record for the most US top 10 albums to 39.

As of October 2026, there is no new tour on the calendar. Keith Richards told the Associated Press in May that the band would play live again “pretty soon, but not this year,” and Jagger has since said he hopes to tour as soon as possible, though not in 2026. Whatever comes next, the band that started out copying Chuck Berry records has outlasted almost every act that ever tried to follow it.

Sources

Tagged: 1960s, British, Rock