There was a time when The Rolling Stones lived in the shadow of The Beatles. But it was long ago. Today, The Rolling Stones may well be considered the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time. After all, what they’ve done is hugely impressive. A single decade of success would have placed them in the record books, yet the band has been delighting audiences and creating rock ‘n’ roll for 60 years — that’s right, 60. It hasn’t all been highs, but they’ve gotten more right than they have wrong. Indeed, based on virtually every metric by which you’d measure a rock band, the Stones earn top marks.
All-Time Classics
You can have good looks, the right image, and a rock ‘n’ roll attitude, but if you haven’t got the songs to back it all up, then there’s only so far that you can go. The Rolling Stones have top-drawer songs from virtually every era of their existence. Their biggest songs are out-and-out smash-hits that will rightly go down in history as some of the best songs of all time. Who doesn’t instantly recognize Gimme Shelter, Satisfaction, or Ruby Tuesday? They’re more than good songs. They were the soundtrack for a generation.
Live Shows
You can be good in the studio, or you can be good on the stage. Either one will win you respect and adulation. The Rolling Stones excel in both arenas. They’ve got a long list of outstanding songs and albums in their back catalog. And at the same time, they’ve also developed a reputation for being one of the best live bands in the world. They’ve proven their worth on stage, having played more than 2,000 shows. And they didn’t pad those numbers with small shows in front of a hundred people. Nearly every Rolling Stones show has been a massive event that thousands of people attended. One of the band’s most notable shows in recent years was in Cuba, where they played to 1.2 million fans — more than half the population of Havana.
Iconic Images
The Rolling Stones were ahead of their time in many areas, including ‘branding,’ which is all the rage today but has been part of the band’s identity for more than fifty years. Their tongue and lips logo is probably the most famous band logo in rock ‘n’ roll history and has been featured on album covers, t-shirts, and in one of the more unusual examples of band merchandise, a landline telephone. There will come a time when the band hangs up their instruments for good, but there’s no doubt that that famous tongue will live on.
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
There are plenty of popular artists out there. They are polished and professional, and have as many, if not more, hits than The Rolling Stones. But they don’t have one thing that the Stones have in abundance: attitude. It would have been easy for Mick Jagger and co. to rest on their laurels and spend their days counting their money. But they didn’t do that. They’ve kept on playing at the highest level for longer than anyone expected. Many bands and artists fade into obscurity after a while. The Rolling Stones don’t even know the meaning of obscurity. They’re out-and-out superstars and will be long after they’ve put their instruments down for good. We may never see another band like The Rolling Stones, but that’s OK — some bands are just meant to be one of a kind.
