By Ethan Daucher
Staff Writer
Almost everyone has heard of the Rolling Stones, and if they haven’t, they have probably unknowingly heard one of their many famous songs. The Rolling Stones is a widely popular British rock band that had been around for many years, ever since the British Invasion in the 1960’s. The band is made up of many members, such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Ronnie Wood. The Stones have been known to change their style of music throughout the many years that they’ve been around. From genres such as Rock n’ Roll to blues, pop, disco and even country, thus appealing to many. Because of such diversity in music, they have many great and influential songs that have reached top charts countless times throughout the many years they have been together. Hate them or love them, here are the top 5 Rolling Stones Songs that you should listen to, in no particular order.
“Sympathy For The Devil”
This was mainly a samba rock song that ranked number 32 on the top 500 songs in Rolling Stone magazine. Coming from the album Beggars Banquet, this song is a first person narrative that tells a story of events from human history such as the death of Robert F. Kennedy, World War II, and violence in the Russian Revolution. It was influenced by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov and his novel The Master and Margarita.
“Beast of Burden”
A song created in reverse, where lyrics came last, “Beast of Burden” was released with the iconic album Some Girls in 1978. The idea of this song was inspired by the guitar part, rather than having a guitar part composed off of lyrics, meaning, the lyrics were mainly improvised to balance out the instrumental portion. Songwriter Mick Jagger describes his song as a “Soul begging song, an attitude song”. When this song was released as a single off the album, it had charted at #8 in the US.
“(I can’t get no) Satisfaction”
“Satisfaction” was a song that inspired a completely new generation of guitarists to pick up the instrument. This is arguably the song that had made The Rolling Stones popular because it essentially “put them on the map” in both the UK and America, changing them from “just another band” to a “huge, monster band.” This song was originally released as a single in the U.S in 1965 and quickly hit number one in the U.S. It also earned itself the second spot out of 500 in a list in the magazine “Top 500 Greatest songs of all time,” created by the Rolling Stones.
“Paint it, Black”
Completely different from what the Stones had done before, “Paint it, Black” was first released as a single in 1966, then later put into their album Aftermath. This song had reached number 1 in both “Billboard Hot 11” and “UK Singles Chart.” Paint it Black is quite a different type of song for the Stones because it was one of their first songs to ever feature a sitar, an eastern style instrument. Despite the catchy tune, this song describes the sudden loss of one’s loved one and how they are dealing with extreme grief because of it.
“Gimme Shelter”
Coming from their 1969 album Let it Bleed, “Gimme Shelter” is the first song to start off the extremely influential album. This song is so highly praised that at the time of its release, Rolling Stone magazine had claimed that Stones had “never done anything better.” During the final moments of recording this song, the guitar that Keith Richards was using to play literally broke apart on the final note. He later explained that if you listen to the original take of this, you can hear the sound of the guitar neck falling off.
Being such a powerhouse in their prime, there is no denying how great the Stones are, considering their ability to bridge the gap between many generations, languages, and even ethnicities.
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