Listen along while you read.
1. “Come On”
Released in June 1963, the Rolling Stones’ debut single was a jaunty rendition of a relatively obscure 1961 Chuck Berry song. Punctuated by Richards’s rhythmic playing and a wailing harmonica riff from Brian Jones, “Come On” didn’t exactly set the world afire — it peaked at No. 21 on the British singles charts — and one of the first critics to write about the band, Norman Jopling, didn’t think it captured the energy of the group’s electric live performances. Still, “Come On” gave the Stones exposure and established a sound and attitude that they would continue to refine in the coming years.
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2. “I Wanna Be Your Man”
The Stones’ second single actually has a more notable place in rock history than the first: It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The Stones’ hustler of a manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, ran into them when they were in the middle of writing it, and convinced them to pay a visit to the studio where the Stones were then jamming; it remains the only Beatles-penned song recorded by the Stones. (Incidentally, McCartney makes an appearance on “Foreign Tongues,” his first credited contribution to a Rolling Stones record.) It’s illuminating to hear the comparatively raw and feral energy that the nascent Stones bring to an unmistakable Lennon-McCartney composition.
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3. “Tell Me”
So Lennon and McCartney wrote their own songs, eh? The Stones (and Oldham) started to think there might be something in that racket. I’m charmed by the relative simplicity and clumsiness of some of the earliest Jagger-Richards compositions, most of which were passed on to other artists. (See: Gene Pitney’s 1963 track “That Girl Belongs to Yesterday,” and Marianne Faithfull’s 1964 debut single “As Tears Go By.”) At least in the very beginning, songwriting didn’t seem to come as naturally to them as it did to those lads from Liverpool. But this sweet, lilting single — the first Jagger-Richards composition recorded by the Rolling Stones — shows that they were at least headed in the right direction.
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4. “Not Fade Away”
In the early days, the Stones usually sounded more like themselves when they were putting a distinct spin on someone else’s material than they did when attempting to write their own. This rough-hewed rendition of a Buddy Holly classic is a perfect example. By speeding up the tempo and leaning into the Bo Diddley beat, as well as adding bluesy harmonica and handclaps, the Rolling Stones stripped the veneer from Holly’s taut pop-rocker and turned it into, in Spitz’s words, “a one minute-and-forty-eight-second joyride that delivered the signature sound that would define the Rolling Stones for the rest of their career.”
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5. “Rolling Stone Blues”
Let’s begin traveling forward in time with a recording that bridges the gap between the Stones’ distant and recent pasts. This closing track from the band’s 2023 album, “Hackney Diamonds,” is a stripped-down take on the Muddy Waters song from which the band got its name. Legend has it that when Brian Jones was on the phone with a club owner who asked for the name of his as-yet-untitled group, he looked around the room and riffed on the first thing he saw, which was a Muddy Waters LP featuring this track.
