In the past couple of years I've slowly come to appreciate The Rolling Stones. For a long time I was a Beatles > Stones person but I think that equation is starting to shift. Maybe it's an age thing?
I'm even delving deeper into the history of The Rolling Stones. Events like the Altamont Free Concert are fascinating to me. There's also multiple great documentaries about the making of their albums which I appreciate.
There are 4 Rolling Stones albums that I really like: Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St.
Each have great songs and just okay songs but as albums they're all brilliant.
The strong association with the delta blues is something I never really understood until recently. The Rolling Stones worship Robert Johnson and they cover him twice on these albums (Love In Vain, Stop Breaking Down).
When you listen to King of the Delta Blues Singers and come back and listen to these Stones records the connection is immediately apparent. It truely is an example of Everything Is A Remix.
The story of Exile On Main St and it's recording in a basement in France is incredibly cool. How they were able to somehow get the music out with various drug and personal issues; it defies logic. The fact that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are still alive is just nuts.