The Rolling Stones are one of the most iconic rock bands of all time. There’s no question about it. Heavily influenced by American blues music, the band’s name actually comes from a Muddy Waters’ song entitled “Rollin’ Stone.” Since first launching in 1962, the band has gone on to produce 25 albums and numerous chart-topping hits. This list looks at ten of the most iconic Rolling Stones Songs. Enjoy!
10. “Angie”
This song had a lot of fans talking. Who was Angie? Was she Angela Bowie, Angie Dickinson or Keith’s daughter Angela? Whomever it was about, it was a hit. As the lead single from the album, Goats Head Soup, the song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in America. Because of the song’s length, some radio stations made edits to shorten it to 3 minutes, omitting the longer coda and the second instrumental section of the song. We’ve included the full version below.
9. “Tumbling Dice”
While Exile on Main St. may be the Rolling Stones’ most famous album these days, it doesn’t have many actual hits on it. “Tumbling Dice” is the one exception, and it’s the only song from the LP that became a regular part of their setlist over the past 40 years. The song has a blues rhythm that scholars and music fans have come to revere. “Tumbling Dice” spent eight weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number five. While in the US, the single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
8. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
“People can identify with it,” Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1995. “No one gets what they always want. It’s got a very good melody. It’s got very good orchestral touches that Jack Nitzsche helped with. So it’s got all the ingredients.” As the first song for the album, Let It Bleed, it’s a fan favorite. It was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
7. “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”
Sticky Fingers was a very important album for the Rolling Stones. It was their first album that replaced Brian Jones with Mick Taylor. It’s packed so full of hits that it’s easy to overlook the seven-minute epic “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” However, over the years it has emerged as a huge fan favorite. After listening to it, it’s easy to see why it’s considered one of the best Rolling Stones songs. Coincidentally, this song is also on one of the most iconic album covers of all time.
6. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
Released as a non-album single in 1968, it has become one of their most famous songs. The “Jack” in this song is actually Keith’s old gardener, Jack Dyer. Jagger crashed at Keith’s place one night and the sound of Dyer walking around in his rubber boots woke Mick up. He asked Keith about the noise. “Oh, that’s Jack. That’s Jumping Jack.” From that tiny spark, they sat down together and wrote one of their biggest hits. The song has gone on to be covered by many artists including Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Peter Frampton.
5. “Wild Horses”
This famous ballad reached Number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been in regular rotation on classic rock radio ever since. “It’s an example of a pop song taking this cliché ‘wild horses,’ which is awful, really,” Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1995, “but making it work without sounding like a cliché when you’re doing it.” A music video, filmed in black and white, was produced to promote an acoustic version in 1995.
4. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
The story behind “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” has been told many times. Essentially the band was staying at a hotel in Florida in 1965. Before he went to bed one night, Keith turned on his tape recorder and when he woke up, he heard a rough sketch of the song, accompanied by hours of snoring. “Satisfaction” went on to becom a hit, giving the Stones their first number one in the US.
3. “Sympathy for the Devil”
Lucky for everyone, filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard was filming the band when they cut “Sympathy for the Devil” in 1968. One of the original lyrics was “Who killed Kennedy?” But midway through taping, Robert F. Kennedy was killed and Jagger changed it to “Who killed the Kennedys?” The lyrics focus on atrocities in mankind’s history from Satan’s point of view, including the death of Jesus Christ.
2. “Paint It, Black”
This dark track became their third number one hit in the United States. The unexpected success forced the group to add it to the American release of Aftermath. Bill Wyman has long claimed he helped a great deal in writing the song, even though it’s credited to Jagger/Richards. Years later, the group started to agree with him. “I must say in retrospect that actually, what made ‘Paint It, Black’ was Bill Wyman on the organ,” Richards said in 2004. “It didn’t sound anything like the finished record until Bill said, ‘You go like this.'” It is definitely one of the most iconic Rolling Stones songs.
1. ‘Gimme Shelter’
The opening number from Let It Bleed, “Gimme Shelter” was never released as a single – but over the decades, it’s been used in so many soundtracks and been played on the radio so many times, it’s become one of their most well-known songs. Jagger himself says the track is a “end-of-the-world song,” and the apocalyptic overtones are hard to miss. Martin Scorsese is so infatuated with the song that he included it in Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed. In 2021 “Gimme Shelter” was ranked at number 13 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
