Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had known each other since they were children – or, known of each other that is, having grown up in the same Dartford estate.

More romantically, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met on a commuter train from Dartford to London in October 1960. An open love of blues and R&B was less common then as it is now, so when Keith, on the cusp of 18, saw his five-month senior carrying some Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry records on the train, he asked, ‘You’re into Chuck Berry?… That’s a coincidence, I can play that s***.’

And so began a musical partnership that – against the odds – survives to this day. Checking out London’s most enthusiastic blues scene over in west London’s The Ealing Club, they would find Charlie Watts and Brian Jones sitting in with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. This was where it was at – where whitey could sing the blues.

Within two years, The Rollin’ Stones would have formed and played their first show in London’s The Marquee Club, creating a London buzz soon after. By the end of the decade, and with the help of impresario Andrew ‘Loog’ Oldham, they’d become The Beatles’ biggest musical competitors in a North vs. South, Safe vs. Dangerous, Clean vs. Dirty rivalry that saw the Stones posit themselves as riot-starting, establishment-baiting bad boys breaking every rule in Britain’s book.

And that was just the beginning….

Personalities | Introducing The Rolling Stones
Personalities | The Rolling Stones (1962) | Key Events