Personalities | The Rolling Stones (1968–72) | An Overview

After establishing themselves as mid-1960s contenders for the Beatles’ crown, the Stones – unlike the Beatles – would enter the 1970s and embark upon their almighty middle period.

Being part of the Stones’ circle at this point was akin to entering a vortex that led into a slightly inhuman world where anything could, and probably did, happen. Amid scenes of debauchery, Keith began a debilitating heroin addiction that would last the best part of a decade. Brian – founding member and blues purist, and who had begun his crippling addictions years back, thanks to paranoid and insecure character traits – would be dead by the end of the 1960s. Riots, death, tax exile and rumours of devil worshipping would surround the group, while ‘The Rolling Stones’ would begin to take on a life of its own – a power that no one could fully harness.

Yet amid it all, with Mick Taylor replacing Brian, they created the best music of their career. Penning enduring classics like ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Honky Tonk Women’ and ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ would earn Keith the epithet, ‘The Human Riff’, and the run of four albums from Beggars Banquet to Exile On Main St. would be the creative peak that the Stones’ legacy was built upon, and on which it still rests today.

Personalities | Introducing The Rolling Stones
Personalities | The Rolling Stones (1968) | Key Events

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