establishment. Of course, that
only made the group more
appealing to those youthful
listeners who found
themselves estranged from
the adult world.
Aftermath, released in April
1966, was the first Rolling
Stones album to consist
entirely of Jagger-Richards
originals. Their hard-rocking
British pop songs detailed
battles between sexes, classes
and generations. The
contributions of Brian Jones,
the one-time blues purist,
were now key to the Stones’
more eclectic approach, as he
colored the songs with
embellishments on a variety
of instruments including
marimba ("Under My
Thumb") and dulcimer
("Lady Jane"). The group’s
subsequent singles further
pushed the envelope of
outrage, which the Stones
were learning to work to their
benefit. “Have You Seen
Your Mother, Baby, Standing
in the Shadow” was a
pounding rocker whose
picture sleeve depicted the
Stones in drag, while “Let’s
Spend the Night Together”
engendered controversy in
the States for the bluntly
sexual come-on of its title
and lyrics.
At mid-decade, the three preeminent forces in popular
music were the Beatles, Bob
Dylan and the Rolling
Stones. They mutually
influenced one another, and
aspects of Dylan’s folk-rock
and the Beatles’ similar turn
in that direction with Rubber
Soul were clearly evident on
the Stones’ Between the
Buttons, which appeared in
1967. It remains the group’s
most baroque and understated
recording. After the release
of Flowers, an album that
compiled stray tracks for the
American market, the Stones
unleashed the bombastic
psychedelia of Their Satanic
Majesties Request. It was the