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The British rock band The Rolling Stones
emerged from the British rock music scene of the early 1960s
at about the same time as The Beatles. In contrast to the
relatively clean-cut Beatles, however, the Stones adopted
an aggressively sexual and defiant stance that helped make
them one of the most successful of all rock groups. Formed
in 1963 as a rhythm and blues band playing their interpretation
of black-American urban blues, the Stones soon developed their
own distinctive style and by the late '60s were playing what
many consider to be the finest rock music of its time. Some
of their best albums include High Tide and Green Grass (1966),
Between the Buttons (1967), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers
(1971), Hot Rocks (1971), Exile on Main Street (1972), and
Some Girls (1978). The Stones were also notorious--for their
frequent arrests for drug possession, for the rioting that
occurred at their concerts, and for their disastrous concert
(1969) at Altamont, Calif., where a spectator was killed by
members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. After issuing
a string of disappointing albums in the 1980s, the Stones
released Steel Wheels (1989), which, coupled with a world-wide
concert tour, was one of their biggest commercial successes.
Guitarist Brian Jones, b. Feb. 28, 1944, died mysteriously
in his swimming pool on July 3, 1969. Current band members
include Mick Jagger, b. July 26, 1944, whose extraordinary
style and voice have dominated the group; guitarist Keith
Richard, b. Dec. 18, 1943, with whom Jagger has composed much
of the band's material; bassist Bill Wyman, b. Oct. 24, 1941;
drummer Charlie Watts, b. June 2, 1941; and guitarist Ron
Wood, b. Oct. 24, 1941.
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