The Rolling Stones

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  • Year:
    1989
  • Inducted by:
    Pete Townshend (The Who)
  • Category:
    Performers

Introduction

During their 50-plus year career, the Rolling Stones have married their love of blues and American R&B with a vast array of styles and genres: disco, garage, psychedelic rock and even punk.

The constant through line, however, has been the band's swagger—thanks first and foremost to the Glimmer Twins, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Hall of Fame Essay

1989

Michael Hill

May 1965: In a Florida hotel room, Keith Richards wakes up hearing a riff in his head that he has to play for Mick Jagger immediately. 

The pair begin to work on a song that initially has a folkish feel but takes on a more hard-edged shape a few days later at Chicago’s Chess Studio. Within a week, it’s completed at the RCA Studios in Hollywood. The song is “Satisfaction,” and it’s destined for inclusion in their new album, Out of Our Heads

It’s also destined, with a deft leap to the top of the American charts, to be the band’s first Number One, to define,  decisively and dramatically, the sound and attitude of the Rolling Stones. 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Program 1989
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1989 Inductees The Rolling Stones
Their musical blood runs in the veins of this band.
Pete Townsend

Photography: Kevin Mazur, WireImage