It Was 50 Years Ago Today: ‘Aftermath’ by The Rolling Stones
June 14, 1966
Aftermath by The Rolling Stones
#1 on the Record Retailer Albums Chart (UK), April 24 – June 18, 1966
The Rolling Stones got a late start compared with the Beatles, releasing their debut album over a year after Please Please Me and emerging at the tail end of the British Invasion. Initially, the Stones also lagged behind the Fab Four in terms of musical and artistic exploration, instead pushing boundaries with their attitude and lyrics. While a handful of original songs like “Satisfaction” and “Get Off of My Cloud” found the Rolling Stones inventing their own sound, they were still largely content on their first three UK albums — 1964’s The Rolling Stones and 1965’s The Rolling Stones No. 2 and Out of Our Heads — to pack the tracklist with covers of R&B and blues songs, with the occasional self-penned tune in the same vein.
That abruptly changed with 1966’s Aftermath. While each of the band’s previous LPs contained three or four originals among their dozen tracks, the Stones packed Aftermath with nothing but Mick Jagger/Keith Richards compositions. On top of that, Aftermath was the band’s longest album by far, and one of the longest rock records yet, featuring 14 tracks spanning over 53 minutes. This penchant for extended lengths was also evidenced by the inclusion of “Goin’ Home,” an 11-plus-minute track that was one of the first extended-rock jams committed to vinyl.
While Aftermath features a number of bluesy tracks mined from the band’s origins — not just “Goin’ Home,” but also “Flight 505” and “Doncha Bother Me” — it also found the band branching out into other genres. Some were fairly close to home, such as the thick ladles of country (the blues’ white twin) in “High and Dry” and “What to Do.” The droning, raga-esque verses of “I Am Waiting” and the vaguely Eastern riff in “Mother’s Little Helper” betray the encroaching influence of Indian music and psychedelic rock, which would be more fully developed on the band’s sitar-flecked single “Paint It Black” released later that spring (and appended to Aftermath‘s American release). Less expected, however, is the inclusion of the pseudo-Elizabethan madrigal “Lady Jane,” which omits all electric instrumentation in favor of a harpsichord and dulcimer backing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNXnNPR2d4
The use of atypical instruments recurs throughout Aftermath, even on more conventional pop-rock songs, such as the marimba underlining “Under My Thumb” and “Out of Time.” Brian Jones, the band’s founder and onetime leader, had felt sidelined by the burgeoning writing partnership of Jagger and Richards and the band’s move toward pop music. Formerly the Stones’ lead guitarist, his boredom led him to experiment with more unusual sounds. In doing so, he helped the band stand out from the British R&B pack, while also helping them drift from the blues he loved so fiercely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzpqGdZ_ygU
While the Rolling Stones tested the waters of artistic exploration on Aftermath, however, they didn’t become geniuses overnight. The lyrics on the album are still largely juvenile, especially regarding women, with “Stupid Girl” and “Under My Thumb” being notable demerits. (The latter is saved by one of the band’s catchiest melodies and a crisp, airy sound unlike much else in the band’s catalogue.) Likewise, the band’s ambition, as showcased by the length of the album, had not quite caught up with its abilities. There’s still plenty of filler stuffed between the high points, and the epic running time of “Goin’ Home” is more notable than the song itself.
Regardless, Aftermath represents a massive step forward for the band. Despite all the genre-jumping, Aftermath shows the roots of a coherent, distinctive Rolling Stones sound, influenced by the blues but too playful — and poppy — to be confined to its strictures. (Note “Flight 505,” which finds room for the Stones to reference their own hit “Satisfaction” in the piano intro.) Aftermath also firmly established Jagger and Richards as a formidable writing team, if not yet up to Lennon and McCartney. All of the Stones’ subsequent albums would be mostly self-written; they wouldn’t even release another remake until 1968’s Beggars Banquet. Aftermath might have been the Rolling Stones’ fourth album, but it feels like the debut of the band as a self-contained, musically curious artistic entity.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
