True Stories Behind The Making Of 'Sticky Fingers' By The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger & Keith Richards performing live onstage on March 9, 1971 (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)

Sticky Fingers had to be a defining album for the Rolling Stones. Going into the 1970s broke, down an original member, and with the travesty of the Altamont festival behind them, the group had to prove that they were worth listening to. With their backs against the wall the Stones put out one of the best rock ’n roll albums ever made.

The first Stones album of the ‘70s doesn’t have the rambling excess of Exile on Main Street, instead it features some of the sharpest writing of the Keith Richards and Mick Jagger’s catalogue propelled by the group’s need to leave everything on the table. It’s a focused and daring album and it almost didn’t happen.