Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones

"An extremely engaging companion . . . consistently illuminating . . . inspiring you to think more strenuously about the selections you would add or delete." —The New York Times Book Review

December 3–4, 1969. Keith and Mick stood at the same microphone at Muscle Shoals, lights dimmed, splitting a fifth of bourbon, and simultaneously sang the melodies and harmonies on the three songs that they had recorded over three days: "Brown Sugar," "You Got to Move," and "Wild Horses." That's a rock 'n' roll fantasy right there. A six-piece band working in a tiny converted coffin factory, on an eight-track recorder, with no computer editing or Autotune, recorded three songs, representing thirty percent of one of the greatest rock 'n' roll records of all time.

So tells Bill Janovitz of the making of the triple-platinum album, Sticky Fingers, which hit number one in the US and the UK in 1971, skyrocketing the band to superstardom.

All artists reveal themselves through their work and the Rolling Stones are no different. In Rocks Off, Janovitz reveals the forces at work behind the band's music by deconstructing their most representative tunes. This is a song-by-song chronicle that maps the landmarks of the band's career while expanding on the recording and personal history of one of the most famous and acclaimed rock 'n' roll bands in the world.

"A must for Stones fans everywhere." —Booklist

"An intense pleasure . . . Janovitz opened my mind." —Wall Street Journal

"Reading Janovitz is like sitting with a friend in a basement surrounded by albums, and spending the entire day listening to, arguing about, and worshipping the many licks that have become part of our musical vocabulary." —Publishers Weekly

© 2013 St. Martin's Press (Ebook): 9781250026323

Release date

Ebook: 23 July 2013