Top Ten Songs by the Rolling Stones

When you call yourselves "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band", you must have a ton of confidence as well as musical ability. Luckily for the Rolling Stones whom bestowed this title upon themselves, they have both. To me, the Stones are the original "alternative" music. Their experimental rock style flirted with the blues and even reggae at times, but no matter what it produced timeless songs, many of which became hits. When they premiered in the 60's, many found the band a welcomed change from the vanilla ultra-pop Brits the Beatles. While most of their tunes are well-known, there are ten Stones songs that are the cream of the crop and have been widely covered by other musicians or used in advertisements or movies over the years.

In 1964, on their "12 X 5" album was "Time Is On My Side". This particular song was not written by the Stones, but it reached number 6 on the U.S. charts. Originally, this song was recorded by soul singer Irma Thomas, proving the Rolling Stones "blue-sy" roots.

The next year, 1965, the Stones released the "Out of our Heads" album that produced a super-hit that rose to number one on both the U.S. and U.K. charts. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is still one of the Stones' most recognizable tune to this day, but when it was first released it was considered a bit risqué. In fact, when the group performed it on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1966 the line "trying to make some girl" was censored. Much later, both Britney Spears and Devo covered this tune.

In 1966, the Rolling Stones had another number one hit on their "Aftermath" record with "Paint It Black". While it is a depressing song, it has made some impressive royalties being re-used a number of times. Unfortunately, the Stones don't own the rights to the song. Their former manager, Allen Klein, got paid when it was used at the end of both films "The Devil's Advocate" and "Full Metal Jacket".