It's Only Rock 'N Roll
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Album Summary
Cut across a handful of sessions — including time at Dynamic Sound Studios down in Jamaica and tracked through The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio — 'It's Only Rock 'N Roll' came roaring out on Rolling Stones Records in October of 1974, produced by the band under their Glimmer Twins production banner. After the murky, atmospheric detours of 'Goats Head Soup,' Mick, Keith, and the boys came back swinging with something leaner, meaner, and unmistakably grounded in the blues and rock and roll that built them. This was the Stones remembering exactly who they were — and reminding the rest of the world too.
Reception
- The album charged straight to number one on the UK charts and climbed to number two in the United States, making it one of the band's most commercially commanding releases of the decade.
- The title track 'It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)' broke through as a massive hit single and quickly cemented itself as one of the most recognizable anthems in the Rolling Stones catalog.
- Critics welcomed the album as a confident, energized return to form — raw, direct, and unbothered by the experimental tendencies that had colored their previous work.
Significance
- The album stands as a defining document of mid-1970s arena rock, with the Stones channeling their deepest blues instincts through a harder, stadium-ready sound that few bands could match at the time.
- At a moment when acts like Led Zeppelin were pressing hard at the throne, 'It's Only Rock 'N Roll' served as the Stones' unapologetic declaration that they were still the greatest rock and roll band on the planet.
- The title track crystallized a whole philosophy about rock and roll — its simplicity, its power, its refusal to be anything more or less than what it is — and that message echoed through the generations of bands that came after.
Samples
- "Fingerprint File" — the funky, paranoid groove of this deep cut has attracted the attention of hip-hop and electronic producers drawn to its rhythmic tension and sparse instrumental passages.
- "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" — the Stones' hard-charging cover of the Temptations classic has been revisited and sampled within the context of rock and soul-influenced production over the years.
Tracklist
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A1 If You Can't Rock Me 125
3:47
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A2 Ain't Too Proud To Beg 128
3:32
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A3 It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It) —
5:08
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A4 Till The Next Goodbye 137
4:39
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A5 Time Waits For No One 118
6:31
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B1 Luxury 129
4:30
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B2 Dance Little Sister 152
4:12
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B3 If You Really Want To Be My Friend 149
6:17
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B4 Short And Curlies 117
2:44
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B5 Fingerprint File 104
6:41
Artist Details
The Rolling Stones, those bad boys out of London, England, came together in 1962 and proceeded to set the world on fire with a raw, blues-drenched rock and roll sound that made even the devil himself tap his foot — Mick Jagger's swagger, Keith Richards' riffs, and that whole crew built something dangerous and beautiful that the world wasn't quite ready for. They stood toe-to-toe with the Beatles as the defining force of the British Invasion, but where the Fab Four gave you sunshine, the Stones handed you a little darkness, a little soul, a little street — and the world ate it up like gospel. Decades deep into their run, with classics like "Paint It Black," "Gimme Shelter," and "Sympathy for the Devil" permanently etched into the fabric of rock history, the Rolling Stones remain a living, breathing monument to the power of music that refuses to be tamed.
