Which Rolling Stones era is your favorite?

Mick Taylor era but I love 1966 and some of '67. Then 78-82 for the Wood era.

 

Off the wall choice, but I think Richard Thompson would be interesting.

 

I liked the disco era Ronnie best.

"Hey Negrita"

Black N Blue & Some Girls

After that,

 

Since Brian Jones is my favorite Stone, I'll always pick the 1962-69 era. As Bill Wyman once stated, Brian was the soul of the band.

 

By an extremely wide margin, the Mick Taylor era.

 

Heads spins at this off the wall choice as you say. RT would be the BEST guitarist in the band, which counts for something... if Mick would let Richard sing a mini-set of his songs I'm all in...

 

Love the classic singles of the Brian Jones era. Love the Jimmy Miller era albums Beggars through Exile. Love Some Girls and Tattoo You. After that, the Stones start to sputter out for me. Dirty Work was interesting, Steel Wheels a good comeback album. Then I lost interest.

 

Stadiums?

 

Wood is great, and it's really not his fault that he joined the band when The Stones' best years were behind them. But I've always felt that as fine and versatile a guitarist he is, the major reason Wood was picked was because he was a good fit with the band--personality -wise. He got along with everyone--and he looked like a Stone anyway. A team player, Wood really didn't seem to mind that he was always going to take a backseat to the Mick/Keith interplay . Maybe if the Stones had given the nod to a more ambitious musician , the resulting dynamic would have led to more interesting music.
But then again, Mick and Keith probably wouldn't have had any of it , and the guy would have been fired.
And he would have been replaced by....Ron Wood.

 

1962-2015 (and counting)

 

I think it's a measure of how good the Stones were between 1963 and 1980 that I have a real inability to choose between these phases. They made essential albums in all three periods and I would be upset to have any of these periods erased. Only David Bowie evokes this same attitude in me.

 

1962-1969

 

Jones, all the way!

 

"Black and Blue" is the weakest album of the 70's. It's a 8/10. That's how great the Stones are.

 

Decca era Brian.

 

(1962-1969

 

I like it better than It's Only Rock N Roll. I can't really judge Goats Head Soup, as that was my first Stones album as a kid, and so I'm biased towards it.

I'd only put Some Girls just slightly above Black N Blue, so yeah, that's how great the Stones were ...

... until the 80s

 

Better than "It's Only Rock n Roll"? Damn... You're part of a extremely small community. The fact that it was your first Stones album makes it excusable/acceptable.
You're in your 20's too right? My first Stones album (vinyl) was Between the Buttons, which was a present from an aunt after she found out about my "recent" Stones obsession.

 

Some Girls to the Present Day

 

This is very difficult for me. A Journalist once wrote "The Stones could not have survived the 60's without Brian, nor could
they have survived the 70's with him."

I agree with this and will leave it at that....

 

Goat's Head was my first Stones album.

But, It's Only Rock n Roll sounds really tired to me.

Black N Blue showed the Stones can do 70s R&B and funk, and the rock songs on the album were better than the ones on It's Only Rock n Roll, IMO


"You're in your 20's too right?"

I was in my 20s in the 80s. But, I'll take that as a compliment.


Between the Buttons is a good first Stones album. Especially, if it's the English version.

 

62-89

 

Arguably each era finished in disaster, Ronnie though stayed long enough to have the rubbish stick to him.

• Jones era largely concluded with the appalling Satanic Majesties'
• Taylor era concluded with the descent into hell otherwise known as GHS and IORR
• Wood era should have concluded with the dire Steel Wheels

 

Over the Brian Jones and Mick Taylor eras?