50 Years Ago The Rolling Stones' Aftermath Hits No. 1

It was fifty years ago today that The Rolling Stones' album Aftermath hit no. 1 on the British albums chart. Aftermath was a historic album for Rolling Stones. It was the first album to consist entirely of songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Their first three albums had contained covers of material originated by other artists.

Aftermath contained some of The Rolling Stones' best known songs, including "Mother's Little Helper", "Under My Thumb", "Lady Jane", and "Out of Time". The version of Aftermath released in North America differed slightly from the one released in the United Kingdom. The songs "Out of Time", "Take It or Leave It", "What to Do", and, curiously,  "Mother's Little Helper" (which would be a hit single in the U.S.) were left off the album and the no. 1 single "Paint It, Black" was added to the album. "Out of Time", "Take It or Leave It", "What to Do", and "Mother's Little Helper" would later be included on later Rolling Stones compilation albums. While Aftermath hit no. 1 in the United Kingdom, it only reached no. 2 in the United States. In the U.S. it was kept out of the number one spot by The Beatles' compilation Yesterday and Today. Regardless, it spent fifty weeks on the Billboard albums chart.

Here is my favourite song from the British version of Aftermath, "Under My Thumb".