1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 62. The Rolling Stones – Aftermath (1966)

 

It feels a little like the Stones picked up a bit of The Monks’ darkness for this album, with the classically dark hymn to depression Paint It Black, and the misogynistic lyrics of Under My Thumb and Stupid Girl. A lot of relationship issues going on at the time fuel the songs, with women cast as objects of revenge, hated for being desired. 

That said, it’s also more mainstream compared to The Monks. It’s more rock, country, blues, like the previous Stones offering, but also a bit darker, a bit more polished. Just as the Beatles had been dabbling with drugs prior to Rubber Soul, so too had the Stones become more deeply mired in the rock and roll lifestyle, and the pain and darkness shines through here but conversely power the music to greater heights (can darkness shine?). 

The final track, Goin’ Home, is an 11-minute epic that starts out as a jaunty country number, then spirals into a psychedelic Jim Morrison-esque odyssey where Jagger chants and vocalises along to a relentlessly percussive backing track, and this really feels like the backdrop of the album in a microcosm. That the Stones didn’t implode after this, is really quite remarkable. 

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