The Rolling Stones Album Mick Jagger Thinks Is Overrated

The Rolling Stones have been putting out studio albums since 1964, with their last release, "Blue and Lonesome," released in 2016. Of the 23 studio albums the group has released, a few have stood out as some of the band's best work in regards to critical acclaim, albums sold, and the way they've stood the test of time, The Guardian reports.

The Rolling Stones are, above all else, a blues-based rock 'n' roll band who essentially wrote the book on what that is. There are many blues-based rock bands, but the Rolling Stones are the pioneers — the ones who were unabashed about embracing the so-called sex, drugs, and rock n' roll lifestyle. They embody fashion, attitude, rebellion, and raunchy good times, and through it all, they've gifted the world with numerous great songs and albums.

As the Stones evolved from the 1960s and into the 1970s, they had a string of albums that many still consider their best. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, those four albums are 1968's "Beggars Banquet," "1969's "Let it Bleed," 1971's "Sticky Fingers," and the double album "Exile on Main Street," which was recorded in 1972. According to The Guardian, "Exile on Main Street" is a critical darling, having been voted the best rock 'n' roll album ever by some critics. Yet Stones frontman Mick Jagger once told Rolling Stone that he thought the record was overrated. 

In 1995, Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone of "Exile on Main Street": "It's a bit overrated, to be honest. Compared to 'Let It Bleed' and 'Beggars Banquet,' which I think are more of a piece, I don't see it's as thematic as the other two. I'm not saying it's not good. It doesn't contain as many outstanding songs as the previous two records. I think the playing's quite good. It's got a raw quality, but I don't think all around it's as good."

Interestingly, the making of the record has gone down in history as happening at the pinnacle of the band's drug abuse. Songs were often spontaneously written or recorded, and sessions lasted all night as the band and various other musicians, girlfriends, and hangers-on partied and hung out at the French Villa where the album was mostly recorded. According to what Jagger told Rolling Stone, even the producers and engineers were "out of it," and the whole thing was very disorganized. Yet those raw, bleary-eyed, mind-altered recording sessions created what many consider a masterpiece of rock 'n' roll. 

In 2010, the Stones released a re-issue of "Exile on Main Street." By then, Jagger had a new outlook on the album. He told Rolling Stone that although it didn't have a lot of hit singles, he always respected the work, and "over the years a lot of the songs have been played on stage, and they've acquired another life."