![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2274703848-e1784152721420.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe British rockers have adhered to the adage of quality over quantity.<\/p>\n
\t7\/16\/2026\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tKeith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Ronnie Wood attend the exclusive launch event of The Rolling Stones new album \u201cForeign Tongues\u201d at The Weylin on May 05, 2026 in Brooklyn, New York.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Theo Wargo\/Getty Images for UMG.<\/p>\n
\n\tCompared to their first decade as a band, The Rolling Stones<\/a> have not been a particularly prolific outfit during the 21st century, with just three studio albums of original material (plus four new songs on the 2002 compilation Forty Licks) and one collection of blues covers. Fifty-eight tracks in total.<\/p>\n \n\tBut they\u2019ve adhered to the adage of quality over quantity.<\/p>\n \n\tEach of the group\u2019s releases since 2000 \u2014 A Bigger Bang in 2005, the Grammy-winning Blue & Lonesome in 2016, 2023\u2019s Grammy-winning Hackney Diamonds and the new Foreign Tongues \u2014 have been worth waiting for. The latter-period Stones are still capable of raising a ruckus, and do just that more often than not. Keith Richards and Ron Wood seem even more refined and instinctual in their guitar tandem, and there\u2019s a reflectiveness and even sometimes tenderness that have worked their way into Mick Jagger\u2019s (and occasionally Richards\u2019) lyrics, acknowledging that the Stones understand they are men of a certain age\u00a0 but also that they have an opportunity to define how men of a certain age can sound in a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll context.<\/p>\n \n\tWe\u2019re down one Stone, of course, since Charlie Watts\u2019 passing in 2021. But he\u2019s been present on the two albums since, both as a player and as a spirit guide that his mates continue to honor. It\u2019s hard for any act that\u2019s been around this long to add songs to its iconic pantheon, but we consider these 15 to be the key tracks to check out from this century \u2014 so far.<\/p>\n \t\u201cDon\u2019t Stop\u201d (Forty Licks, 2002)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Stones kicked off the new century, and its fifth decade as a band, with this single, newly written for its 40th anniversary compilation. Jagger started writing the taut, riffy track about love on the decline while working on his 2001 solo album Goddess in the Doorway but felt it sounded too much like the Stones, so kept it for the band. Richards acknowledged<\/a> the song \u201cis basically all Mick,\u201d with him adding \u201cthe fairy dust\u201d; the track was recorded in France, with Jagger on rhythm guitar and a pair of solos by Wood. It hit No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Heritage Rock chart and No. 5 on Adult Alternative Airplay and was a staple of the Licks Tour during 2002-2003 and featured on the 2002 set Licks Live. Listen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\u201cLosing My Touch\u201d (Forty Licks, 2002)<\/p>\n \n\tComing at the end of Forty Licks, Richards\u2019 contribution to the compilation sounded alarm bells in the Stonesiverse with its laid-back arrangement and its chorus declaration that, \u201cI\u2019m losing my touch\u2026way too much\/Baby get me out of here\u201d \u2014 a far cry from the defiance of, say, \u201cHappy\u201d or \u201cBefore They Make Me Run.\u201d We still have Keef to kick around 24 years later, of course, and now we can appreciate the weathered beauty of the song in its jazz-flecked arrangement, gentle piano, Watts\u2019 easy brush strokes, Wood\u2019s pedal steel and Richards\u2019 heartfelt, vulnerable delivery. Listen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\u201cRough Justice\u201d (A Bigger Bang, 2005)<\/p>\n \n\tIt had been eight years since the Stones\u2019 last studio album, Bridges to Babylon, and the group couldn\u2019t have picked a better way to announce its return and return to form. Created from a riff Richards said came to him in his sleep (ala \u201c(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction\u201d), \u201cRough Justice\u201d is prototypical Stones, recalling \u201cCan\u2019t You Hear Me Knocking\u201d at the start and blazing into a characteristically chin-forward recrimination of a mate (\u201cOnce up on a time I was your little rooster\/But now I\u2019m just one of our cocks\u201d). A Bigger Bang\u2018s opening track and lead single (alongside \u201cStreets of Love\u201d), it was another No. 1 on the Heritage Rock chart and was also the only new song the Stones performed during halftime of Super Bowl XL during February of 2006 in Detroit, sandwiched between \u201cStart Me Up\u201d and \u201cSatisfaction.\u201d Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cIt Won\u2019t Take Long\u201d (A Bigger Bang, 2005)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Stones approached A Bigger Bang as something of a back-to-basics endeavor, and this track boasts the sinewy, surging grit of the group\u2019s late \u201860s\/early \u201870s golden age, with a muscular groove and guitar interplay that recalls \u201cGimme Shelter.\u201d Jagger is on rhythm here, too, which gives the track greater depth, while Wood\u2019s lead work and solo is on par with his very best. Watts anchors it all in his characteristic pocket \u2014 no real flash, but unshakeable drive. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cLaugh, I Nearly Died\u201d (A Bigger Bang, 2005)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Stones, and particularly Jagger, have made a career out of terminal adolescence \u2014 or at least trying to stay in that place. This marks a notable divergence from that, however. Over a sultry, soulful groove \u2014 with delicate guitar interplay and Watts\u2019 dramatic drum accents \u2014 Jagger moans that he\u2019s \u201cbeen traveling far and wide\/wondering who\u2019s going to be my guide\u201d and lamenting that \u201cI\u2019ve been wandering, feeling all alone\/I lost my direction\/I lost my home\/I\u2019m so sick and tired\u201d as well as \u201cfeeling so despised.\u201d He finds no answers but the band discovers an angst that\u2019s age-appropriate and probably resonated with boomers far and wide. The tribal gang chant, meanwhile, drives the despair even deeper. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cRain Fall Down\u201d (A Bigger Bang, 2005)<\/p>\n \n\tMany listeners focused on \u201cSweet Neo Con\u201d as A Bigger Bang\u2018s political commentary, but this impressionistic observation of urban decay (London, specifically) is perhaps even more effective because of its subtlety. Nodding a bit to Blondie\u2019s \u201cRapture,\u201d the group laces a funk groove with just a hint of reggae guitar tone, which gives Darryl Jones a spotlight opportunity to push things along with his smooth but halting bass line. The guitars (Richards, Wood and Jagger) dance in and out of each other, making for a slow burn that\u2019s also undeniably urgent. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cAll of Your Love\u201d (Blue & Lonesome, 2016)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Stones were working on new music in London during December 2015 when they took a break and started playing around with some old Chicago blues \u2014 and had such a good time doing it that a Grammy-winning album was finished in just three days. This was the Stones\u2019 down \u2018n\u2019 dirty terra firma, a throwback to the group\u2019s roots thrust through a filter of 50-plus years\u2019 experience. Here they take Magic Sam\u2019s guitar-forward original and stake their own claim, maintaining the tempo while adding piano and harmonica breaks \u2014 with Jagger wailing like his heart\u2019s being stretched on the rack. Certainly one you want to play again, Sam. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cBlue and Lonesome\u201d (Blue & Lonesome, 2016)<\/p>\n \n\tThis obscure 1965 song by Little Walter (recorded six years prior) was the song that kicked off the Stones\u2019 unexpected (and unplanned) blues foray. Played as a kind of breathtaking exercise in the midst of recording new material, it connected the band back to its roots and there\u2019s an audible gusto in the delivery, right down to Jagger\u2019s forceful vocal and harmonica playing. Life gave the Stones\u2019 more gravity to channel into the song, bringing its timeless sentiment up to date many decades later. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cBite My Head Off\u201d (Hackney Diamonds, 2023)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Stones opened up to a wide array of guests on Hackney Diamonds, their first album in seven years and first of original material since 2005. Arguably the biggest? Paul McCartney, appearing on a Stones recording for the first time since contributing backing vocals to \u201cWe Love You\u201d in 1967. The British Invasion\u2019s elder statesmen are rockin\u2019 like the Viagra was juiced on this one, too, complete with a count-in and an exuberant \u201cWhoo!\u201d from Jagger at the end. McCartney played a \u201964 Hofner bass \u2014 not his original but another he received as a gift from producer Andrew Watt, who added a Univox Super Fuzz circuit that Macca switched on for the mid-track breakdown. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cThe Whole Wide World\u201d (Hackney Diamonds, 2023)<\/p>\n \n\tA solid, driving rocker whose ferocious Wood solos, in the middle and the end, make it worth the price of admission. Jagger, meanwhile, remembers \u201cthe streets I used to walk on\u201d in London \u2014 \u201cdreary streets,\u201d in fact, that \u201cnever promised much\u201d but clearly delivered a great deal for the Stones. \u201cLet\u2019s raise a glass, get up and dance, \u2019cause life\u2019s just\u2026hit and run,\u201d he concludes, like a grizzled warrior who (maybe) recognizes and appreciates his good fortune after decades in the battle. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cSweet Sounds of Heaven\u201d (Hackney Diamonds, 2023)<\/p>\n \n\tHackney Diamonds\u2018 stunt casting reached its apex on this song, with Lady Gaga joining Jagger on vocals, Stevie Wonder playing keyboards and James King from Fitz and the Tantrums on saxophone. The seven-and-a-half-minute epic takes us to church, with a breakdown that features Jagger and Gaga throwing vocal licks at each other as the song builds to a brassy catharsis. Sweet and heavenly, indeed. Listen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\u201cDivine Intervention\u201d (Foreign Tongues, 2026)<\/p>\n \n\tThe Stones throw back to 1978\u2019s Some Girls on this rocker, firing on all cylinders and with the Cure\u2019s Robert Smith adding another layer of bite to the guitar attack. Steve Winwood plays keyboards as well, while Jagger takes us cross-country from New York to Hollywood, visiting a fortuneteller in the latter to ask \u201cWhat\u2019s my future?\u201d She has no answers, leaving him to conclude that \u201clife is a gambling game\u201d \u2014 and sounding confident about his chances. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cHit Me in the Head\u201d (Foreign Tongues, 2026)<\/p>\n \n\tGive Jagger credit for, at 82, understanding that \u201cone of these days I\u2019m gonna fall down dead\/And it\u2019ll go quicker if you hit me in the head.\u201d Well now. Rest assured the Stones sound very much alive and not planning to go anywhere soon on this defiant raver, with its hot guitar stack and Jagger\u2019s harmonica adding fuel to the attack. At just under three minutes, it\u2019s the shortest track on Foreign Tongues, and it\u2019ll leave you gasping for air. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cRough and Twisted\u201d (Foreign Tongues, 2026)<\/p>\n \n\tShades of the Marquee Club of the early \u201860s resonate in this striding blues, the lead single from the 2026 album. With its slashing guitars, slide and otherwise, from Richards and Wood, Jagger\u2019s harmonica and Chicagoesque howl, and Matt Clifford\u2019s boogie-woogie piano, this would not have been out of place on Blue & Lonesome. It was released under the nom du rock the Cockroaches, but, truly, there\u2019s only one band that plays the blues quite like this. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\u201cSome of Us\u201d (Foreign Tongues, 2026)<\/p>\n \n\tGet the hankies out for this Richards-sung heartstring-tugger, a plea that has him on his knees begging for \u201ca little loving.\u201d His soulful vocal is nothing short of commanding as it rides over an understated, moody arrangement whose dynamics swell in all the right spots and make effective use of Jagger and Wood on backing vocals. Winwood is on piano again, and a brief but effective guitar solo adds heft to one of the Stones\u2019 most genuinely emotional tracks of the century to date. Listen here.<\/a><\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n \t<\/a><\/p>\n Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tThe Daily\t\t<\/p>\n A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry<\/p>\n \t\tBy providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use<\/a> and our Privacy Policy<\/a>.
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