50 Years of the Rolling Stones' Only Double Album Exile on Main Street

The Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile on Main Street, recorded at Keith Richards' rented villa Nellcôte in Villefranche, France, turned 50. The band relocated to France to avoid UK taxes under Edward Heath's fiscal policy. The album blends rock 'n' roll, blues, country, and gospel, pioneering hard rock. Its black-and-white cover, a reworking of Robert Frank's 1958 collage Tattoo Parlor, depicts circus performers and 'human curiosities,' echoing the band's own early marginalization. The album includes Sweet Black Angel, dedicated to Black Panther activist Angela Davis, who was acquitted on June 4, 1972. Other tracks like Tumbling Dice, Happy, and Shine a Light explore themes of hedonism, risk, and nostalgia. The album is seen as a homage to American culture, referencing Route 66 and Highway 61, and is compared to a classic American novel.