Episode 53: Chris Ryan on the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” (1972)

Episode notes

The Album: The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (1972)

In 1972, The Rolling Stones were at the peak of their success…and excess. In order to flee British tax collectors, Keith, Mick and the crew fled to France where, over the course of many months – and a ton of drugs – the group pieced together what would become an epic double album. It would take Mick dragging the tapes to Hollywood to complete production but once finished, Exile On Main Street would become embrace as one of the group’s greatest albums and for some, it marked the end of the group’s “golden era,” in terms of how it blended together rock, soul, and blues together in a mish-mash of styles that still invoke awe – and controversy – today.

The album pick came to us via Chris Ryan, executive editor at The Ringer, where he contributes or hosts a number of podcasts himself, including the pop culture show, The Watch, and the site’s movie discussion show, The Rewatchables. Before that, Chris was a long-time music writer, based out of New York, and one of the funniest and smartest critics Oliver’s ever met.

More on Chris Ryan

• The Watch podcast
• The Rewatchables podcast
• Author Page on The Ringer | Twitter | Blog

More on Exile On Main Street

• “How Exile On Main Street Killed the Rolling Stones” (The Atlantic)
• “The Stones and the true story of Exile on Main St” (The Guardian)
• “Trying to Make a Record in the Führerbunker: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on Exile on Main St” (GQ)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Exile On Main Street unless indicated otherwise):

• Rocks Off
• Casino Boogie
• Ventilator Blues
• Sweet Black Angel
• Shake Your Hips
• Sweet Virginia
• Tumbling Dice
• Turd on the Run
• Rocks Off
• Happy
• The Rolling Stones: Miss You

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there
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