Unleashing the Iconic Hit: The Rolling Stones create ‘Satisfaction’ in a Dream-inspired Recording Session on May 12, 1965
The Rolling Stones, inspired by an incendiary buzzsaw riff that guitarist Keith Richards captured on tape in his sleep, recorded their sensational rock anthem “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on this day in history, May 12, 1965.
The track is an electrified injection of rock and roll adrenaline,” enthuses U.K. outlet Far Out Magazine. “It doesn’t stop for breath and instead powers through the air with a riff-fueled jetpack,” that outlet adds.
Released just four weeks later, “Satisfaction” became an international phenomenon. It topped the U.S. charts for four weeks in the summer of 1965. It also transformed Richards, his boyhood pal Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones from upstart British Invasion blues band to global rock stars.
A front-row ticket stub from the Rolling Stones’ first American tour of 1965 at the Philadelphia Convention Hall and Civic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“To many, it is the quintessential rock song with its mix of fractured grammar (‘can’t get no’), its sense of rebellion and disillusionment, its anti-commercialism stance and, of course, its driving guitar riff,” the Library of Congress declared when it added the hit to the United States National Registry of Recordings in 2006.
The Rolling Stones in a TV studio in 1965: Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts.
The Rolling Stones laid down the track on May 12 at RCA Hollywood Studio, with Richards’ initial bare-bone refrain fleshed out by lyrics from Jagger.
The overt references to sexual frustration, scandalous in the era, merely fueled the song’s mythic reputation. It also earned the scorn of TV censors. The producers of “Shindig!” spliced out the raunchy lyrics in production.
Keith Richards of the rock band The Rolling Stones in a candid portrait at the New York Hilton on Oct. 28, 1965, in New York City. Richards wrote the band’s breakout hit “Satisfaction” in the spring of 1966.
“It has a very catchy title. It has a very catchy guitar riff and a great guitar sound, which was original at that time,” Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Richards never intended his riff to make the recording — let alone rock history.
“His playing is idiosyncratic, loose, hard to copy … and the stuff of legend,” Guitar.com writes of rock god Richards, who is 80 years old.
Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones performs live on stage during a concert of The Rolling Stones at the Johan Cruijff Arena on July 7, 2022, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The fuzz box effect not only stuck — it created a new rock sound. Gibson sold out of the gear before the year was out. Otis Redding, meanwhile, recorded a horn-fueled version of “Satisfaction” later in 1965. Devo recorded a new-wave version in 1977.
The song made The Rolling Stones global superstars — a status they still enjoy today. The band celebrated 60 years of satisfying global crowds with a tour of Europe in 2022.
Guitarist Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones in 1965
“His playing is idiosyncratic, loose, hard to copy … and the stuff of legend,” Guitar.com writes of rock god Richards, who is 80 years old. “Among all the colorful myths and legends of the life of Keith Richards, it’s sometimes easy to forget he’s actually a very good guitar player … and something of an innovator,” the outlet also said.
Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones performs live on stage during a concert of The Rolling Stones at the Johan Cruijff Arena on July 7, 2022, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. “The fuzz tone had never been heard before anywhere, and that’s the sound that caught everybody’s imagination,” Richards wrote in “Life,” his 2010 autobiography.
The song’s success as the defining hit of the summer of 1965 taught the guitarist the value of teamwork in the creative process. Original article source: On this day in history, May 12, 1965, Rolling Stones record ‘Satisfaction’ after Keith Richards dreamed a riff.
