The Rolling Stones
Royal Mail issues a set of stamps and a miniature sheet on January 20 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Rolling Stones, one of Britain’s most successful rock bands.
Unlike previous issues in the Music Giants series, from 2016-21, the eight counter sheet designs do not reproduce album covers but focus on the Stones as a live act, from archive photographs.
Of the four stamps in the miniature sheet, two feature posed photographs of the band and two reproduce promotional posters for their tours.
The Rolling Stones have sold 250 million records, including eight No1 singles and twelve No1 albums in the UK. They have been acclaimed as the greatest rock-and-roll band in the world, and were named the greatest touring band of all time at the World Music Awards in 2005.
Founded at the instigation of slide guitarist Brian Jones in June 1962, their original members also included vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. By 1963 Bill Wyman had joined as a bass guitarist and Charlie Watts as a drummer.
Jones left in 1969, and Wyman in 1993, but guitarist Ronnie Wood joined in 1974, completing the line-up evident on most of the stamps. The quartet was broken up only by Watts’ death in 2021.
Although their roots were in blues music, the Stones graduated to the heavier sound which defined hard rock as they wrote more and more of their own songs, with Jagger and Richards taking the lead role.
Among their most famous recordings were (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction in 1965, Let’s Spend The Night Together in 1967, Jumpin’ Jack Flash in 1968, Brown Sugar in 1971, It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It) in 1974 and Start Me Up in 1981.
Designed by Baxter & Bailey, the issue was printed in litho by International Security Printers. The counter sheet stamps come in se-tenant strips of four.
1st class
Mick Jagger on stage in Hyde Park, London, in July 1969.
1st class
Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards on stage in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in August 2019.
1st class
Keith Richards on stage in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in August 1995.
1st class
Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards on stage in Tokyo, Japan, in March 1995.
£1.70
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on stage in New York City, USA, in July 1972.
£1.70
Ronnie Wood on stage in Oslo, Norway, in May 2014.
£1.70
Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on stage at Knebworth, Hertfordshire, in August 1976.
£1.70
Charlie Watts on stage in Düsseldorf, Germany, in October 2017.
MINIATURE SHEET
1st class
Portrait photograph of the band, circa 2016.
£1.70
Posters promoting the 1990 Urban Jungle European Tour and 1975 Tour of the Americas.
£1.70
Posters promoting the 1971 UK Tour and 1981 American Tour.
1st class
Portrait photograph of the band, circa 2019.
OTHER PRODUCTS
The presentation pack, written by rock critic Alexis Petridis, looks back at the long story of band, and has a selection of photographs taken throughout their career.
A press sheet of 14 uncut miniature sheets is offered in a limited edition of 500, and stamp cards and selection of first day covers are available.
PRICES
Set of 8 stamps £10.20
Miniature sheet £5.10
Press sheet £78.50
Presentation pack £16.20
Stamp cards £5.85
First day cover (stamps) £12.90
First day cover (mini sheet) £6.80
Medal cover £19.99
VERDICT
COMMEMORATIVE WORTH 4/5
The Rolling Stones are a British export with international acclaim and a long pedigree
QUALITY OF DESIGN 1/5
An almost complete reliance on photographs is unimaginative and disappointing
WOW FACTOR 2/5
It may be rock-and-roll, but few of the selected images are powerful or edgy
