Released during the first week of June 1965, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction was the first US #1 for The Rolling Stones. It embodied the idea of writing a song around a riff, rather than a vocal melody or chord progression. “It was the song that really made The Rolling Stones,” Jagger once told Rolling Stone magazine. “It changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band.”
By the mid-60s, the songwriting partnership of Jagger and Richards had become the most powerful force within the group, with the remaining Stones sidelined, no matter what their contribution, never receiving any songwriting acknowledgments. “I always resented those moments where I’d come up with a bass riff that meant much more to a song than just providing a supportive rhythmic underbelly,” said former bassist, Bill Wyman. “My contribution always seemed to be played down.”
Such as Satisfaction? Often cited as an obvious example. “Whatever Mick and Keith might say, the fact of the matter is that – to me, and many music lovers in the know – my bassline made that song just as much as Keith’s guitar riff.”
