A Bigger Bang

A Bigger Bang
A painting of the band members with an explosion of light in the center
Studio album by
Released5 September 2005 (2005-09-05)[1]
Recorded
  • November 2004
  • 7–9 March 2005
  • 6–28 June 2005
Studio
GenreRock
Length64:23
Label
Producer
The Rolling Stones chronology
Singles 1968–1971
(2005)
A Bigger Bang
(2005)
Rarities 1971–2003
(2005)
The Rolling Stones studio album chronology
Bridges to Babylon
(1997)
A Bigger Bang
(2005)
Blue & Lonesome
(2016)
Singles from A Bigger Bang
  1. "Streets of Love"/"Rough Justice"
    Released: 22 August 2005
  2. "Rain Fall Down"
    Released: 5 December 2005
  3. "Biggest Mistake"
    Released: 21 August 2006

A Bigger Bang is the twenty-second studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released through Virgin Records on 5 September 2005. It was the band's last album of original material recorded entirely with Charlie Watts on drums before his death in 2021.[2]

Unlike their prior effort eight years before, the sprawling and eclectic Bridges to Babylon, which had an array of producers, musical styles, and guest musicians, the Stones set out to make a basic, hard rock album that hearkened back to their 1960s–1970s heyday. A single producer, Don Was, was brought in to co-produce the album alongside the band's principal songwriting and production team of vocalist Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Joining the two were band members Ronnie Wood on guitar and Charlie Watts on drums, contract players Darryl Jones on bass and Chuck Leavell on keyboards, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Clifford. Most of the basic tracks were recorded as a simple trio of Jagger, Richards, and Watts, with overdubs added later by other players.

The back-to-basics method of recording the album paid off for the Stones, who saw the album reach number three in the US, number two in the UK, and number one in eleven countries around the world. The lead single, "Streets of Love", failed to chart in the US, but was otherwise successful around the world, reaching number 15 in the UK and top-40 in over a dozen other countries. Two other singles were released to moderate worldwide sales. Reviews of the album were generally favourable; while critics noted that the album was not up to the standards of the Stones classic period, it nonetheless was among the best reviewed of their later albums. The follow-up tour, which lasted two years, would become the highest-grossing tour of all time by its completion. A Martin Scorsese-directed concert film titled Shine a Light documented the tour.

  1. ^ "BPI Certification". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  2. ^ McGrath, Kristin (24 August 2021). "Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies at 80: Playing the drums was all he ever wanted". USA Today. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.