No. 355: Between The Buttons

Band: The Rolling Stones
Album: Between the Buttons
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Stones' pretentiousness is evident on this album. Despite doing a fair amount of blue collar blues rock, both Richards and Jagger were upper class lads and their upper crust British society leanings come out on "Between The Buttons." I kind of respect this, despite not being a Stones fan.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I'm tired of the Stones and this is one of the band's least consequential albums.
Best song: "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" is a great drug anthem.
Worst song: "Who's Been Sleeping Here?" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

You know what, you've read this post before. The Stones are an iconic band (hell, the magazine is sorta named after them) and this is one of their early(ish) albums. It's got some classic songs -- "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" on both versions and "Ruby Tuesday" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" on the American version -- but, overall, the album is a sad reflection of a band nowhere near its contemporaries. While the Beach Boys were doing "Pet Sounds," the Who was doing "The Who Sell Out" and the Beatles were doing "Sgt. Pepper," this is what the Stones were doing?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Stones are a greatest hits band. Nothing more, nothing less.