Aftermath: The Rolling Stones' first all-original album and the 11-minute 'Goin' Home' session

Before 1966, the Stones still leaned on covers—their first two UK albums had half borrowed songs. Aftermath changed that: every track came from Jagger and Richards. It wasn’t just a milestone for them; it was one of the first pop-rock albums with zero filler, no B-side leftovers. The pressure was on to prove they could write hits as well as they could pick them.

The one that pushed furthest was “Goin’ Home”—an eleven-minute jam that ended side one. Nobody in rock had released anything that long as a single (it wasn’t, but still). Recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood, the band basically played live in the room with engineer Dave Hassinger. No click, no overdubs at first. They just let the groove roll out, and Brian Jones kept adding harmonica and marimba parts after the fact. Jagger’s vocal was a single take, fading in and out of the mix as the tape ran. The result was a raw, hypnotic snapshot of a band discovering they could follow a feeling as long as it lasted.