How 'Aftermath' (UK) Pushed the Stones Beyond Blues with Dulcimer, Marimba, and Sitar

Up until 1966, the Rolling Stones were mostly a blues‑rock band with a few pop singles. Then Aftermath dropped in the UK and suddenly you’ve got a dulcimer on “Lady Jane,” marimba and sitar on “Under My Thumb,” and Brian Jones poking around instruments that had never been in a rock record before. It wasn’t just a gimmick — it was the first time the band deliberately used exotic textures to break out of their own sound, and it worked because Jones actually studied the damn things instead of just plucking them.

“Lady Jane” is built around Brian’s hammered dulcimer (a baroque thing he learned specifically for the song), giving it a courtly, medieval drift that contrasts completely with the band’s usual swagger. “Under My Thumb” gets its snaky bounce from marimba and a lightly strummed sitar, shifting the rhythm away from straight blues into something that feels almost Indian‑folk. The UK version of Aftermath had a different track list than the US one — no “Paint It Black” yet — so these two songs became the clearest evidence that the Stones were no longer just Chuck Berry acolytes. They were listening to the world.