How the Rolling Stones' 'Aftermath' Made Original Songs the New Standard for Rock Bands

Before 1966, most rock albums were padded with covers. The Rolling Stones themselves had built their early reputation on American R&B and blues reworkings. But with Aftermath, their fourth UK studio album, they released the first LP consisting entirely of Jagger/Richards originals. That might not sound radical now, but at the time it signaled a major shift: a band that had proven itself as interpreters was now betting everything on its own writing.

The timing mattered. The Beatles had already released Rubber Soul with all originals in late 1965, but they were seen as the exception — the songwriting geniuses. The Stones, by contrast, were the gritty, rebellious alternative. When they dropped the crutch of covers, it told other bands that self-written material wasn’t just for pop auteurs; it was a badge of legitimacy for any serious rock act. Aftermath also showed that a blues-based group could produce original songs that were as inventive and varied (the sitar on “Paint It Black,” the marimbas on “Under My Thumb”) as any cover they’d done. Suddenly, relying on outside writers felt like admitting you weren’t a real artist.

The ripple effect was immediate. By 1967, bands like the Who, the Kinks, and the Doors were releasing albums of entirely original material. Aftermath didn’t single-handedly kill the cover-song album — but it proved that if the Rolling Stones could do it without losing their edge, any band could.