How Voodoo Lounge Won a Grammy and Brought the Stones Back to Blues Roots

The Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge winning the 1995 Grammy for Best Rock Album was their first win ever in that category—a stat that sounds impossible for a band that had been churning out rock for three decades. The win wasn’t just a trophy; it was a signal that the band had successfully pivoted back to the bluesy, rootsy sound that made them, after a decade of chasing radio-friendly pop-rock in the 1980s.

The album was the first without longtime bassist Bill Wyman, so the band had to re-prove they could still lock into a groove. They nailed it by heading to a château in Ireland with producer Don Was and recording live in the room, leaning into swampy Chicago blues, delta slide guitar, and Keith Richards’ open-G tunings. Songs like “Love Is Strong” and “You Got Me Rocking” weren’t trying to be Some Girls—they were the Stones being the