Sticky Fingers: The Rolling Stones' Country-Rock Masterpiece with 'Wild Horses' and 'Brown Sugar'

The album you’re looking for is Sticky Fingers, released in 1971. It’s the one that kicks off with the swaggering, sax-driven “Brown Sugar” and later slows down for the aching country ballad “Wild Horses.” Those two tracks alone show the band’s range on a single record—raw rock and bruised tenderness sitting side by side.

Sticky Fingers also marked the Stones’ first album on their own Rolling Stones Records label, and the cover—designed by Andy Warhol with a real zipper that revealed a pair of tight jeans underneath—became as famous as the music. The country influence on “Wild Horses” came straight from Keith Richards’ friendship with Gram Parsons of The Flying Burrito Brothers, who introduced the Stones to pedal steel and a more laid-back Nashville feel. Meanwhile, “Brown Sugar” was written on a tour bus in Australia, and its controversial lyrics (about slavery and sugar cane) still stir debate today.