The Rolling Stones were born in June of 1962 when childhood friends Mick and Keith responded to an ad placed by then-guitarist Brian Jones in Jazz News. While Jones left the band in 1969 and died a month later at 27, 50 years later the band's core members are still intact, if a little worse for the wear.
As we approach the band's half-century anniversary next month, books, TV specials and exhibits are trickling out to mark the occasion. The most anticipated marker of all, however -- the 50th Anniversary Tour -- has been pushed back to 2013 ("Basically, we're just not ready," Keith Richards told Rolling Stone magazine).
As for us, we're taking a look back at the band in its formative years through The Morrison Hotel Gallery's current exhibit, "The Rolling Stones. A 50 Year Tribute." The New York-based gallery culled together images from rock-and-roll photographers who collectively documented the band's rise to fame. Photographs of adoring groupies and shoes thrown on stage get at the larger-than-life persona of the band, while others show the members in less glamorous settings (and by less glamorous, we mean cooking eggs at Andy Warhol's Montauk home).
Click through for images from "The Rolling Stones. A 50 Year Tribute," and stay tuned for the Morrison Hotel Gallery's next show spotlighting those other contenders for "The Greatest Band of All Time" title.
"The Rolling Stones. A 50 Year Tribute" runs through May 31. All images are for sale through the gallery and at their website.