The surviving members of The Rolling Stones have once again defied both age and expectation, unveiling plans for their 25th studio album with a swagger that suggests time has done little to dull their appetite for reinvention.
At a star-studded launch in New York this week, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood appeared in buoyant form, celebrating the forthcoming release of Foreign Tongues, due on July 10th. The album, comprising 14 tracks, arrives nearly three years after the critically acclaimed Hackney Diamonds, and continues a late-career resurgence that has surprised even seasoned observers of the band’s long arc.
The new record features an eclectic cast of collaborators, including Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Robert Smith and Chad Smith, underscoring the Stones’ enduring pull across generations of musicians. Notably, it will also include a posthumous contribution from Charlie Watts, whose death in 2021 marked the end of an era for the group.
The lead single, In the Stars, has already been released digitally, while another track, Rough and Twisted, has drawn comparisons to the band’s 1972 masterpiece Exile on Main Street—a reminder that even in their ninth decade, the Stones remain tethered to the raw, blues-driven sound that first propelled them to global prominence.
A band forged in the 1960s
To understand the significance of a 25th studio album, one must look back to the group’s origins in early 1960s London. The original line-up—Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards (guitar), Brian Jones (multi-instrumentalist), Bill Wyman(bass), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano)—emerged from Britain’s rhythm and blues revival, drawing heavily on American bluesmen such as Muddy Waters.
From the outset, they cultivated an image as the darker, more rebellious counterpart to The Beatles. Where the latter offered polished charm, the Stones traded in grit and provocation—a contrast that helped define the cultural battleground of the 1960s.
Their early hits, including (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, established them as a force of nature. By the early 1970s, albums such as Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street had cemented their reputation as the “greatest rock and roll band in the world,” a moniker first attached to them during that period and rarely challenged since.
Survival and reinvention
The Stones’ history has been marked by upheaval as much as success. The death of Brian Jones in 1969, the departure of Bill Wyman in the early 1990s, and the inevitable strains of decades on the road might have felled lesser groups. Yet the band has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for reinvention.
Ronnie Wood’s arrival in 1975 stabilised the line-up, while albums such as Some Girls (1978) and Tattoo You (1981) proved their ability to adapt to changing musical climates. Even the much-heralded “comeback” of Steel Wheels in 1989 and the polished Voodoo Lounge in 1994 showed a band capable of recalibrating its sound without sacrificing identity.
This resilience has been matched by staggering commercial success. Over the course of more than six decades, the Rolling Stones have sold in excess of 250 million records worldwide, placing them among the best-selling artists in history. Their catalogue—spanning dozens of studio, live and compilation albums—has generated 124 singles and a cultural footprint that extends far beyond music.
The late-career renaissance
What makes Foreign Tongues particularly striking is not merely its existence, but the vitality it appears to embody. According to those present at the New York launch, the band spoke with evident enthusiasm about the project, with Jagger emphasising its stylistic range—from blues and rock to country and punk influences.
Producer Andrew Watt, who also worked on Hackney Diamonds, returns to helm the record, bringing a contemporary sheen to a band whose roots lie firmly in mid-20th-century musical traditions. The recording process itself was reportedly swift, completed in a matter of weeks—suggesting a creative urgency that belies the members’ advancing years.
There is, too, a sense that the Stones are not yet ready to take their final bow. Reports indicate that additional material remains in reserve, fuelling speculation that further releases could follow.
Enduring cultural force
Few bands have maintained relevance across so many decades, and fewer still have managed to bridge generational divides with such ease. The Rolling Stones’ influence can be heard in countless artists, while their imagery—the famous tongue-and-lips logo among them—has become part of the cultural lexicon.
Their ability to command attention in 2026, more than 60 years after their formation, speaks not only to nostalgia but to an enduring creative vitality. At an age when most performers have long since retired, Jagger, Richards and Wood continue to write, record and perform with a commitment that borders on defiance.
If Foreign Tongues proves anything, it is that the Rolling Stones remain, in every meaningful sense, a living band—not merely a heritage act trading on past glories. And as they prepare to release their 25th studio album, one is reminded that rock and roll, at least in their hands, shows no sign of fading quietly into history.
Main Image: By Raph_PH – StonesLondon220518-115, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69592927
