Spongebob Squarepants has been on TV for 17 years. Toy Story hit theaters 21 years ago. Rugrats made its television debut 25 years ago. There, those are some facts to make you feel old, and now here’s one to make your parents feel ancient: The Rolling Stones have been a band since 1962, meaning they’ve been around for over 50 years. During that time, they’ve released a whopping 26 studio albums, the most recent of which, Blue & Lonesome, was released just today.
Instead of trying to defy their age, the new record sees Mick Jagger and company embracing it with a tracklist that consists solely of old blues cover, of songs originally by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, and other legends you ought to ask your grandparents about. There’s nothing contemporary about it, and yet, the band sounds fresh, perhaps because they’re not overstepping their bounds, instead choosing to exist in a comfort zone that’s purely them.
They’re pushing the album, their first since 2005, with a music video for “Ride ‘Em On Down,” a blues standard originally recorded by Bukka White 79 years ago, back in 1937. They went old school for the video as well… save for its star, Kristen Stewart, who grabs some beer and munchies from a corner store before driving recklessly in a hot blue muscle car.
The Stones felt no need to reinvent the wheel with this one, because it’s still rolling just fine half a century into their storied career. Check out the video for “Ride ‘Em On Down” above, and stream Blue & Lonesome below, via Spotify.
Featured image: The Rolling Stones/YouTube
