Satisfaction

The Stones continued to build on the momentum they began with Steel Wheels. They followed up Steel Wheels with their live album, Flashpoint, and two more studio albums, Voodoo Lounge in 1994 and Bridges to Babylon in 1997. They also recorded an acoustic album, Stripped, in 1995, and they released another live album, No Security, toward the end of the decade.

They toured twice, once for Voodoo Lounge and once for Bridges to Babylon. Things continued along fairly normally, but not everything was the same. Perhaps the most important change was the exit of Bill Wyman. After thirty years with the band, in January 1993, he formally announced that he was leaving the group. Bill, who was considerably older than the other Stones, was simply tired of the rock and roll life. He was replaced by Darryl Jones, a younger bass player (but not yet an official Rolling Stone), and wrote a book called Stone Alone, which told all about his wild days with the band.

Another sad change the Stones had to deal with was the continuing loss of important friends and collaborators. Most devastating was the one-two punch of losing pianist Nicky Hopkins in September 1994 and producer Jimmy Miller in October. Through it all, the Stones quietly grieved and soldiered on, realizing that they were still doing what they were meant to do. Without Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, or any of the others, they were still the Rolling Stones.