61 Years Ago Today: Legendary Rock Band Released Its Signature Song

On this day 61 years ago, one of the most iconic music groups of all time released what would become its signature song.

Monday marked 62 years since Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones arrived in the United States for the first time. Tuesday was also the 62nd anniversary of the Rolling Stones' first appearance on American television; they were interviewed on The Les Crane Show.

For the Rolling Stones, this date is among the most significant in history. On June 4, 1965, the band released a future No. 1 hit called "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in the United States.

The group went to RCA Studios in Hollywood, California, to record the song on May 12. Three weeks later, the song was released in America, though it wouldn't come out in the United Kingdom until Aug. 20.

"Satisfaction" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 10. It held the top spot on the UK Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks from Sept. 8-21.

How Rolling Stones Came up With ‘Satisfaction'

In his 2010 memoir, Life, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards shared the fascinating story about how "Satisfaction" came to life (via History.com).

Richards was sleeping when the riff game into his mind. Not wanting to forget about it the next day, he grabbed his tape recorder to capture what would become one of the most recognizable opening riffs ever.

Interestingly, Richards actually didn't like the sound of the riff the next day, but Jagger knew they had something to work with.

"He only had the first bit, and then he had the riff," Jagger said, per History.com. "It sounded like a country sort of thing on acoustic guitar-it didn't sound like rock. But he didn't really like it, he thought it was a joke… He really didn't think it was single material, and we all said, ‘You're off your head.' Which he was, of course."

Thankfully, Richards was clever enough to reach for his tape recorder and present it to Jagger anyway.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 7:30 AM.