A Bigger Bang

A Bigger Bang
Studio album by The Rolling Stones
Released	6 September 2005
Recorded	November 2004 – June 2005
Genre	Rock, blues rock, garage rock, punk blues
Length	64:23
Language	English
Label	Virgin, Rolling Stones
Producer	Don Was and The Glimmer Twins, with Matt Clifford ("Streets of Love")
The Rolling Stones chronology
Bridges to Babylon (1997) A Bigger Bang (2005)
Singles from A Bigger Bang
"Streets of Love"/"Rough Justice" Released: 22 August 2005 "Rain Fall Down" Released: 5 December 2005 "Biggest Mistake" Released: 21 August 2006

A Bigger Bang is the 22nd British and 24th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released on Virgin Records in September 2005. It is the follow-up to their previous full-length studio album Bridges to Babylon from 1997; that gap of eight years was the longest between studio albums of the band's recording career, although the band has not issued a studio album of new material since. Released as a double album on vinyl and a single CD, it was produced by Don Was and The Glimmer Twins.

History

The album used a stripped-down style reminiscent of Some Girls (1978), but with a harder, more contemporary edge. Although initial reports stated that the Stones had "returned to their roots" with the record, the minimal instrumentation, rough mix, tough blues and "garage" rock hybrid bear certain similarities to the style of contemporary artists like The White Stripes and The Black Keys.

Many songs were recorded with just the core band of Jagger, Richards and Watts. Ronnie Wood was absent from many sessions, playing on only ten of the sixteen tracks, with only occasional contributions from outside musicians comprising the recording of the album. This is also the first album where Jagger plays bass guitar on some tracks.

The Stones said in a statement that the album's title reflects "their fascination with the scientific theory about the origin of the universe."^[1][2]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The A.V. Club	favorable[5]
Canoe.ca	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	B–[7]
NME	6/10[8]
PopMatters	5/10[9]
Robert Christgau	A–[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Stylus Magazine	B[12]

The first single, "Streets of Love"/"Rough Justice", reached No. 15 in the UK singles chart, while A Bigger Bang peaked at No. 2 on the UK charts.^[13] Another song from the album was "Sweet Neo Con", which was critical of the conservative Christian movement in American politics.^[14]

In August 2005, the Rolling Stones embarked on the 90-show A Bigger Bang Tour in support of the album. It was met with sold-out tickets at every destination, usually within minutes of opening. The tour was extended into 2007 because Richards got hurt falling out of a tree in Fiji and required brain surgery in New Zealand. It concluded on August 2007 at the O2 Arena in London.

Critical reaction was mostly positive. The aggregate score of the album by Metacritic was rated 73 out of 100, categorizing the reviews as "generally favorable."^[3] A Bigger Bang was touted as the best Rolling Stones album in years.^{[4][5][6][7][12]} Nevertheless, all of the Stones albums since 1989's Steel Wheels had been similarly lauded,^[9] and many critics and fans felt that the Stones had yet to record a late-period album truly up to their high standards. It was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005, and ranked the second-best album of the year by Rolling Stone magazine, behind rapper Kanye West's Late Registration.^[15]

A Bigger Bang went platinum in the US^[16] and Germany,^[17] and gold in Japan.^[18] According to Nielsen SoundScan it sold 546,000 copies in the US,^[19] and as of 31 March 2006, 2.4 million copies worldwide according to EMI.^[20]

In 2009, A Bigger Bang was reissued by Universal Music Group. The US re-release was handled by Interscope Records, while Polydor Records handled all other territories.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rough Justice"	3:11
2.	"Let Me Down Slow"	4:16
3.	"It Won't Take Long"	3:54
4.	"Rain Fall Down"	4:54
5.	"Streets of Love"	5:10
6.	"Back of My Hand"	3:32
7.	"She Saw Me Coming"	3:12
8.	"Biggest Mistake"	4:06
9.	"This Place Is Empty"	3:12
10.	"Oh No, Not You Again"	3:46
11.	"Dangerous Beauty"	3:48
12.	"Laugh, I Nearly Died"	4:54
13.	"Sweet Neo Con"	4:33
14.	"Look What the Cat Dragged In"	3:57
15.	"Driving Too Fast"	3:56
16.	"Infamy"	3:47

DVD special edition bonus disc

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Introduction to A Bigger Bang"	10:45
2.	"Streets of Love (video)"	4:25
3.	"Streets of Love (TV performance)"	4:03
4.	"Rough Justice (TV performance)"	3:10
5.	"Rain Fall Down (Remix)"	6:10
6.	"Under the Radar (Bonus track)"	4:36
7.	"Don't Wanna Go Home (Bonus track)"	3:34
8.	"Streets of Love (With commentary from director Jake Nava)"	4:25
Total length:		41:22

Personnel

The Rolling Stones

• Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, guitars, harmonica, keyboards, percussion; bass guitar on "Back of My Hand", "She Saw Me Coming", "Dangerous Beauty" and "Sweet Neo Con"
• Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals, keyboards; lead vocals and bass guitar on "This Place is Empty" and "Infamy"; percussion on "Infamy"
• Ronnie Wood – guitars
• Charlie Watts – drums

Additional personnel

• Darryl Jones – bass guitar on "Rough Justice", "Let Me Down Slow", "It Won't Take Long", "Rain Fall Down", "Streets of Love", "Biggest Mistake", "Oh No, Not You Again", "Laugh, I Nearly Died", and "Driving Too Fast"
• Chuck Leavell – piano on "Rough Justice", "Streets of Love" and "Driving Too Fast", organ on "It Won't Take Long", "Streets of Love" and "Biggest Mistake"^[21]
• Matt Clifford – programming; keyboards and vibraphone on "Rain Fall Down"; piano, organ, and strings on "Streets of Love"
• Blondie Chaplin – backing vocals on "She Saw Me Coming" and "Infamy"
• Lenny Castro – percussion on "Look What the Cat Dragged In"

Charts and certifications

Charts Album Chart (2005) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[22] 4 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[23] 1 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[24] 3 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[25] 4 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[26] 1 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[27] 1 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[28] 1 European Albums (Billboard)[29] 1 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[30] 4 French Albums (SNEP)[31] 3 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 1 Greek Albums (IFPI)[33] 1 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[34] 10 Irish Albums (IRMA)[35] 18 Italian Albums (FIMI)[36] 1 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[37] 2 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[38] 2 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[39] 2 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[40] 5 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[41] 2 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[42] 1 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[43] 1 UK Albums (OCC)[44] 2 US Billboard 200[45] 3 Year Single Chart Position 2005 "Rough Justice" Mainstream Rock Tracks[46] 25 2005 "Streets of Love"/"Rough Justice" UK Top 75 Singles [47] 15 2005 "Oh No, Not You Again" Mainstream Rock Tracks 34 2005 "Rain Fall Down" UK Top 75 Singles 33 2006 "Rain Fall Down" Hot Dance Singles/Club Play 21 2006 "Biggest Mistake" UK Top 75 Singles [48] 51

Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments Argentina (CAPIF)[49] Platinum 40,000^x Austria (IFPI Austria)[50] Gold 15,000^x Canada (Music Canada)[51] Platinum 100,000^^ Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[52] Gold 20,000^^ France (SNEP)[53] Gold 75,000^* Germany (BVMI)[17] Platinum 200,000^^ Greece (IFPI Greece)[54] Gold 10,000^^ Japan (RIAJ)[18] Gold 100,000^^ New Zealand (RMNZ)[55] Gold 7,500^^ Poland (ZPAV)[56] Gold 10,000^* Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[57] Gold 20,000^x United Kingdom (BPI)[58] Gold 100,000^^ United States (RIAA)[16] Platinum 1,000,000^^ Summaries Europe (IFPI)[59] Platinum 1,000,000^* ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone ^xunspecified figures based on certification alone

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