The Exiles

The first release the band put out on their Rolling Stones Records (with Atlantic Records distributing) was their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. It was yet another commercial and critical success, and proved that the band could function well without Brian. In many ways, recording the album was great for the band, as it was fun working with a new person, and it lent some fresh air to the process. Sticky Fingers continued with the dark themes the Stones had been exploring, and the music was some of their finest.

Also in 1971, Mick Jagger, who had long been viewed as one of the hottest properties in the marriage market, was married to Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, a Nicaraguan socialite. Mick and Bianca's wedded bliss, however, was cut short by the cold hard facts of the Stones' tax bills. Faced with a huge amount of back taxes that they couldn't pay due to Allen Klein's financial mismanagement, the Stones had no choice but to leave their home country of England. After a goodbye tour of the United Kingdom, the band headed off to become citizens of the world. It seemed like a terrible thing, but it would end up leading to a huge creative breakthrough.