The Rolling Stones
Exile on Main St.
Exile on Main St.: the double album Creem's Lester Bangs hated
Released in the US on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. A contemporary hostile review by Lester Bangs in Creem (August 1972), alongside chart results from the US, the UK and the Netherlands with their dates.
The verdict at the time
Lester Bangs reviewed Exile on Main Street for Creem in August 1972, and his verdict was hostile: 'This is at once the worst studio album the Stones have ever made,' he wrote, calling the double album 'dense, cloudy tired music', 'loud, rocking mush' and its final stretch 'a vast, unremittingly horrible graveyard'. He conceded flashes of brilliance in 'Rocks Off' and 'Stop Breaking Down', but closed by saying he almost wished the record had not come out, so fans would not have to confront 'the decay of the Rolling Stones'. This is Bangs's verdict, attributed to Creem — not Echo Mandala's own judgment.
Chart peaks
European positions are listed by country. Later chart entries are labelled separately.
Sources & context
One critic's opinion, summarised from Lester Bangs's original Creem review of August 1972. Exile on Main St. reached number one on the US Billboard 200, the UK Official Albums Chart and the Dutch Album Top 100. Despite the hostile reception, it is now recognised as one of the Rolling Stones' greatest records: number 7 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee (2012).
