It’s Only Rock ’n Roll
The Rolling Stones
- First released
- 16 October 1974
- Tracks on this edition
- 10
- Running time
- 48:43
The cover
Guy Peellaert’s It’s Only Rock ’n Roll cover places the Stones on a temple staircase surrounded by figures in flowing robes. A statement from his estate reproduced by IORR describes the artwork as a photomontage painted with airbrush and acrylic, using the technique of his Rock Dreams series.
Cover artwork: Guy Peellaert (IORR archive account)
Image via Cover Art Archive / MusicBrainz source release
Artwork source and selected track edition are identified separately.
What critics said
Robert Christgau’s Consumer Guide finds It’s Only Rock ’n Roll stronger than Goats Head Soup, with fresh hooks and striking bass lines. He also hears lazy rhymes and diminishing returns as each side progresses.
Tracklist
It's Only Rock ’n Roll
US edition · 16 October 1974
Select a song for details
- A1If You Can’t Rock Me3:49
- A2Ain’t Too Proud to Beg3:33
- A3It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (but I Like It)5:09
- A4Till the Next Goodbye4:39
- A5Time Waits for No One6:39
- B1Luxury5:03
- B2Dance Little Sister4:13
- B3If You Really Want to Be My Friend6:19
- B4Short and Curlies2:46
- B5Fingerprint File6:33
Sources & coverage
About these numbers
Concert figures describe 2,181 distinct archive record IDs from 1962-07-12 to 2024-07-21. Separate same-day record IDs remain separate; they have not all been reviewed as unique performed concerts.
1,506 records have stored song entries; 675 do not. Complete-setlist coverage is not established. Missing entries do not establish that a song was not played.
Song observations count distinct record IDs with a matching title after playback entries are excluded. These are documented appearances, not verified full-song performances. Tour groupings can include warm-up dates.
- MusicBrainz — album identities, editions and track programmes
The catalogue import contains core metadata only. Cover artwork and critical responses have separate sources in the sections above. Annotations, genre associations and database ratings remain excluded.
MusicBrainz data licence - setlist.fm — concert history and setlists
Concert dates, venues and setlists from the editor-supplied archive. Every concert page credits setlist.fm and links to its original record. Song observations are calculated by Glimmer Wire from those entries, with playback excluded.
Snapshot: 2026-10-03T21:42:51Z. Original database supplied and factually approved by the editor; normalized and calculated by Glimmer Wire. Counts can change when records or identities are corrected.
Calculation record
Concert records: distinct concert.setlist_id. Country groups: concert.country_code. Stored entries: records with non-playback setlist_song rows. Song appearances: distinct concert_song.setlist_id matched to setlist_song by record ID, position and exact raw title, excluding tape = 1. This does not use a complete-setlist percentage denominator.
Snapshot SHA-256: 7e86a3e2d0670574fd1e8bf42cd9e4dc99d3325db8db1b471707805387b00e5a
Explore the sources behind the numbers.