Rolling Stones’ top hit gets special vinyl release
ABKCO Records will mark the 60th anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” with a limited-edition 4-inch vinyl release on November 21. The format is part of Tiny Vinyl’s series sold exclusively at Target.
The record includes a miniaturized sleeve recreating the original 1965 U.S. picture sleeve, featuring David Bailey’s portrait of the band’s lineup at the time: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Brian Jones, and Bill Wyman. The B-side mirrors the original U.S. release with “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man.”
Based in Nashville, Tiny Vinyl produces small-format records designed to play on most manual turntables using bio-attributed vinyl that uses significantly less material than standard full-size pressings. The company’s co-founder Neil Kohler said, “We are immensely proud to partner with the ABKCO team on this first-ever Rolling Stones Tiny Vinyl. When we first conceived of Tiny Vinyl, we never dreamed that we’d release the most iconic hit by the greatest rock and roll band of all time. We can’t wait for fans to find this limited-edition Rolling Stones Tiny Vinyl at Target this holiday season!”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was written while the band was touring the U.S. in 1965, with Keith Richards recording the original guitar idea on a cassette player after waking up during the night. In his autobiography Life, Richards wrote: “I wrote ‘Satisfaction’ in my sleep. I had no idea I’d written it […] thank God for the little Philips cassette player. The miracle being that I looked at the cassette player that morning and knew I’d put a brand-new tape in the previous night, and I saw it was at the end. Then I pushed rewind and there was ‘Satisfaction.’ It was just a rough idea. There was just the bare bones of the song, and it didn’t have that noise of course, because I was on acoustic. And forty minutes of me snoring. But the bare bones is all you need.”
Richards later played the riff for Mick Jagger in Clearwater, Florida, leading Jagger to write the lyrics. The band recorded the track at RCA Studios in Los Angeles on May 12, 1965. It became the group’s first U.S. number-one single, staying atop the charts for four weeks and earning their first RIAA Gold certification.
Richards recorded the riff with a Gibson Maestro Fuzz-Tone pedal, initially intending for the part to be replaced by brass instruments. Producer Andrew Loog Oldham and engineer David Hassinger kept the original arrangement, which emphasized the song’s defining guitar tone. The lyrics addressed themes of sexual frustration and commercial culture, resonating with young listeners and helping establish the band’s identity in the U.S. market.
The B-side, “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man,” credited to the band’s collective pseudonym Nanker Phelge, referenced London Records employee George Sherlock, who accompanied the band on early U.S. tours. The song drew from Buster Brown’s “Fannie Mae” and is noted for its satirical commentary on industry figures, a rarity in mainstream rock at the time.
