Voodoo Lounge: The Most Underrated Stones Album (Music Monday)

Sometimes all you need is straightforward rock and roll

Voodoo Lounge: The Most Underrated Stones Album (Music Monday)

Sometimes all you need is straightforward rock and roll

JOHN MCDERMOTT APR 13, 2025

Here's a take that'll get me kicked out of certain rock critic circles: "Voodoo Lounge" might be my favorite Rolling Stones album. Not their most important, not their most innovative, but the one I reach for most often when I just want some Stones in my life.

The album kicks off with a one-two-three punch that's as good as anything in the Stones catalog. "Love Is Strong" sets the tone with that unmistakable Keith Richards guitar, a bluesy harmonica, and Mick in full swagger mode. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel - it's just the Stones doing what they do best, and doing it well.

Then we hit "You Got Me Rocking," which might be the most underrated single in their entire discography. This is the Stones in full-on rock mode, lean and mean with no unnecessary flourishes. It's the kind of song that makes you turn the volume up every time it comes on, even when you're sitting at a red light and the car next to you has its windows down.

"Sparks Will Fly" keeps the energy high, with Mick delivering some of his most playfully suggestive lyrics (and one time blatant lyric which I won’t repeat here!) over a driving rhythm section. Three songs in, and not a dud in the bunch.

“I Go Wild” is another super-catchy song. The Stones doing Stones Things which you’ll hear me say a lot next week.

What I love about "Voodoo Lounge" is that it's the Stones completely comfortable in their skin. They're not trying to sound like the hungry young band they were in the 60s, they're not chasing trends like they occasionally did in the 80s, they're just being the Rolling Stones. Straightforward, catchy rockers with just enough bluesy swagger to remind you who you're listening to.

Some folks dismiss the post-"Steel Wheels" Stones as dinosaurs, but I think they're missing the point. By 1994, the Stones had earned the right to be exactly who they wanted to be. And on "Voodoo Lounge," who they wanted to be was a damn good rock and roll band making music that didn't need to apologize for itself.

The album isn't perfect - it probably could have been trimmed by a track or two on the back half. But when those first three songs hit, I'm reminded why I've stuck with this band through thick and thin. Sometimes all you need is straightforward rock and roll, and nobody does straightforward rock and roll better than the Rolling Stones.

"Voodoo Lounge" might not make many critics' top 5 Stones albums, but it's at the top of mine. If that's a rock and roll crime, then lock me up and throw away the key.