Rolling Stones' Foreign Tongues: anti-Musk punk, blues, late triumph
SkimNews Take
Targeting Musk in 2026 echoes how legacy rock acts once channeled establishment anger—now the establishment is a tech CEO, signaling rock's pivot from broad political allegory toward individual tech-titans-as-villain narratives.
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- The Rolling Stones released "Foreign Tongues," their 25th studio album, produced by Andrew Watt and continuing the creative renaissance that began with 2023's "Hackney Diamonds" — itself the band's first album of original songs in 18 years
- Mick Jagger, at 82, delivers pointed political lyrics across multiple tracks: "Mr Charm" targets "mad mogul Mr Musk," while "Covered in You" decries "autocrats... breeding like a swarm of dirty rats with their missiles on parade"
- Guest contributors include Paul McCartney, Cure frontman Robert Smith, Steve Winwood on organ, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and Bruno Mars on cowbell, alongside a cover of Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good"
- Late drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021, plays on "Hit Me in the Head" — recorded in 2021 and marking his second posthumous appearance on a Stones album after Hackney Diamonds
- Keith Richards offers what the review calls a "truly touching, vulnerable vocal" on "Some of Us," while Ronnie Wood delivers a "gut-wrenching guitar solo" in "Back in Your Life"
- The album's palette ranges from Chicago blues opener "Rough and Twisted" to the slinky disco of "Jealous Lover" (in the mould of "Miss You" or "Emotional Rescue") and the honky-tonk ballad "Ringing Hollow," which laments that "Lady Liberty don't look so good when there's a tear in her gown"
Why it matters: At 82, Mick Jagger delivers vocals the review calls more energized than in years, making Foreign Tongues — paired with Hackney Diamonds — the Stones' best material in decades. The album's explicit attacks on Musk and unnamed "autocrats" revive the protest tradition of late-1960s tracks like "Street Fighting Man" and "Gimme Shelter," positioning the band as still politically engaged in their ninth decade.
