On this day, July 10, 1965, the Rolling Stones single (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction rocketed to number one on the U.S. Billboard charts. Up until this point the Stones had made some inroads into the American market, but nothing major. They had released three albums and various singles but had yet to make the kind of a splash the Beatles had. Satisfaction changed all that. It had a dirty, gritty sound, yet the tune was catchy and original, and most of all a commercial breakthrough.

Guitarist and co-writer Keith Richards recalls the genesis of Satisfaction: "It was just a riff. I woke up in the middle of the night, put it down on a cassette. I thought it was great then. Went to sleep and when I woke up, it appeared to be as useful as any other album track. It was the same with Mick too at the time, you know. It goes da-da, da-da-da... and the words I'd written for that riff were I can't get no satisfaction. But it could just as well have been anything. I used the first fuzztone box Gibson made. I was screaming for more distortion: This riff's really gotta hang hard and long, and we burnt the amps up, and it still wasn't right. And then Ian Stewart (keyboardist) came around with a distortion box. Try this. It was as off-hand as that. It was just from nowhere. I never got into the thing after that, either. It had a very limited use, but it was just the right time for that song."

Of course Mick Jagger handled the vocals and helped with the lyrics. He has a special place in his heart for the song: "People get very blasé about their big hit. Satisfaction was the song that really made the Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band. You always need one song. We weren't American, and America was a big thing and we always wanted to make it here. It was very impressive the way that song and the popularity of the band became a worldwide thing... It's a signature tune, really, rather than a great, classic painting, 'cause it's only like one thing - a kind of signature that everyone knows. It has a very catchy title. It has a very catchy guitar riff. It has a great guitar sound, which was original at that time. And it captures a spirit of the times, which is very important in those kinds of songs... which was alienation. Or it's a bit more than that, maybe, but a kind of sexual alienation."

Simply put, Satisfaction is a Rock anthem. The guitar riff, although simple, is in the class of Day Tripper by the Beatles and Eric Clapton's Layla.