Terry O'Neill / Getty Images21: The Rolling Stones’ first single was a modest success, reaching #21 on the U.K. charts.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, Keith Richards considers 1963 to be the real birthday of the band: that was the year Charlie Watts, one of the core members of the group, became the band’s drummer. It was also the year the Stones (pictured in 1963) released their first single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On,” on Decca Records, the label to which they signed in May of that year. (The B-side of the 45 was Willie Dixon’s “I Want to Be Loved.”) The single never approached top-ten lists, but it was enough to get them on a 1963 tour with acts like Little Richard and Bo Diddley—which got them some notice. Fact: according to the Ed Sullivan Show historical archives, George Harrison of the Beatles was the one who first recommended the band to Decca.