In 1971, to get breathing room from tax and management problems, the Stones go to France. Jimmy Miller parks a recording truck next to Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg's Blue Coast villa, and by June the band is in the basement a few days at a time. Upstairs, heroin, bourbon, and visitors are everywhere. The Stones, other musicians and crew, Pallenberg, and photographer Dominique Tarle, plus old clips and photos and contemporary footage, provide commentary on the album's haphazard construction. By September, the villa is empty; Richards and Jagger complete production in LA. "Exile on Main Street" is released to mediocre reviews that soon give way to lionization.
The English rock group the Rolling Stones have released 31 studio albums, 39 live albums, 28 compilation albums, 3 extended plays, 122 singles, 31 box sets, 51 video albums, 2 video box sets and 77 music videos. Throughout their career, they have sold over 250 million albums worldwide. Billboard ranked them as the 2nd Greatest artist of all time. The Rolling Stones have scored 38 top-10 albums on the Billboard 200 and 8 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, they have sold 66.5 million albums in the US, making them the 16th best-selling group in history.