Released on December 8th, 1967, Their Satanic Majesties Request represents the band’s attempt at psychedelia following Mick and Keith’s infamous Redland’s trial. The title is a play on the text that appears inside a British passport: “Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires …”
The album is rarely regarded as a favorite among fans, critics, and the band. To this tone, Keith admits in his bestselling autobiography, Life:
We struggled haphazardly to make Their Satanic Majesties Request. None of us wanted to make it, but it was time for another Stones album, and Sgt. Pepper’s was coming out, so we thought basically we were doing a put-on.
The album’s cover is notable for having the first 3D lenticular layout in music history. Hidden within the image are the faces of all four Beatles – a tribute to The Beatles' inclusion of a Stones' sweater-wearing doll on the cover of Sgt. Pepper.
Mick Jagger says that The Satanic Majesties Request is the worst Rolling Stones album to be released. Keith Richards also condemned the album as rubbish as well as The Beatles' critically acclaimed Psychedelic Album released earlier in the year (which some say the Rolling Stones ripped off in Satanic Majesties.)
Keith:
“The Beatles sounded great when they were the Beatles. But there’s not a lot of roots in that music. I think they got carried away. Why not? If you’re the Beatles in the Sixties, you just get carried away – you forget what it is you wanted to do. You’re starting to do Sgt. Pepper. Some people think it’s a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties – ‘Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we.’”