You could argue that it's their ability to release quality hit records and still put on an amazing live show in six different decades. You could argue that it's producing some of the most recognized riffs, clever lyrics, and memorable live shows in the history of rock. But it really comes down to one thing.
The Rolling Stones are now the only band with two different pinball games released 30 years apart! Game over.
I was expecting the early 80's classic when I was told that Floyd's might get a Rolling Stones pinball game. I played it once while they had it at CP Pinball. The artwork is impressive but the outdated game play didn't make much of an impression.
So I was surprised when I saw that Floyd's has the completely new Rolling Stones pinball that was released earlier this year. After my first play I'm very impressed. The moving Mick Jagger target and a few other features remind me of the new Batman. That's fine since Batman is the best game I've seen released in years.
Like Elvis pinball, it plays songs during the game and one of the goals is to collect hit records that play when you score them. There was a lot of background noise when I played, but so far it doesn't sound as repetitive as the Elvis game could be.
So, you may ask, what about The Who? Pete Townshend wrote the Pinball Wizard anthem, after all. Well, I've played their Tommy pinball game and all I can say is that The Who can suck silver balls. Rolling Stones are the rock 'n roll kings of pinball now!
Here's a video from their Bridges to Babylon tour DVD filmed in St. Louis, which also happened to be the first time I saw them in concert. When I was tired of standing for two hours Mick was still strutting back and forth across stage.