Song · The Rolling Stones
“19th Nervous Breakdown” by The Rolling Stones
Released 1966
“19th Nervous Breakdown” by The Rolling Stones appears on 13 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1997 and 2025. It was first released in 1966. Its best result is #341 on the DVE Memorial Day 500 (2022). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,646 indie & aaa song of all time.
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The Rolling Stones cut "19th Nervous Breakdown" in Hollywood at the tail end of their fourth North American tour, slotting it into the Aftermath sessions at RCA Recording Studios between the 3rd and 8th of December 1965, and it hit the shops as a single in February 1966. Mick Jagger had the title before anything else and hung the words on it afterwards, in much the same vein as "Get Off of My Cloud".
Keith Richards kicks it off with the opening guitar figure, but the sly weapon is Brian Jones, thumbing a low bass-note line through the verses that he lifted from Bo Diddley's "Diddley Daddy", straight from the Stones' own well. The riff rides a long blues progression and trades places with a bridge, and the whole thing twitches like a nerve end. It topped the NME and Melody Maker charts at home and Cash Box in America.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 486 | 102.3 WBAB | WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) | 1023 |
| 2001 | 1903 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2002 | 772 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) | 923 |
| 2004 | 811 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) | 923 |
| 2014 | 615 | Big 100 | BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2016 | 444 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2019 | 848 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 | 1025 |
| 2020 | 665 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) | 1025 |
| 2021 | 570 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) | 1043 |
| 2022 | 435 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) | 1043 |
| 2022 | 341 | 102.5 WDVE | DVE Memorial Day 500 (2022) | 500 |
| 2023 | 554 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) | 1043 |
| 2025 | 486 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) | 1043 |
Also listed as: 19 th Nervous Breakdown; 19Th Nervous Breakdown.
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