Trivia / Exile on Main St.

• Creator Backlash: In 2003, Mick Jagger said of the album:
  "Exile is not one of my favourite albums, although I think the record does have a particular feeling. I'm not too sure how great the songs are, but put together it's a nice piece. However, when I listen to Exile it has some of the worst mixes I've ever heard. I'd love to remix the record, not just because of the vocals, but because generally I think it sounds lousy. At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just these drunks and junkies. Of course I'm ultimately responsible for it, but it's really not good and there's no concerted effort or intention."
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: Jagger once stated that he was baffled by the praise the album got, because it didn't yield many hits.
• Referenced by...:
  • Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair is (supposedly) a song-by-song answer to this album, though it may work best if you try not to think about some of the parallels too hard. It has a very similar emotional arc to this album's, at least. Phair has given interviews in which she's elaborated on the parallels.
  • Matchbox Twenty named their 2007 Greatest Hits album Exile on Mainstream.
  • British acid house group Alabama 3 titled their debut album Exile on Coldharbour Lane.
  • rock band Chemlab named the leadoff song from their album East Side Militia "Exile on Mainline".
  • Californication and Supernatural both have episodes titled "Exile on Main St." (well, technically the Supernatural episode is "Exile on Main Street", but close enough).
  • The film Knives Out (2019) uses "Sweet Virginia" for its final scene and closing credits.
• Troubled Production: The album was recorded in France for tax reasons. Most of the backing tracks were recorded in the basement of Richards' villa at Nellcôte, a poorly-ventilated environment where the heat would cause the guitars to go out of tune. Recording took place all night but none of the Stones ever showed up all at the same time - Wyman sat out most of the sessions, Jagger was frequently AWOL and Richards was just getting started on his infamous substance abuse. He was joined in said substance abuse by Taylor, producer Jimmy Miller, session musician Bobby Keys and engineer Andy Johns - Wyman claimed in his autobiography that he, Watts and Jagger were the only people in the villa who abstained to some degree. The band then took the piecemeal recordings and backing tracks to Los Angeles, added all the overdubs and assembled them into Exile.
• Working Title: Tropical Disease.

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