How would you describe what rock 'n' roll sounds like to someone who never heard it? 

Listen to The Stones and you'll know. Drums and bass anchoring a groove. Twin snarling guitars sometimes scratching at each other, other times locked in unison or organized to provide a rhythm riff and solo. On top of the aggressive noise, the lead singer howls and wails.

The Rolling Stones lead singer, Mick Jagger, 59, and guitarist Keith Richards, 58, have been the guiding force for this sound. Drummer Charlie Watts, 61, has been on board every year except the first when the band adopted the name Rolling Stones and made its live debut in England on July 12, 1962.

To celebrate 40 years of making guitar-driven racket that has been loved and hated for more than four decades, the Rolling Stones, who were once the bad boys of rock 'n' roll, are launching a twin-barreled assault on this country.

First, they spiced up their first North American tour of the new century - 40 shows in 25 cities - by doing something novel. Not every concert will be held in a stadium. In Philadelphia, for instance, they will perform in a theate and an arena as well.

On Wednesday, the Rolling Stones will entertain about 50,000 rock 'n' roll lovers inside Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. On Friday, they will perform a sold-out show for 15,000 fans at the First Union Center in Philadel-phia. The ultimate gig is on Sept. 22 when they play for 3,200 fanatics inside the sold-out Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pa. The band hasn't regularly played theaters and clubs since the 1960s.

Although the Rolling Stones are touring without a new album, they will release a two-CD retrospective, titled "For-ty Licks," with four new songs on Oct. 1. Also, 22 albums that the band released between 1963 and 1970 have been reissued in remastered editions.

No one knew that the five scruffy lads who released their first single in 1963 would become the longest running band in the history of rock. When they started, they were strictly a British blues and R&B band, which didn't write its own songs. They recorded tunes written by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon and others. By the mid-1960s, however, Jagger and Richards were writing their own songs. The quintet of Jagger, Richards, Watts, bassist Bill Wyman and lead guitarist Brian Jones were becoming known and were part of the British music invasion of America.

This version of the Rolling Stones with Jones created such No. 1 hits as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Paint It Black" and "Ruby Tuesday," but it didn't earn the title "the world's greatest rock & roll band" until Jones was on his way out.

Starting with the "Beggar's Banquet" album in 1968, the Rolling Stones released a blistering series of four defiant studio albums that are all classics and as good as anything pop music created during the rock 'n' roll era. "Let It Bleed" from 1969 is the first album with guitarist Mick Taylor as a full-time member. "Sticky Fingers" from 1971 was the first album on the Stones own record label, and 1972's "Exile On Main Street" was the only time the band released two discs worth of original studio material at once.

This amazing streak that produced such songs as "Brown Sugar," "Honky Tonk Women," and "Jumping Jack Flash" couldn't last forever, and didn't. Taylor left during the 1970s, and was replaced by Ronnie Wood, 55, who became a core member.

The Rolling Stones released its last very good studio album in 1981, "Tattoo You," but the band almost didn't survive the decade. From 1983 to 1988, the Stones seldom played live and spent two years, from 1986 to 1988, apart with all the members never being in one room at the same time. The 1980s saw the first solo albums from Jagger and Richards. 

In 1992, Wyman left after almost 30 years of service. In 1994, the band's first tour without him, "Voodoo Lounge," grossed $124 million and still holds the record as the top moneymaking concert tour ever.

This tour, particularly the club and theater gigs, should put to rest, at least for now, charges that the Rolling Stones are a bunch of relics from the past stealing baby boomers' money with over-priced concerts - top price is $300 at Veterans Stadium. They are still capable of being the best rock 'n' roll band in the world on any given night.

Whatever the final verdict is on the North American leg of the current tour, which ends in February, the Rolling Stones influence on the bands that came after them is incalculable. Groups like Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Pearl Jam and countless others would never have existed without them.

For every band influenced by the Rolling Stones that became famous, there is probably a million people who, at some time in their lives, pretended to strut around the house like Jagger or struck a guitar-hero pose like Richards.

They are all from different walks of life, but nationally known singer Eddie Money, local Rolling Stones fan Frank Lombardo of Wildwood and radio station program director and DJ Steve Raymond of Cape May Court House are just three people whose lives have been touched by the Rolling Stones in the past. They don't doubt that the band is still capable of making new, unforgettable memories. 

To e-mail Vincent Jackson at The Press:

VJackson@pressofac.com