1982–2001

Stewart's career then went into a relative slump, and his albums between Tonight I'm Yours (1981) and Out of Order (1988), received harsh criticism from many critics. He only had three Top 10 singles between 1982 and 1988, although Baby Jane became his sixth and final UK #1 in 1983. The corresponding Camouflage album went gold in the UK, and the single Infatuation received considerable play on MTV. A reunion with Jeff Beck produced a successful take on Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready, but an attempt to tour together fell apart after a few dates. He reached UK #2 in 1986 with Every Beat Of My Heart, a song designed to be of similar crowd-waving qualities to Sailing.

In January 1985 he performed at the Rock 'n Rio Festival before an estimated audience of 100,000+. His outstanding performance a during a stormy night was described by Stewart himself as “wining the world soccer championship”.

In 1988, he returned with Out Of Order produced by Duran Duran's Andy Taylor and by Bernard Edwards of Chic. Forever Young and Lost in You from that album were both significant hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and mainstream rock charts. (Forever Young was an unconscious revision of Bob Dylan's song of the same name; the artists reached an agreement about sharing royalties. The child in the video's name is Jerrod Griffiths.)

In January 1989 Rod set out on the South American leg of the Out of Order Tour playing to sold out audiences throughout South America. Audiences hung on every line, often prompting Rod and the band to stop and listen to the crowd, as it knew every word to every song. In Buenos Aires the famed River Plate Stadium that seats 70,000+ was estimated to have had in attendance more than 90,000, with several thousand outside the stadium. Firehoses were sprayed on the crowd to avoid heat prostration, and the excitement was palpable.

Despite the rigours of traversing South America's questionable highway system with three separate convoys of equipment holding the millions-dollar light show and stages (the loss of a truck in a landslide delayed one show in Brazil), the show went on with a gruelling schedule of performances. Venues in remote, seemingly desolate small towns would fill to standing room only capacity in the local soccer stadium, and ring the stadium in a sea of fans electrified by the music, the entertainer, and the fact that he was willing to perform for them.

Stewart's version of the Tom Waits song Downtown Train went to #2 of the US singles charts in 1990. This song was taken from a four CD compilation set called Storyteller. The Vagabond Heart album continued his comeback with Rhythm of My Heart and Motown Song both reaching the Top 10. Also in 1990 he recorded It Takes Two with Tina Turner which reached #5 on the UK charts.

In 1993, he recorded All For Love with Sting and Bryan Adams for the soundtrack to the movie The Three Musketeers; the single reached #1 on the US charts.

Also in 1993, Stewart reunited with Ron Wood and a talented backup group to record an MTV Unplugged special. For the first time, Stewart assembled a musical line-up whose instrumentation and musical approach could do justice to his earliest solo work. Highlights included a heartfelt Handbags and Gladrags, a furious Cut Across Shorty, and four selections from Every Picture Tells A Story. The show also featured an acoustic version of Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately which topped the Billboard adult contemporary chart and went Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. A rendition of Reason to Believe also garnered considerable airplay. The Unplugged album reached #2 on the Billboard album charts.

Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. On 31st December on the same year he played in front on 3.5 million people on Copacabana Beach in Rio. This became and still is the largest audience for a gig ever. It has been noted, however, that it was also New Year's Eve celebrations.

In 1995, Stewart released A Spanner in the Works containing a single written by Tom Petty Leave Virginia Alone which reached the Top 10 of the adult contemporary charts. The latter half of the 1990s was not as commercially successful with If We Fall In Love Tonight not making much of an impression on the charts.

When we Were the New Boys, his final album on the Warner Bros. label released in 1998, contained versions of songs by Britpop acts such as Oasis and Primal Scream, and reached #2 on the UK album charts. In 2000, Stewart decided to leave Warner Bros. Records and moved to Atlantic Records, another division of Warner Music Group. In 2001, he released his only album Human in Atlantic label. Human only just reached the Top 50 in 2001 with the single I Can't Deny It going Top 40 in the UK and Top 20 in the adult contemporary. Because of the poor sales, Atlantic Records dropped him from their roster and he signed to Clive Davis' new J Records label. Of note is that Rod was unable to promote Human properly due to a cancer diagnosis . Indeed, a second single from the album Run back into your arms was scheduled but never released.

The Story So Far: the Very Best Of a greatest hits album compiled from his time at Warner Bros. went to the Top 10 in the UK and reached #1 in places like Belgium and France in 2001.

The song Handbags and the Gladrags was used as the theme tune for the comedy The Office.