Rock debauchery on display
Author Sean Egan remarks that when THE ROLLING STONES embarked upon their 1972 American tour:"They cut a swathe of decadence through the country, partaking of drugs, groupies, hotel-trashing and Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion along the way."
ROBERT FRANK'S unreleased documentary of the tour, "C*CKSUCKER BLUES," provides an unblinking and unflinching look at the Stones in full swathe-cutting mode. Watch "C*cksucker Blues" today, as I have been on YOUTUBE, and it appears as a darker version of "THIS IS SPINAL TAP."
Look no farther than author TERRY SOUTHERN'S onscreen declaration that "Cocaine is so expensive that I don't think it's possible to develop a habit."
The Stones have famously prohibited the film's general release -- perhaps they want to shield their fans from such sights as Keith nodding off on a groupie's lap.
We see this film today knowing full well that sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll swirled around the Stones during the swaggering Seventies.
"C*cksucker Blues" captures this hazy period in appropriately grainy images of debauchery that probably would have shocked 1972 audiences, but seems rather tame today.
Famously, a court order restricts "C*cksucker Blues" to being shown no more than five times per year and only in Frank's presence.
I don't know how it ended up on YouTube, but I have enjoyed seeing it as a period piece from a time when rock -- and the Stones -- seemed most dangerous.
posted by erik hogstrom at 6:18 AM
2 Comments:
"a period piece from a time when rock -- and the Stones -- seemed most dangerous." Aah... danger $€££$, matey! That Mick and Keith (as the composers of the music) were by 1972, with the help of Ahmet Ertegun, monetarily wealthier than they'd ever dreamed ("Sticky Fingers" netted more than all their previous released combined), and whilst not removed from the thousands who waited all day in line to see their shows, they were seeing them out the back window of a black limo and their chartered Electra II aircraft. The only "danger" in 1972 was whether Mick's eyeshadow would melt into the glitter glued to his temples.
[IMG]http://i62.tinypic.com/i1movr.jpg[/IMG]
Erik,
Email me at
zemenwambuis2015@gmail.com
for audial accounts of this tour. I believe you'll be glad you did.
Cheers,
Jonno
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