Art, violence, arrests, drugs and of course rock and roll, five tales about The Rolling Stones.

Wax & Stamper and Stones fan, Ali Johnston, tells us about a recent trip to Exhibitionism

I was picking up some serious swinging 60s vibes as I walked down Kings Road in glorious sunshine, weaving in and out of tourists, shoppers and snakes of school children. A rather appropriate frame of mind as I was on my way Exhibitionism, The Rolling Stones retrospective which has completely taken over the Saatchi gallery. Equal only to ‘David Bowie Is’ at the V&A in scope, but with less of a focus on the art and intellectual side but still showing the cultural and musical significance of the Stones in impressive detail. There is was a lot there but here are five things, stories, objects, whatever, which I came away with:

“Sometimes turmoil and trouble in art make it come out good”

In spring 1971, having fled the UK to avoid paying the higher tax rate of 93%, The Stones rented homes across the south of France. Keith Richards shacking up in the not to shabby 16-room Villa Nellcôte in Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Côte D’Azu, now owned by a Russian billionaire and worth a over $128 million, Keith Richards rented it for $2500 a month ($14,870 in todays money).

“It was an impressive house,” remembers Andy Johns, who engineered and mixed Exile. “Somewhat baroque. The heating vents on the floor were gold swastikas. Keith told me that it had been a Gestapo headquarters in the war. But he told me, ‘It’s OK. We’re here now.’”

Their exodus came in the middle of recording Exile On Main St and due to Keith Richards drug use becoming a daily habit it was decided that Villa Nellcôte would become the bands hub, with a record studio built in the large basement.

“It’s got a raw sound quality, and the reason for that is that the basement was very dingy and very damp,” says Mick Taylor, Stones lead guitarist for the five years. “The roof leaked and there were power failures. We had to deal with all that, and go with the flow.”

Six months of glorious summer followed and with it an entourage of interesting characters, including session musicians, the local mafia and drug dealers, artists, record execs, groupies, family members, journalists and wasters, all hanging out at the villa.

“People appeared, disappeared, no one had a last name, you didn’t know who anybody was,” remembers Robert Greenfield, who was at Nellcôte to interview Keith Richards for Rolling Stone. “There were 16 people for lunch, and lunch went on for three-and-a-half hours. It was an unparalleled cast of characters.”

The party came to end when the police raided the villa charging Richards and his partner Anita Pallenberg with possession of heroin and intent to traffic. The pair fled to America and Keith was banned from entering France for two years.

“Sometimes turmoil and trouble in art make it come out good,” says Marshall Chess. “Toulouse-Lautrec drank absinthe. Great jazz musicians shot heroin. It made for a strange scene, but that colouration, that quality is there in Exile.”

Gimmie Shelter — a storm is threatening

BRANDING

The Stones realised the power of film early and used it to document key periods of their career. Most famous of these must be Gimme Shelter, planned as a documentary covering their US tour in 1969 but the events during the free concert at Altamont Speedway and the murder of Meredith Hunter by the Hells Angels threw that plan out the window.

After the event the band received criticism for their handling of the event, in particular for using the Hells Angels as security, but watching their reactions and reading what has been said after, the worst they could be accused of was naivety. Which was true of the whole free love movement who at the time who saw the Hells Angels as loveable anti-heroes.

I dug it out on YouTube after my visit and watching the tension build throughout the day it was obvious The Stones and the other performers were way out of their depth, lead singer of Jefferson Airplane was knocked out by the Angels during their set when he tried to break up a fight and Jagger took a punch to the face as soon as he got out their helicopter.

Taking place just a few months after Woodstock, the concert and the documentary have come to symbolise the end of the hippie era and that when free from the ‘trappings of wider social order’ young people would spontaneously create a better, more gentle order.

‘The more complicated the format of the album — the more fucked up the reproduction’

It’s no surprise that being the biggest rock stars of their time The Stones would work with work with the biggest artist in pop culture — Andy Warhol. Famously briefed by Jagger to work on an earlier album which never came into existence, Warhol instead was responsible for the iconic Sticky Fingers album. The cover featured a crotch shot of well endowed man with a working belt buckle and zip which when unzipped revealed a cotton briefs underneath.

This controversial cover caused quite a stir; banned in Spain and complaints from record shops that the zip scratched the vinyl when stacked, ruining the first chords of Brown Sugar. Atlantic Records threatened to sue the designer Craig Braun for damage but after getting “very depressed and very high” Braun came up with a solution, pull down the zip so it only dented the label instead — simple.

‘We’re trying to wave, but we were handcuffed’

Another iconic image from this time is Richard Hamiltons ‘Swingeing ’67’ featuring Mick Jagger during his arrest alongside art dealer Robert Fraser. Busted during a drugs raid at Keith Richards house, Keith, Mick and his then girlfriend Marianne Faithful and 5 others where arrested during what became to be known as the Redlands Raid. Mick Jagger was sentenced to three months in jail along while Keith Richards received a year, both sentences were later quashed on appeal following uproar at the lengthy sentence.

Richard Hamiltons pop art depiction of Mick Jaggers arrest uses photos taken during the bust.

“People always say to me, ‘You’re trying to hide your faces.’ We’re actually trying to wave, but we were handcuffed to each other.”

What you doing Ronnie?

I’ve always had a soft spot for Ronnie Wood, coming into the band later and slightly younger than the others, he has kept himself out of most of the drama between the rest of the band and consequently seems like a kind and calming influence.These boards drawn by Ronnie during the bands rehearsals really demonstrate this. In his own words;

“As rehearsals go on, I write down the songs, and everyone says, ‘oh, why are you doing that? But it comes in very handy. The band, they come at the end of the rehearsal and go, ‘what did we play today?’ I say, ‘Well, look’. And then they go ‘Oh yeah, what key was it in?’ They’re secretly knocked out that I keep these records of what we do’’