Cocksucker Blues
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| Cocksucker Blues | |
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| Directed by | Robert Frank |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Marshall Chess |
| Starring | The Rolling Stones |
| Music by | The Rolling Stones |
| Editing by | Robert Frank Paul Justman Susan Steinberg |
| Release date(s) | 1972 |
| Running time | 93 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Cocksucker Blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by Robert Frank chronicling The Rolling Stones' North American tour in 1972 in support of their album Exile on Main Street.
There was much anticipation for the band's arrival, with them having not visited the United States since the 1969 disaster at Altamont Free Concert, in which a fan, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed and beaten to death by Hells Angels. The tour fulfilled its promise of tremendous rock and roll performances on stage. Behind the scenes, the tour embodied debauchery, lewdness and hedonism.
The film was shot cinéma vérité, with several cameras with plenty of film left lying around for anyone in the entourage to pick up and start shooting. This allowed the film's audience to witness backstage parties, drug use (Mick Jagger is seen snorting cocaine backstage), roadie antics, and the Stones with their defenses down.
"Cocksucker Blues" was the title of a song Mick Jagger wrote to be the Stones' final single for Decca Records, as per their contract. Its context and language was chosen specifically to anger Decca executives. The track was refused by Decca and only released later on a West German compilation in 1983, although the compilation was discontinued and re-released without the song.[1]
The film itself is under a court order which forbids it from being shown unless the director is physically present. This ruling stems from the conflict that arose when the band, who had commissioned the film, decided that its content was inappropriate and didn't want it shown. The director felt otherwise and thus the ruling. However, bootleg copies of the film are available. It has somewhat of a popular aura surrounding it around fellow rockers, such as Marilyn Manson, who mentioned viewing it and seeing his living room in it (parts of it were filmed at the Mary Astor House, on Appian Way in Laurel Canyon where Manson has resided since late 1997).
[edit] Pop culture
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2007) |
- The Canadian rock band Sloan, parodied the airplane scene where The Stones are jamming, and the roadies are being overly friendly with female groupies, at the end of their music video for their song "She Says What She Means", from 1998's Navy Blues record. Though during the commentary for this song, on the DVD of Sloan's singles compilation A-Sides Win, Chris Murphy, the band's bass player and one of many singers, does not reveal the name of the film possibly for legal reasons or to let the fans figure it out on their own.
- In Don DeLillo's novel Underworld, the third major section is titled "Cocksucker Blues". In it, one of the novel's main characters views the film.
[edit] References
- ^ Mikkelson, B; David P. Mikkelson (May 2007). "The Screw - An album of the songs was released on the Kornyfone Records label - a bootleg - # TKRWM 1822". Urban Legends Reference Pages. http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/spector.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
[edit] External links
- Cocksucker Blues at Flickhead
- Cocksucker Blues at Subterranean Cinema
- Cocksucker Blues on YouTube
- Cocksucker Blues at the Internet Movie Database
- Cocksucker Blues at Allmovie
