Post by Rev 20 Redlights on Apr 16th, 2021 at 1:22am
(i've always wondered how the Pasche tongue got changed into the
immortal Classic stones tongue. I figured some anonymous designer
must have done it at Mick's direction. Turns out the designer
wasn't at all anonymous, and Mick had nothing to do with it)
(excerpted from https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/04/the-man-who-made-the-most-notorious-album-art-of-1971)
This month marks the 50-year anniversary of the release of
Sticky Fingers. The album cover was a collaboration between
Andy Warhol and Craig Braun, who was known as a designer of
sophisticated cover packages, starting with the Velvet
Underground LP adorned with Warhol’s famous banana sticker.
(this interview with Braun was conducted by Joe Hagan. The full
interview at the link has LOTS more info about the design of
the whole Sticky Fingers album package, and other famous albums)
I said to Marshall Chess, “Look, you mentioned that some kid in an
art school is working on a logo for Mick?” And he said, “Yeah.” So
I said, “I need that, Marshall. Get the logo.” He says, “I can’t
get involved with that, man. You want me to come between Mick and
this kid?” [The “kid” was John Pasche, the designer officially
credited with the Rolling Stones lips-and-tongue logo; he reportedly
sold his copyright to the Stones for 26,000 British pounds in 1984.]
I said, “I need the artwork. I got to have it.” I was screaming at him.
I said, “Marshall, have you seen a sketch or anything?” He said, “Well,
you know, the guy is just doing black-and-white artwork. It’s not
finished. But I did get a stamp.” So he sends this thing and it’s the
overall shape of [the Stones logo], the lips, and then I can see this
bulbous tongue, but it’s like a squashed-out image. So when I saw it,
I said, “Marshall, this is not helping me at all.” But then I remembered
getting a book in London from a guy named Alan Aldridge. He was an
illustrator and he did a book called [The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics].
And I remember this one illustration for “Day Tripper,” and it was a girl,
this cute little blond girl, and she was eating a lollipop or a popsicle.
And she had her huge tongue out and the lip outline. That was like magic
for me. I said, We can do it now. So I got my guy down, the illustrator guy,
Walter Velez was his name. We combined the two in a salad, like a design salad.
I didn’t show [the design] to anybody. I wanted it to be dramatic. I wanted
it to be a surprise. So I called Marshall, I said, “When will you and Mick
be in the same place? Because I’m going to send somebody with the original
mechanical artwork [for the cover].” He says, “Tomorrow! He’s going to be
here tomorrow at noon time.” So I said, “I’ll have my guy go to the airport
tonight and bring this case of mechanicals for you guys to approve.” And I
told this kid, Mark, I said, “If they say anything about the logo, say,
‘I don’t know, Craig just told me to bring this to you.’ You don’t know
shit and don’t offer any opinions about anything. Don’t even say it’s great
or it looks good. Let them respond to this. Let them look for what’s wrong
with it. As soon as they say it’s okay, initial it, have them initial it,
get on the fucking plane, and come back.”
So I’m on pins and needles because I think Mick is going to say, “What’s this
logo, this doesn’t look like the one that the guy showed me, the sketches and
everything. This doesn’t look like it.” What I care about is whether Mick is
upset and he tells Marshall, “Your friend is not going to produce the package,
fuck him.” So all of a sudden I’m saying goodbye to a quarter of a million dollars.
That’s what I would have made on it initially. I made more than that on it.
So Mark calls me from the airport and says, “I’m coming back — it’s okay!”
I was dancing around my office, man. We had an okay. They loved it!
