Exile on Rodeo Drive: Universal Begins Rolling Out the Stones Gear
by Peter Newcomb
May 10, 2010, 12:42 PM
Next week, Universal Music Group will release its greatly expanded edition of the Rolling Stones’ seminal 1972 recording
Exile on Main Street. Big news for Stones fans (10 bonus tracks!), but don’t be surprised if the music takes a back seat to the staggering amount of
Exile-related merchandise being dropped into the market as well. Universal’s merchandising arm, Bravado, is assembling an unprecedented collection of products tied to the
Exile re-release that cuts across the entire economic strata, from $15 T-shirts to $500,000 jewel-encrusted belt buckles.
The signature piece: a 65-pound glossy wooden box packed with, among other goodies, the new CD, a 64-page clothbound photo album of
Exile-era pictures taken by French photographer Dominique Tarle, a DVD containing excerpts from the documentary
Stones in Exile, the infamous
Cocksucker Blues (filmed during the Stones’ 1972 American tour), and
Ladies and Gentlemen … The Rolling Stones, as well as three lithographs individually signed by either Mick Jagger, Keith Richards or Charlie Watts. All this—plus a T-shirt—can be yours for just $2,000. The first 200 boxes, containing a silver key chain designed by Goth jeweler Chrome Hearts, will sell for $2,500. An even smaller number of boxes, fashioned from ebony, will retail for $25,000.
Other Exile-themed artifacts include a pinball machine ($4,500), a metal roadie case ($500), a set of poker chips ($175), cuff links ($35), and lots and lots of T-shirts—some 60 different designs. Also in the works: a formal high-back chair ($1,000 to $1,500) and a pair of heels designed by rock ’n’ roll cobbler Terry de Havilland.
vanityfair.com Keepin' rock 'n' roll alive! I'm sure the knob-end (there cant be more than one, surely) who paid half a million for a belt buckle is feeling pretty dangerous.
I've just been sick in Cohl's beard.
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