There have been a lot of films and documentaries made about the Rolling Stones, but there is one in particular that is known as the most revealing one ever made. Cocksucker Blues never had an official release date, so two rare screenings will take place this Wednesday and Thursday at the Film Forum in New York.
Cocksucker Blues is a documentary by the photographer Robert Frank, who filmed the band during their American tour in 1972. For unknown reasons, the footage was thought to be to wild to be revealed, so the band and the director made a pact to only show the film several times a year with several warnings added to it. But the film was not intended to come out that way.
The Rolling Stones wanted to be filmed during their triumphant return to concert in the United States. Obviously there was someone filming them while on stage, but what Frank wanted was to show the least known part of a tour – the backstage, the waiting between the shows, the discussions between the members, the boredom and what they did to conquer it. One of the rules of filming Cocksucker Blues was that none of the members could say no while being shot. If that happened, then the director would leave.
The fact that they were so great even when doing their routines made the film such a unique cultural piece. The Stones’ creativity and charisma at that time, even if it’s shown through their usual conversations or actions, only proves what a cool and outrageous band they were back then. Seeing them as they once used to be – prominent cheekbones, full lips and skinny abdomens, feels like a throw back 70s.
Cocksucker blues shows what behind the scenes looked like in the 1970s and sends the public back to that period of ‘sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll’.
