News ‘Cocksucker Blues’: exploring The Rolling Stones’ feature films that never were
Despite often being subjected to tug-of-war comparisons and critiques, The Rolling Stones stand out uniquely in one realm of their careers: feature-length films. During the 1960s, the success of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night and Help! urged others to follow suit and make their own way onto the big screen. The Stones’ worldwide success in 1965 saw them entertain the idea of getting a taste of the big time.
The first time that a special feature film starring The Stones came to light was in the mid-1960s when their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, announced that a project was in the works. The movie, which Oldham said was to be called Back, Behind and in Front, would be directed by Oldham with Allen Klein. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were said to be writing all of the songs for the film, which was initially intended to be the Aftermath album.
Things seemed to be moving in the right direction when Jagger was asked about any developments regarding the new film. After a strange comment about hoping David Bailey would be contributing camera work, he told Disc that the movie was going to be “weird and full of suspense. I can’t say much about the story not, but it’s strange. The sort of thing where everyone dies in the middle.”
A few months later, it was announced that the plug had been pulled on Back, Behind and in Front, without any clear reason as to why the decision had been made. The band didn’t seem to grieve the project for very long, however, as it was also announced around the same time that they were instead working on a different movie called Only Lovers Left Alive.
Oldham had bought the rights to Dave Wallis’ novel of the same name, which was published two years before the announcement. Of course, Wallis’ novel made a strong statement after the narrative followed a dystopian future where all adults commit suicide, leaving the teenagers to their own devices. What ensues is extremely violent gang wars as the youth establish their own rules and take control of society.
At the time, Oldham felt like no one other than The Stones was best equipped to depict such a story, relying on nothing more than “a basic projection of themselves in the film’s situation”. Oldham planned to co-direct again with Klein, putting The Stones at the fore of the rebellious youngsters as they wreak havoc on the town. Considering the fact that Anthony Burgess also released A Clockwork Orange in 1962, the era seemed fixated on themes of societal order and freedom and its connection to male youths.
The Stones seemed like the perfect embodiment of this attitude, as evidenced by their over-confidence in interviews and press conferences at the time. “We seem to have been talking about making a film for years,” Brian Jones told Melody Maker. “Now that it has been finalised, we are more excited than ever,” he added before explaining all of the reasons why The Stones were perfect for a movie, including the fact that they each hold uniquely strong qualities.
To pull off Only Lovers Left Alive, the band enlisted some of the biggest names in the business, including Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray and Gillian Freeman, writer of The Leather Boys in 1961. However, a draft script they produced together made some of the band feel uneasy and unsure of their ability to provide something as good as the original novel deserved. Moreover, Ray’s reputation was crashing due to drug and alcohol abuse, which significantly impacted his success as a director.
As time went by, it was speculated that the whole thing had been shelved, a suspicion that was confirmed when Decca explained that the significant blockers to the project were primarily financial. The project’s failure to materialise seemed fine, however, especially for Jagger, who allegedly made plans to make a biopic, but this also never managed to get off the ground.
Cocksucker Blues was also another that unfortunately never made it to worldwide release. In 1972, still photographer Robert Frank captured The Rolling Stones’ American Tour 1972 in support of their album Exile on Main St. However, the band decided that they no longer wanted the film to be released after realising that some of its content was embarrassing and potentially incriminating. So a concert movie, Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones, was released in its place.
There have also been reports that Bailey was keen to create a cinematic adaptation of A Clockwork Orange with Jagger as Alex DeLarge and the rest of The Stones as his “droogs”. This got shut down relatively quickly, however, when Oldham purportedly demanded too much money as the owner of the original novel’s rights, which Bailey just simply could not afford.
If any of those films had made it to the screen, it’s challenging to predict whether they would have instantly become classics or if they might have portrayed The Stones’ behind-the-scenes antics and true personalities in a more negative light. Some say everything happens for a reason, so it’s likely that the absence of fruition shielded them from potential career pitfalls in the future. Time will tell whether the new documentary will showcase their prowess and authenticity as one of the defining bands of the 20th Century.
