++OPINION++
Heroin, orgies, and Lou Reed pretending to be black; no wonder 'Cocksucker Blues' is the most controversial rock 'n roll documentary ever made. To this day it's banned from public screenings, but will that stop us reviewing it? Hell no!
We don't exactly tend to 'do' nostalgia at artrocker.com, but the other day a strange thing happened. A man wearing a horses head knocked on our door, and dropped off a mysterious DVD. We cautiously unravelled it, only to discover the most controversial film of all time - a rock and roll documentary no less.
So what were we supposed to do, burn it? Nope - it was up to us to watch the bastard, and spread word of it's secrets!
As any rock 'n roll geek knows, The Rolling Stones were kinda interesting in 1969. They'd been accused of Devil Worship, accused of murdering their guitarist, and accused of killing the '60s themselves - when their festival on a USA highway turned into a murder scene.
'Cocksucker Blues' was the film that followed the band as they returned to the US three years later - with the right wing press watching nervously. Director Robert Frank didn’t take many risks, but then again he didn’t need to: there was so much naughtiness going on that who nobody needed a Jean-Luc Godard to turn the film into a word of mouth sensation.
Let's press play...
00:00:05 There's a disclosure. "“EXCEPT FOR THE MUSICAL NUMBERS, THE EVENTS DEPICTED IN THIS FILM ARE FICTITIOUS. NO REPRESENTATION OF ACTUAL PERSONS AND EVENTS IS INTENDED” Yeah right buddy.
00:02:05 The Stones are jamming. Seems innocent enough. Keith Richards has a very toothy grin. The director is getting frisky with the juxtapositions.
00:03:30 There is a bearded man in bed, possibly a sexually promiscuous hippie. He's talking about the Oz Obscenity trials. Stop me if you've heard this one, but Oz was a rock magazine in the ‘60s that got busted for allowing school kids to edit it. Fair play to Oz - but what the hell is this guy talking about?
"I got the idea of doing a pornographic album - a modern version of a party record. I thought I’d get all these people to record really dirty songs and make a dirty film to go with it!"
00:06:03 Monsieur Jagger is playing the piano, while someone nearby is rubbing their crotch in extreme close up. Hmm... could it be a man or a woman? The hand seems to slide down the trouser with little interference. My bet? A woman!
"Unbelievably, Lou Reed enters the hotel room, speaking in an Afro-American accent about all the heroin enthusiasts that society has oppressed..."
00:17:24 Sudden depravity! The Stones are on board their private jet. There are bearded hippies running around, ripping off girls tops and exposing their breasts. The girls are laughing along - but how do they feel on the inside? The Stones play tambourines of encouragement. Tch tch.
00:30:40 "Watch it disappear!" whispers a wide eyed hippie as he watches a huge line of cocaine disappear up his girlfriend's nose. Erk.
00:40:38 It's party time with Andy Warhol and Truman Capote. They don't seem so much as legends, more like socialite leeches. Warhol is poking his tongue out and squishing it around like a slug. Ho Ho Ho Andy! Er... can I get a strong drink please?
00:56:42 This is the downfall: the moment where The Stones go from cool to Idiotic. They're onstage with a 20 piece orchestra, who're playing 'Satisfaction' while Jagger stumbles about like a drugged up moron. Saxophone players and MCs drown him out; it's so despicable I'd do anything for another masturbation scene.
01:04:37 Oh Lord I repent! I'm given a scene in which a naked girl, post orgasm, is rubbing herself in her own juices. I'm not a naive young man or anything but... Aargh! Not Erotic!
01:05:40 Backstage. Card game with the roadies. Keith Richards wins.
01:07:42 Keith Richards leaves the card game and returns to his hotel room, where a beautiful naked girl is rolling around on the bed. She hands him a jazz cigarette and he seems far from displeased; "I've never seen a hotel room blessed with such Olympian Ecstasy."
01:09:57 Welcome to the dark side. A girl appears to be chattering indecipherable poetry while shooting herself up. There's no close ups, no glorification - just the hit. This scene is spooky; the girl simply enters oblivion. "Have a nice life!" her boyfriend laughs.
01:16:16 Unbelievably, Lou Reed enters the hotel room and starts babbling in an Afro-American accent about all the heroin enthusiasts that society has oppressed.
Lou Reed: “For a hundred years heroin enthusiasts have been great contributors to cultural enlightenment. (unrecognized) I’m talking about John Cocteau – all these brothers have been forgotten. Now the image of a heroin addict is of a stupid, skinny motherfucker climbing down some fire escape with 19 colour TVs on his back.
He proceeds to discuss junk politics, and how he’s collaborating with international drug dealers who can bypass the dealers who are diluting heroin with quinine – “as a tribute to all those people who’ve been ignored an vilified all these years.”
01:22:55 Mick Jagger shows his bum.
01:23:00 Keith Richards shows his bum.
01:25:50 At last we’re back to reality as the Director interviews a Stones fan outside the venue. But is it reality? Hang on! What’s she saying?
“I’ve got nothing else to live for except the group that’ll make me happy. They took my child away because I was on acid. But what’s wrong with a mother who’s on acid? The state comes along and takes away her child? The child was born on acid, you know?”
01:29:34 Thank Mary, we’re back in the stadium. We may well be witnessing the Stones as they would become for years on end: stadium hogging imbeciles – but at least we’ve escaped the crazy acid lady. As the film descends into a montage of ‘60s footage, the further we get from the chaos of 1972, the better we are…
++ Ric Rawlins ++
