Rolling Stones Battle Over ‘Beggar’s Banquet’ Album Artwork
The Rolling Stones are in a head-on battle with their American (and possibly their English) record company over the artwork for the cover of their next album, Beggar’s Banquet. The front and back cover of the double-fold album is a photograph of a bathroom wall. On it, the Stones, particularly Mick, have scrawled a variety of fantastically funny things, including the album title, the name of the group (underneath the name of the group it says “God Rolls His Own), credits, appropriate line drawings, slogans like “Wot, No Paper?” and “Music From Big Brown.” That’s the least of it. It is a fantastic thing, altogether, very Rolling Stones-ish and a beautiful record jacket. The photo was done by Barry Feinstein, the graphics by Tom Wilkes.
At this point, Mick is adamant that it will be the cover with no changes. But negotiations between Stones lawyer Allen Klien and London Records are still in progress and may soon end the month-long delay in the album’s release date.
This story is from the September 28th, 1968 issue of Rolling Stone.