Cocksucker Blues

Cocksucker Blues might just be the most controversial pop music documentary of all time. Robert Frank follows the Rolling Stones during their 1972 American tour to promote their album Exile on Main Street. This is the first time they’ve returned to the United States since the 1969 concert at Altamont, which got disastrously out of hand and ended in the fatal stabbing of a fan. The members of the band are under a lot of pressure and seek release in drugs, group sex and violent rows. Frank records it all up close and personal, even giving members of the band cameras to get closer to the backstage drama. The result is disconcerting footage of wild partying and escalating conflicts in the artists’ dressing-rooms and hotel rooms. The film that emerged was so controversial that Mick Jagger attempted to obtain a legal injunction to prevent it from being screened. The compromise eventually hammered out is that the film may only be shown at special screenings when Frank is present, and no more than four times a year. More than all the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, what really gives Cocksucker Blues such impact is its depiction of the loneliness and emptiness of the rock star lifestyle – a theme that’s very typical of Robert Frank’s work. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)