The Rolling Stones, ‘Goats Head Soup’

The Rolling Stones album ‘Goats Head Soup’ was released in August 1973, and as was the custom for bigger bands in the '70s, a promo commercial was shot to herald the event. Thanks to the wonder that is YouTube, we can all travel back in time to watch it again.

The advertisment opens with the camera panning in tightly on Mick Jagger’s face as he sings the gentle, aching ballad. Many people have speculated that ‘Angie’ was written about David Bowie’s then-wife Angie, though Jagger has since denied this.

With his extraordinary facial features, Jagger successfully expresses himself just by blinking his eyes slowly and playing up to the camera like a seasoned actor. Quickly the commercial cuts to the opening song on the album, ‘Dancing With Mr. D.’ set to footage of Jagger strutting around the stage in a tight, glittery gold, designer overalls. There are very few performers on the planet that could pull off that sort of fashion statement especially while singing lyrics that flirt with the topics of death and drug addiction.

“Your brain is going to run out of your ears when you get a hold of ‘Goats Head Soup!' So says the narrator, whose gravelly voice is instantly recognizable as the one and only DJ named Wolfman Jack.

If you were a kid in 1973 this commercial would’ve certainly motivated you to save up a week’s worth of lunch money in order to buy the new Stones record on the weekend. The ‘Goats Head Soup’ album shot to
number one in both the USA and UK.