Nataly
The Stones asked Warhol to design the album cover for their upcoming album ‘Sticky Fingers.’ On April 21, 1969, frontman Mick Jagger sent this letter to famed pop-artist Andy Warhol giving him more details on the job, Yahoo News reported.
Dear Andy,
I’m really pleased you can do the art-work for our new hits album. Here are 2 boxes of material which you can use, and the record.
In my short sweet experience, the more complicated the format of the album, e.g. more complex than just pages or fold-out, the more f—-d-up the reproduction and agonising the delays. But, having said that, I leave it in your capable hands to do whatever you want…and please write back saying how much money you would like.
Doubtless a Mr. Al Steckler will contact you in New York, with any further information. He will probably look nervous and say “Hurry up” but take little notice.
Love,
Mick Jagger
Jagger gave the artist a blank check and the only advice saying that complex designs can cause agonizing delays — advice the eccentric artist of course completely ignored.
When the album came out in 1971, the sleeve featured an actual, working zipper — when you pulled it down it revealed the model’s underwear.
And Jagger was right — the elaborate design did end up causing some problems. When the albums were stacked together for shipping, the zipper pulls were scratching the record on top.
Craig Braun, the owner of Sound Packaging Corporation, which manufactured the album sleeves, told The New York Times he had the idea to “pull the zipper down far enough so that the round part would hit the center disc label.”
“It worked and it was even better to see the zipper pulled halfway down,” Braun said.
Many fans assumed Mick Jagger was the model. In reality, the model’s identity remains a mystery more than four decades later.
It should be recalled that on December 8, 2016, 73-year-old Mick Jagger welcomed his eighth child Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger.
Photo: Courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum.
