Good grief Keef, are those your socks? Stones revive the smells of the 60s
MICK’S GUIDE TO THE SHOW, ONLY IN , BRITAIN’S LEADING CULTURE AND CELEBRITY MAGAZINE
ROLLING Stones fans often pay vast sums and go to extraordinary lengths to obtain memorabilia linked to the veteran stars.
But they might not be so keen to embrace one aspect of the band’s history when they visit a new landmark exhibition dedicated to the Stones – the smell of guitarist Keith Richards’s socks.
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine today, frontman Sir Mick Jagger reveals that the exhibition will feature essential odours associated with the Stones over the years.
‘It’s going to be an immersive experience,’ says Sir Mick. ‘It will be as if every room is one we’ve just left – or maybe we’re still there.’
The £4 million show, Exhibitionism, to be held at London’s Saatchi Gallery next year, will have a series of linked rooms which have figured in the band’s history, including a flat in Edith Grove, West London, that Jagger shared with Richards in the early 1960s. ‘It’s got to have that smell it had – Keith’s old socks and alcohol,’ says Sir Mick.
The Olympic Studios recording venue used by the youthful Stones in Barnes, West London, will also feature but the smell from that will be very different.
‘There was a great tandoori place on the corner and I’d smell the whole place out with my plates of chicken tandoori, mixed with fish and chips the other guys ordered,’ says Sir Mick.
Jagger, 72, insists the exhibition is not a vanity exercise. ‘This is not about veneration. That’s never what the Stones have been about,’ he says. ‘We’re not gods – some of this is about taking the **** out of ourselves.’
Some of the memorabilia in the exhibition, such as old notebooks containing lyrics, have been bought by the band at auction.
‘They come up at Sotheby’s, Christie’s,’ says Jagger. ‘Stuff that’s nicked from us. Gold records. I always say, “Hang on a minute, how did that person have this?” Sometimes there’s a fake letter saying, “Mick Jagger gave me this”. It’s all very dodgy.’
The star also speaks poignantly in the interview about his former girlfriend L’Wren Scott, the fashion designer who committed suicide last year aged 49.
Jagger still wears jeans she created for him: ‘L’Wren has a huge influence on my style, on me,’ he says.
‘Her clothes are very emotional for me. There is a big emotional pull.’
Exhibitionism (stones exhibitionism.com) runs at the Saatchi Gallery in London, from April 5 to September 4, 2016.