The 15-foot inflatable penis that almost got The Rolling Stones arrested
While far from being the most controversial rock band of all time, The Rolling Stones still knew how to indulge in a bit of naughtiness more than most. Whether it’s the drug-fuelled benders that the group used to partake in or their highly publicised promiscuous sex lives, there’s always been a filthy underbelly to the British band’s activity.
Fans in the UK might have been a lot more tolerant of their more lewd and lascivious behaviour despite the notion that Brits are known for being prim and proper. However, over in the States, their antics were a much greater cause for offence, and what might have been seen as cheeky and juvenile at home was often in danger of being perceived as downright outrageous across the pond.
Still, the band chose to walk that fine line between comedy and controversy when they toured the US in 1975 and brought with them a certain stage prop that tickled some and appalled others. The Stones had already embarked on seven tours of the US since 1964, so they knew exactly what might humour their audiences, but they couldn’t have predicted that the stunt they would carry out early on in their eighth visit would land them in hot water.
After the departure of guitarist Mick Taylor, the band decided to head out on the road with new recruit Ronnie Wood for the first time, and after kicking their North American tour off with two shows at the Louisiana State University Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, the band descended upon San Antonio, Texas for their next stop. However, the one thing that was absent from their previous appearances in the neighbouring state was what almost got them arrested on only the third show.
According to reports from the local newspaper, the San Antonio Express, their prop of choice “rose majestically, bathed in lights, from the centre of the stage,” revealing itself to be a 15-foot inflatable penis. One concert-goer, Tonie Diaz, recalls the incident clearly, saying: “Mick Jagger jumped on and shook it all around,” before adding how “some thought it was indecent, I thought it was artistic.”
However, not everyone was amused, and apparently, the local authorities had wanted to apprehend the group since they had caught wind of the gigantic phallus’s existence. “[The police] had given up trying to bust us in the hotel or while we were travelling or in the dressing room,” Keith Richards recounted in his 2010 autobiography, Life. “The only place they could get us was the stage. They threatened to arrest Mick if the cock rose that night, and there was a mighty standoff.”
While Richards goes on to attest that there were no additional members on stage that night, photographic evidence suggests otherwise. There’s debate as to whether this was a stunt planned specifically for San Antonio or whether the band would have whipped it out elsewhere, but given that their previous appearance in the city in 1964 had gone so disastrously that Jagger vowed never to play there again, it’s possible that the penis was a protest against the city for how they’d treated them on their last visit.
On their last journey in what Jagger referred to as “Cow City, USA,” the band were reportedly booed off stage and ridiculed, with Bill Wyman stating that they “had to go on after some performing monkeys.” While it might seem like it was targeted at the city, there’s also no good reason for people to have been so upset by their gigantic, crass inflatable – it’s probably fair to say that the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
