Who is wearing the trousers on The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sticky Fingers’ album cover?
Imagine your most famous work being a crotch shot. No face nor name is attached, and there are no identifying features beyond a bulge that graces vinyl collections worldwide, with some even featuring a working zip. Worse still, imagine having your body on one of the most famous album covers ever made and everyone thinking it’s Mick Jagger instead. That was the reality for the model on The Rolling Stones‘ Sticky Fingers sleeve.
It is undeniably one of the most iconic artworks ever made and most certainly the Rolling Stones’ best. Their ninth album landed as the band hit a whole new commercial peak. They sailed from their start-up success of the 1960s into world domination by the turn of the decade. They were already being dubbed the greatest rock and roll band in the world, and by 1971, they were more than enjoying the spoils of their success.
As the first record without Brian Jones, Sticky Fingers felt like a fresh start with which the band could stretch out and expand into something new and bigger. In the tragic untethering from their original founder, there was also an untethering from anything that held them back or kept them tied down to where they started out. With Jagger at the helm, they could now race into the future and enjoy their full celebrity status.
At the time, there was no better sign of being in the crowd than in Andy Warhol’s factory. The pop artist was everywhere, and his circle of superstars was growing and growing to include the most glamorous and interesting gaggle of models, actors, musicians, socialites and beyond. Jagger and Warhol first met back in 1964 at a party for the Stones, then as the frontman met his wife Bianca, the couple became an integral part of the Factory sphere. So, when it came to making the Sticky Fingers artwork, it was easy to know who to call.
It’s tough to know what element about it is the true reason why the artwork has become so iconic. Perhaps it’s simply the sexual image that feels so indicative of the Stones’ own raunchy brand of sleaze. Or maybe it is the Warhol effect where everything he touched seemed to turn to pop culture gold, with this being another in a long list of album covers he’d put his powerful artistic stamp on.
So, who is on the cover?
But really, some credit should lie at the feet of Joe Dallesandro, the man in the photo and the owner of the crotch in question.
Dallesandro was another actor pulled into Warhol’s sphere. Between 1963 and 1968, Warhol was obsessed with filmmaking, creating more than 60 pictures in that time period. These varied from experimental static shots like Sleep or Empire to full-on plot-led dramas that made mockeries of classic tales or pushed the limits of what level of filth the cinema screen could legally allow. When Dallesandro was discovered by the artist in 1967 after spotting him in Greenwich Village and instantly casting him on the spot for Four Star, he quickly became a muse.
“In my movies, everyone’s in love with Joe Dallesandro,” Warhol said, casting him in eight films.
Through these movies, Dallesandro became a gay icon and a sex symbol. So when Warhol got the call about the album cover and first thought up the idea for the image, his favourite actor was an obvious choice, giving the image a queer edge that exists in so much of his work.
It’s a common misconception or a standard assumption that the image would be of Jagger. Instead, the image is Warhol’s creation down to every detail, including the decision to cast one of his superstars as the object of voyeurism.
