If you walk through central London any day of the week and look carefully, you’re almost sure to run into at least a few people wearing merch emblazoned with the band’s trademark lips and tongue and there’s a good bet, if you were to ask them, that not all of them would be Stones fans.
While the image remains associated with the band for which it was made, it’s taken on a life of its own over the years. It’s appeared on everything from t-shirts to stage sets to airplanes and can be found emblazoned on items in shops that don’t sell music merchandise at all.
While the Grateful Dead’s teddy bear or Nirvana’s smiley face may be iconic, there’s no question that the tongue logo is, ‘the most famous logo in the history of popular music,’ as Sean Egan put it in his book The Mammoth Book of the Rolling Stones.
He continues: ‘Regardless of its provenance, the logo is superb. Without using the Stones’ name, it instantly conjures them, or at least Jagger, as well as a certain lasciviousness that is the Stones’ own.’
But contrary to popular belief, the logo was not created to represent Jagger’s famously plump lips. It also wasn’t – as many believe – designed.
Here’s everything you need to know about the real story behind the Rolling Stones’ famous hotlips logo.
Who designed the Rolling Stones’ logo?
It’s true that Andy Warhol worked closely with the band on several of their album designs, including Sticky Fingers and Love You Live, but he didn’t design their logo.
Instead, it was a penniless art student who originally thought up the iconic design in 1970.
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