Under Their Thumb: The Rolling Stones
by Bill German

Teenage fan penetrates the inner sanctum

The hedonism of the Stones’ first decade-and-a-half has previously been chronicled by writers such as Stanley Booth and Chet Flippo, but German’s book focuses on a band heading towards semi-respectable middle-age. The author launched his Beggars Banquet fanzine in 1978, when he was just 16, and over a period of 20 years got closer to them than any journalist before him.

This is no catalogue of debauchery, though it’s still a hell of a page-turner. German was there in the mid-80s when rumours of the band’s demise were at their strongest, due largely to “a singer who didn’t want to be there, a bassist running from the cops, a drummer whose heroin addiction rivalled Billie Holliday’s, and a guitarist who wanted to slit the singer’s throat”. Ultimately, it’s the story of what became less of a band and more of a business model; multi-millionaires who charged their own friends and family for concert tickets, and whose merchandising and sponsorship deals changed the industry forever. German endures Jagger’s mood swings, the indifference of Wyman and Watts, but writes affectionately of the lasting friendships he forged with Richards and Wood.

The myriad levels of obstructive management, PR and security conspire to make German’s job more difficult (even when his publication was officially sanctioned by the group), to the point where he briefly contemplates suicide, but his love of the music and the people who made it shines brightly across every page.

ISBN 9781845144754, 354 pages

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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