Tongue and lips logo

Lore & Background

The Rolling Stones needed a poster for their 1970 European Tour but were unhappy with designs from Decca Records. They sought a design student to create a poster and a logo. John Pasche, in his final year at the Royal College of Art, was approached by Mick Jagger after Jagger saw his designs. Pasche created a logo inspired by Jagger's suggestion of the tongue of the Hindu goddess Kali, though he avoided overt Indian motifs to prevent it from dating quickly. The design was meant to represent the band's anti-authoritarian attitude, Mick's mouth, and sexual connotations.

In New York, Craig Braun of Sound Packaging Corporation needed the logo for the Sticky Fingers album. Pasche had only rough sketches, so Braun had an illustrator redraft the logo from a poor-quality fax. After revisions—narrowing the tongue, adding white around the lips and tongue, and black to highlight the throat—the final version was used on the American release of Sticky Fingers, while Pasche's version was used internationally. The logo first appeared on VIP passes for a concert at the Marquee Club on 26 March 1971.

Pasche was paid £50 in 1970 and a further £200 in 1972. He sold his copyright to Musidor BV in 1984 for £26,000. In 2008, the Victoria and Albert Museum bought Pasche's original artwork for £51,000. The logo was updated by Shepard Fairey for the band's 50th anniversary in 2012, and after Charlie Watts's death in 2021, it was changed to black for the No Filter Tour.

Reader's Guide

The tongue and lips logo is widely regarded as the most famous logo in popular music history. It has been used on all Rolling Stones releases since 1970, on merchandise ranging from T-shirts to credit cards, and on the band's aircraft. The logo's design—capturing Mick Jagger's lips and tongue—conveys rebellion and sexuality, core elements of rock and roll. Its enduring presence has made it instantly recognizable even without the band's name. The logo has received numerous accolades: it was voted the top iconic T-shirt design in a UK poll, named the Best Band Logo in History by Tailor Brands, and ranked 15th in Creative Review's list of top commercial logos. The Sticky Fingers album cover, which first featured the logo, was named the No. 1 Greatest Album Cover by VH1 in 2003. Despite its fame, the logo's creation has been disputed, with some sources attributing it to Ruby Mazur or Andy Warhol, though John Pasche is widely credited as the original designer.

Did You Know?

• John Pasche was paid only £50 in 1970 for the logo, plus £200 in 1972.
• The logo was changed to black after Charlie Watts's death in 2021 for the No Filter Tour.