How Glyn Johns Built the Opening of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' with a Backward Cymbal and a Sneaky Tape Loop

The famous opening kraaang that kicks off “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” isn’t a guitar – it’s a cymbal played backward. Engineer Glyn Johns, working at Olympic Studios in London, took a recording of a crash cymbal, flipped the tape so the sound reversed, and spliced it onto the master. That backward smash creates the metallic swell that leads straight into Keith Richards’ chugging riff.

But the cymbal isn’t the only trick. Johns also used a tape loop of a single distorted guitar chord, played backward and layered under the main riff. The loop gave the intro that extra gnarled, lurching texture – like the song is starting from inside a collapsing shed. Richards later said Johns was “the mad professor” for that session, and the result is one of rock’s most instantly recognizable opening sounds.