The Killer Bees and the Rolling Stones' 1960s Fan Club Operation

The “Killer Bees” weren’t an official fan club—they were a notoriously rowdy faction of female fans who followed the Stones around the UK in the mid-60s, sporting black-and-yellow striped sweaters and causing chaos at shows. The name came from a joking suggestion by a fan magazine that the band needed “killer bees” as a chapter title, and the girls ran with it, even organizing their own meetings and scuffling with police. Their devotion was so intense that they’d camp outside hotels and occasionally got physical with other fans, cementing the Stones’ early image as dangerous and forbidden next to the clean-cut Beatles.

The official Rolling Stones Fan Club launched in 1963, run directly from Andrew Loog Oldham’s office and later managed by the band’s management team. Members got a membership card, a badge, and a quarterly newsletter called The Rolling Stones Fan Club Newsletter (later simply Stones News), which included handwritten notes from the band, tour dates, and exclusive photos. The club also organized fan events—like meeting the group at record signings—and sold special merchandise. It operated mostly by mail order, since 1960s internet was decades away, and peaked at over 100,000 members worldwide before fizzling out as the band’s later 70s tours became more corporate.