Who Directed the Rolling Stones' 'Rock and a Hard Place' Video?

The 1989 video for “Rock and a Hard Place” was directed by David Fincher—years before he became the film director behind Se7en, Fight Club, and The Social Network. Fincher had already made a name directing iconic music videos for Madonna, Paula Abdul, and Aerosmith, and he brought that cinematic, slightly gritty sensibility to the Stones.

The concept was deceptively simple: the band performs the song on a deserted two-lane highway stretching through a barren desert landscape. No crowd, no narrative—just the five band members and their instruments under a harsh sun. Fincher later said the idea was to strip the Stones down to their essence as a live rock band, isolating them in an empty, almost surreal environment that mirrored the song’s themes of pressure and dead ends. The video’s starkness made Mick Jagger’s snake-hipped strut and Keith Richards’ side-of-stage slouch feel even more iconic.