Why 'Cocksucker Blues' can only be shown with Robert Frank in the room

The 1974 documentary Cocksucker Blues is the closest thing to a bootleg film the Rolling Stones ever officially commissioned — and then immediately tried to bury. Robert Frank was hired to film the band’s 1972 tour, but the footage he handed over was so raw that the Stones went to court to stop its release. A judge ruled the film could only be screened if the director himself was present, effectively making it impossible to distribute widely.

What got it banned? Extended scenes of backstage chaos: groupies performing oral sex on stagehands, needles plunging into arms, Keith Richards shooting up, and general drug-fueled debauchery that made Gimme Shelter look like a family picnic. The band argued the film violated their privacy and could harm their reputation. Frank countered that he was just showing what the tour actually looked like. To this day, the film circulates only at rare, director-attended screenings — usually at museums or film schools — and its title comes from a Jagger/Richards song that itself was too profane for release at the time.