How Mick Jagger's Mouth Became the Rolling Stones' Legendary Logo

A young designer, a Hindu goddess and £50

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In early July, tickets went on sale for the Saatchi Gallery's 2016 show "Exhibitionism," two full floors of posters, costumes and other iconography belonging to the Rolling Stones. London buzzed about the show for weeks, but when Saatchi tried to place its advertising posters in the Underground, transit officials turned it down flat. The reason? The band's famous logo of a licking tongue had been applied to … a photo of a woman's crotch.

Illustration: Carlos Monteiro

The moment wasn't just a fitting testament to the band (the Stones have always pushed social and sexual boundaries) but to its chosen emblem.

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