Mick Jagger turned 79 the other day and thumbed his nose at aging. To celebrate, here’s a flashback to the Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge tour.
I had just joined VH1 as the head of marketing and wanted to create a buzz for the relaunch of our channel. The Stones were planning a big tour. So, I got a meeting with Michael Cohl, their promoter, and pitched several ideas to him. He killed them all, but loved this one.
VH1 will do a national search for America’s biggest Stones fan – and reward them with the experience of a lifetime. The prize you can’t buy.
The final tour date would be in Miami, the day before Thanksgiving. VH1 offered fans the chance to share a Thanksgiving feast with the Stones, hang out backstage in the Voodoo Lounge, then watch the concert from the front row.
“I’ll go you one better”, said Cohl. “Let’s put the winner on the Stones’ private jet, so they can fly to Miami with Mick.”
Perfect. Done.
The most original entry scored a Beggars’ Banquet with Mick and the boys on the 50-yard line of Dolphin’s stadium. So, this couldn’t be a typical contest. We wanted to drive our viewers crazy and prove they’re the biggest Stones fan.
VH1 got thousands of ‘pick-me’ letters and pictures. But one entry knocked us out. Richard Wongo sent an exquisite, line drawing of the band that must’ve taken hours.
We’d found our #1 fan. Or so we thought.
Aboard the Stones’ plane, I introduced Richard Wongo to Mick Jagger who jokingly asked, “So, mister #1 fan, what’s your favorite Stones song?”
Wongo thought for a long, uncomfortable moment and muttered, “Uhhh, I can’t think of one.”
Mick glared at me and turned to Wongo, “Aren’t you our biggest fan?”
“Well, uhhh…probably not. I just really like to draw.”
Mick politely turned away as Wongo and I took the walk of shame back to our seats.
No satisfaction would be had today.
