In the early summer of 1966, Mick Jagger celebrated his new wealth by splashing out an estimated £5,000 on a brand new Aston Martin DB6, at that time the marque’s latest, state-of-the-art tourer. (It had been launched the previous autumn.) He was the lead singer of The Rolling Stones, who at that point were second only to The Beatles in terms of fame and international success. In outrage and rebelliousness, they were without peer.
The Rolling Stones had begun by covering American R&B and blues songs, but that had a limited shelf life. Pushed by manager Andrew Loog Oldham, they began to write their own material and there then ensued an extraordinary sequence of self-penned hits. Between spring 1965 and early summer 1966, the Stones had four number one hits and a number two in the UK. In the US they had six top tens and three number ones. All were written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
By spring 1966, the money was beginning to flow in. Still only 22, Mick Jagger was becoming very rich. Behind the rebellious image, he was also, at the same time, becoming a key member of the new pop aristocracy.
These shots were taken in by Gered Mankowitz in June 1966 in a London mews, just off Baker Street: Jagger had recently moved into a flat in Harley House, near the top end of Harley Street, between Marylebone Road and Regent’s Park. The idea was to show The Rolling Stones “at home,” a then standard fan magazine trope. Still only a teenager himself at the time, Gered was the closest photographer to the group. He remembers that “Mick was in an excellent mood all day. We hung out and took a load of silly images of him generally taking the mickey out of the ‘at home’ format.”
In the 21st century, images of young men with expensive cars are two-a-penny. The footballer with his top-of-the-range, limited edition Merc or Beamer, almost never a British model, is beyond a cliché. But in 1966, this was something very new: the fact that a young man from a non-elite background could own such a car was surprising enough, but when twinned with such an attitude, it was positively subversive, if not inflammatory.
Around the time that the DB6 shot was taken, the Stones’ latest record was at the top of the charts. “Paint It, Black” was a blast of nihilism, a howl of anguish and rage set to a relentless, driving beat. The prominent use of sitar did not portend transcendence, but rather added an abrasive, exotic texture to a song that continued, and extended, the group’s run of sarcastic, hostile 45s: “The Last Time,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Get Off of My Cloud” and “19th Nervous Breakdown.”
As a British marque, Aston Martin had an integral part in this rebranding. It had been thrust into the forefront of Britishness when a DB5, then the latest model, was featured in the third James Bond film, Goldfinger, premiered in September 1964. That same year, Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison bought the same model: a substantial endorsement from the biggest group in the world. In early 1966, McCartney also acquired a DB6.
There were other famous pop star cars: the Mini Cooper (John Lennon), the Rolls-Royce Phantom V (John Lennon, Brian Jones), the E-type Jaguar (most famously in the cover shot for the Dave Clark Five’s Catch Us If You Can album). But the Aston Martin was the most iconic of the lot, radiating speed, luxury, futuristic styling and Britishness.
Just a few months later, in August 1966, Mick Jagger’s car was involved in a minor crash on Great Titchfield Street with a Ford Anglia driven by the Countess of Carlisle; photos from that day show a less amused Jagger talking to a policeman while the passenger-side rear of the DB6 is dented and girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton looks on.
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