That time the Rolling Stones were paid £400 to rec…
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On July 4, 1964, the Rolling Stones appeared on Juke Box Jury, the BBC panel show in which showbiz professionals were asked to review pop singles. No footage of this auspicious broadcast survives, but the establishment didn’t take too kindly to the appearance, with tabloid newspaper The Daily Sketch accusing the band of being “gum-chewing, ill-mannered, ill-humoured, illiberal and illogical jurors.”
The Stones would have the last laugh, of course. They’re still filling stadiums, while the Sketch struggled for the rest of the 60s before suffering the ultimate journalistic humiliation in 1971 when they were merged with The Daily Mail.
Perhaps it’s surprising that the BBC invited the Rolling Stones to appear on Juke Box Jury at all, for they’d soundtracked an advertisement that aired the previous month, in which a group of pretend panellists parodied the show, expressing their excitement about a bowl of Kellogg’s’ well-known cereal product Rice Krispies instead of, say, the new singles by Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Bachelors.
The jingle that provided the musical bed for all the excitement was composed by Stones guitarist Brian Jones for advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, and featured Mick Jagger extolling the many virtues of the popular breakfast treat.
Wake up in the morning there’s a snap around the place
Wake up in the morning there’s a crackle in your face
Wake up in the morning there’s a pop that really says
“Rice Krispies for you and you and you”
Pour on the milk and listen to the snap that says “It’s nice”
Pour on the milk and listen to the crackle of that rice,
Get up in the morning to the pop that says “It’s rice”
Hear them talking crisp. Rice Krispies!
The band were paid £400 for the session (about £6900/$8800 in today’s money), which was engineered by Glyn Johns, who’d go on to work on a string of albums by the band over the following decade, from 1965’s December’s Children to 1976’s Black And Blue.
It’s easy enough to be cynical about the Stones/Kellogg’s partnership from this distance, but Jones’s Rice Krispies jingle is a great example of the band’s livewire chemistry, with Mick Jagger singing so hard the mic actually pops as he sings the word ‘pop’, and Keith, Bill, Charlie and Brian (if it is indeed them) rattling their way through a tune that sounds like one of Chuck Berry‘s better cast-offs.
Perhaps the band should add Juke Box to their current setlist. We’re sure Kellogg’s would be delighted.
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