London museum buys original Rolling Stones lips and tongue artwork

London's Victoria and Albert Museum has purchased the original artwork for the Rolling Stones' legendary lips and tongue logo. The Associated Press reported that the museum bought the original artwork for $92,000 from the artist John Pasche at a U.S. auction. A spokesperson for the museum said, "(The Stones' tongue) is one of the first examples of a group using branding, and it has become arguably the world's most famous rock logo."

Pasche, who designed the Stones' tongue in 1970 while still in art school, told guardian.co.uk that he was paid $90 for the original design and revealed the inspiration behind the piece: "I wanted something anti-authority, but I suppose the mouth idea came from when I met (Mick) Jagger for the first time at the Stones' offices. I went into this sort of wood-paneled boardroom and there he was. Face to face with him, the first thing you were aware of was the size of his lips and his mouth."

He added that Jagger had initially had another idea for the Stones' logo, recalling, "Mick had a picture of Kali, the Hindu goddess, which he was very keen on. India was very much in fashion at the time, but I thought something like that might go out of date."

Pasche says that he plans to use the money to send his 11-year-old son to private school.

The Rolling Stones' tongue debuted as the logo of the band's Rolling Stones Records, with the release of their "Brown Sugar" single and its accompanying album, Sticky Fingers. It has been used as the Stones' main brand logo ever since.
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