New Book: The Women Behind the Rolling Stones, ‘Parachute Women’
by Best Classic Bands Staff
A new book about the four women who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help shape and curate the image of The Rolling Stones, has been published. Parachute Women: Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and the Women Behind the Rolling Stones, from author Elizabeth Winder, arrived July 11, 2023, from Hachette Books. (It’s available for order here. It will be published July 27 in the U.K.)
In an early review, Publisher’s Weekly calls it “A fascinating portrait …. backed up by keenly described historical background and an expert understanding of 1960s and ’70s rock culture. The result is a wild ride worthy of rock’s heyday.”
The book’s title is derived from a Mick Jagger/Keith Richards song, “Parachute Woman,” from 1968’s Beggars Banquet. Its lyrics include the lines, “Parachute woman, will you blow me out? Well, my heavy throbber’s itching, Just to lay a solid rhythm down.”
From the publisher’s announcement: At the forefront of the British Invasion and heading up the counterculture movement of the 1960s, the Stones’ innovative music and iconic performances defined a generation, and fifty years later, they’re still performing to sold-out stadiums around the globe. Yet, as the saying goes, behind every great man is a greater woman, and behind these larger-than-life rockstars were four incredible women whose stories have yet to be fully unpacked . . . until now.
In Parachute Women, author Winder introduces us to the four women who inspired, styled, wrote for, remixed, and ultimately helped create the legend of the Rolling Stones. Faithfull, Hunt, Bianca Jagger, and Pallenberg taught a group of straight-laced boys to be bad. They opened the doors to subterranean art and alternative lifestyles, turned them on to Russian literature, occult practices, and LSD. They connected them to cutting edge directors and writers, won them roles in art house films that renewed their appeal. They often acted as unpaid stylists, providing provocative looks from their personal wardrobes. They remixed tracks for chart-topping albums, and sometimes even wrote the actual songs. More hip to the times than the rockers themselves, they consciously (and unconsciously) kept the band current—and confident—with that mythic lasting power they still have today.
Lush in detail and insight, and long overdue, Parachute Women is a group portrait of the four audacious women who transformed the Stones into international stars, but who were themselves marginalized by the male-dominated rock world of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Written in the tradition of Sheila Weller’s Girls Like Us, it’s a story of lust and rivalries, friendships and betrayals, and hope and degradation.
Winder is also the author of a book on Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn in Manhattan: Her Year of Joy.
5 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationI cannot wait for this book. I have read books on Jagger and Keith, whose book really spell out the reasons why Richards is truly the engine fueling the inimitable Stones sound and fury. But, yes, truly these women made the men, especially Anita with Keith. He says he needed a strong woman to balance him. Whoa. The book will be smashing. To read that it is full of detail and historical accuracy makes these books so important for fan boy but adult readers who really care about the development of our fav artists. Woo hoo
What I don’t understand is why these guys appear as though care less than without a gorgeous, voluptuous and clever woman at their side. Still holds true today for them.
“…author Winder introduces us to the four women who inspired, styled, wrote for, remixed, and ultimately helped create the legend of The Rolling Stones. Faithfull, Hunt, Bianca Jagger, and Pallenberg taught a group of straight-laced boys to be bad.”
What PC crap! It was Andrew Loog Oldham who urged and fostered the image of The Stones as being the bad boys of rock, in contrast to the image of The Beatles. Mick Jagger probably didn’t start seeing Marianne Faithfull until his band were already a known commodity. The other women came on the scene much, much later.
Anita Pallenberg was in the Stones “circle” first and before Marianne Faithfull. She met Brian Jones in September 1965 and was with him to February 1967. Then she swapped him to Keith Richards. Mick and Marianne were pair between 1966-70!
hmmm, not sure about this one.. it could go either way, like cashing in on the current social tide to revise history to fit the way people think now. But, that happens in all eras. I just hope this isn’t too out there trying to force a point of view. How did this author end up writing this book, i have to wonder? may be knew someone at the Publishing House. But, who knows? Maybe a super-fan! We’ll have to see. I’ll wait till it’s in papeback probably.