Society saw them as unwashed and unkempt, and while they were far from unknown the Rolling Stones were not yet the greatest rock and roll band in the world. Having already sent shock waves through Britain and America they were about to do the same in Europe. Bent Rej’s extraordinary photography captures them onstage, backstage. in private and in public; it shows young men very definitely on a mission. From being shocked by them we were about to be awed by them – Life was never going to be the same again.

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When the Danish photographer, Bent Rej first showed me his collection of photographs of the Rolling Stones, taken between Spring 1965 and early summer 1966, I was amazed. I had no idea that he had taken so many, nor had I point of reference for the scope of the collection. No photographer up to this point in our career, or since for that matter, has had the access to the Stones that Bent had. He was right there, on the spot, at a crucial period in our career, and in our lives like no other photographer before or since. It’s this closeness that makes what Bent has done unique.

Some may say what’s all the fuss about? It’s just a collection of photographs about a group, and one that’s been photographed much more than most at that. This, of course, is true, but like most things in life that seem to go right, it’s all about timing. Bent was there when we were a group in transition. When he took his first photos of us in March 1965 we had been together for a little over two years. We were already a very big group, we had toured America, we had topped the charts and we had caused outrage amongst an older generation unable to get to grips with what we were all about. We were also just beginning to appreciate how very big we could become. But at the time we were just enjoying ourselves and not thinking too hard about how long it might last.

Bill Wyman

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