The Rolling Stones — Waiting On A Friend - OFFICIAL PROMO

JUL 01 1981 · 12:00

The Rolling Stones — Waiting On A Friend - OFFICIAL PROMO (1981) Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg Era: Early MTV Era (1981) - A landmark promo shot the same year MTV launched, representing the nascent convergence of rock legacy acts and the emerging music video broadcast ecosystem; the video's street-level naturalism defined an early template for location-based narrative promos. Tier 1 archival priority. This video sits at the precise intersection of classic rock's commercial peak and the birth of MTV, making it irreplaceable as a document of that cultural inflection point. Directed by a pioneering figure in music film history, shot on location at a landmark Manhattan address, and featuring the full classic Tattoo You-era Stones lineup, it is among the most historically significant promos in the archive. Its slow, warm, film-grain aesthetic is a direct counterpoint to the synthetic, effects-heavy videos that would come to dominate MTV within two to three years, and thus serves as an essential baseline document for the medium's aesthetic evolution. Context: Released in November 1981 as the second single from Tattoo You, 'Waiting on a Friend' arrived at the exact moment MTV launched its 24-hour music video broadcast service, making it one of the earliest high-profile legacy rock videos to benefit from the new medium. The video's East Village New York setting — shot at 96–98 St. Mark's Place, a building iconic from the cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti — situates the Rolling Stones within the fabric of downtown Manhattan rather than an artificial studio environment, lending the promo a documentary authenticity unusual for the era. The song itself had a nine-year gestation, originating from 1972 Goats Head Soup sessions in Kingston, Jamaica, before being completed with a saxophone solo by jazz legend Sonny Rollins for Tattoo You. The video's warm, quotidian portrayal of bandmate friendship — Jagger waiting for Richards on a stoop before meeting the others at a bar — offered a humanising counter-narrative to the Stones' typical bad-boy mythology. Director notes: The promo for 'Waiting on a Friend' was shot on 2 July 1981 under Lindsay-Hogg's direction on the streets of Greenwich Village, New York City, and at the St. Mark's Bar & Grill located at the corner of St. Mark's Place and First Avenue. The exterior scenes were filmed at 96–98 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan — a building also famous for its appearance on the cover of Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti. The video mirrors the song's lyrical narrative: Jagger waits on a stoop before the two walk together to the bar where the rest of the band are already gathered. The video concludes with the band setting up for a jam at the back of the bar, largely ignored by other patrons. It was noted as the first Rolling Stones single packaged with MTV in mind, and became very popular on the newly launched channel. The video was subsequently edited into the 1984 compilation Video Rewind: The Rolling Stones' Great Video Hits. IMDb lists the aspect ratio as 1.33:1 (4:3) and runtime as 4 minutes, filmed in colour with mono sound.