New Rolling Stones podcast launched - first episode includes Andrew Loog Oldham interview

Andrew Loog Oldham in 1964
(Image credit: Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A new podcast dedicated to in-depth analysis of The Rolling Stones' long career has been launched. The first episode of Lip Service is now online and features an interview with Andrew Loog Oldham, who famously managed the Stones from 1963 to 1967.

"Each episode is an interview with someone who is or has been a part of their inner circle, all the way from the 60s to present," says host Simon Harper, former Clash Magazine Editor-In-Chief and Classic Rock contributor. "I've got some really great guests lined up, covering loads of bases and uncovering some amazing stories."

In the first episode, Oldham talks about seeing the Rolling Stones live for the first time, the real reason Decca A&R man Mike Smith didn't sign The Beatles, why the Stones' rebellious image didn't need manufacturing, why Ian Stewart was one band member too many, American stardom, Brian Epstein and Brian Jones, drugs, and his experience battling mental health issues in the 1960s.

"I had a very good nursing home that I went to," says Oldham. "Once, when I came out of the adjoining toilets, coming out of the other one and banging my door was Hank B. Marvin, so The Shadows must have been having troubles too.

"I used to go there at the weekends. By the time everything was going nicely, I used to go in there at the weekends just to get away from everybody. I’d have three meals a day, my shrink would come in and eat supper with me, and then on Monday morning I’d go back to work."

Elsewhere in the hour-long conversation, Oldham names his favourite Rolling Stones' song, and their most underrated.

Lip Service is available now from your podcasting platform of choice.

Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 39 years in music industry, online for 26. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.

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