“If you start me up, I’ll never stop.” 

The line is a familiar one if you’re a fan of the classic rock band The Rolling Stones, whose album Tattoo You turns forty-one-years-old this month. The album was the last of the Rolling Stone’s albums to reach the number one slot on US music charts, and is a permanent fixture in the music world, and a continual source of inspiration in the tattoo world.

But just what, if anything, does this album have to do with tattoos? For starters, the iconic album cover art designed by Peter Corriston features Mick Jagger covered in elaborate face tattoos illustrated by Christian Piper, and while not each and every song on Tattoo You is about tattoos, there’s a long history when it comes to tattoos and music.

An Art to Art Connection

Artists—musicians or otherwise—are often intrinsically linked to both their art and art in other mediums. Music and tattoos have long been tied together, and there’s more than just an iconic album cover of Mick Jagger’s tattooed face to thank for the connection. 

Tattooing is a source of expression for many, including musicians, but until the 1960s and 1970s, tattoos were largely reserved for criminals and sailors. With the rise of counterculture movements as the twentieth century wore on, however, music icons like Janis Joplin began to bring tattoos to a different audience. Soon, younger people were choosing to get tattoos as an expression of their beliefs and cultural ideals. People were getting tattoos to express their alignment with social movements and even to express anti-war sentiments.

During these decades as the art of tattooing evolved, tattoo styles expanded to reflect the different people getting tattooed. Tattoos began to expand beyond the traditional American tattoo style into some of the styles known and loved today.

Tattoos in the Tattoo You Era

The eighties in particular, when “Tattoo You” was released, boosted the popularity of tattoos to a more mainstream crowd. This evolution in the tattoo world was due in large part to the influence of musicians. With new genres of music like punk and metal taking hold and finding a devoted audience, musicians and the music scene as a whole began to latch on to tattoos as a way to symbolize rebellion against societal norms.

The 1980s even harkened a new style of tattoo called New School, which can be traced to the counterculture of the West Coast during this time period. New school tattoos are characterized by vivid tones, eye-catching characters, and bold black lines, much like the famous “tongue and lips” logo The Rolling Stones themselves are famous for. New school style tattoos are still a popular choice for those who want to make a bold, colorful statement with their body art.

Tattoos for Musicians, Fans, and… Everyone

The 1980s brought their own flair to the tattoo industry with popular new albums like Tattoo You and an emergence of new music and tattoo styles, that’s for certain, but this decade also did a great deal to lay the groundwork for tattoos becoming more commonplace in coming decades.

While musicians continued to express themselves through artwork on their skin, their fans started to take after artists they admired. Although fans of rock bands like The Rolling Stones may not have been able to tattoo their favorite lyrics across their forearm without decreasing their employability (something that is becoming less and less of an issue as we work our way deeper into the twenty-first century), they could still express their devotion to a musician or band with less noticeable tattoos.

Musicians, whose careers and lifestyles were anything but ordinary, also started to use tattoos as a way to not only express themselves, but communicate something about their music and the way they wanted to be perceived in the years following the release of Tattoo You.

These days, forty years—almost to the day—after the Tattoo You release date, tattoos are becoming more and more commonplace both in and out of the music industry. Some cultural commentators argue that this evolution is due largely to the prevalence of tattooed musicians who are relating to their fans like never before in the modern world of social media. Tattoo culture was once a part of punk counterculture, but has now leaked its way into mainstream culture.

Hip hop culture in particular, which historically has heavily influenced mainstream culture and music, has led to this more widespread acceptance of tattoos. Music fans around the world are often inspired by their favorite artists when it comes to the tattoos they choose to have inked onto their skin. Take a look at any popular musician’s Instagram feed and you might just see a picture of them posing with a tattooed fan, the artist’s lyrics scrawled on their skin in the form of a lettering tattoo not unlike those inked at Certified Tattoo Studios.

Tattooing is an artform that is becoming more and more popular everyday, and is heavily influenced by both musicians and the music they create. The eighties, a decade which saw the release of the iconic Rolling Stones album Tattoo You is one of many incredible works of art inspired by, and still inspiring, tattoos. The legacy of tattoos and music is one that lives on, even as we approach the fortieth birthday of Tattoo You and examine the evolution of tattoos, and society’s perception of the people that proudly wear them.