The Rolling Stones Drop $1,000 Vinyl as "The Cockroaches"

If you follow the Stones closely, the name The Cockroaches rings a bell. Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the band used aliases like “The Cockroaches” and “Blue Sunday and the Cockroaches” to play secret warm-up shows in cities like Toronto, Atlanta, and Worcester. It was their version of showing up unannounced and play loose without the weight of being the Rolling Stones for a night.

The name resurfaced a few weeks ago when mysterious posters started appearing in Camden, north London, featuring a QR code and no other explanation. The QR code led to thecockroaches.com, a Universal Music-hosted site with countdown timers, merchandise featuring the slogan “WHO THE F*** ARE THE COCKROACHES?”, and a signup form. Fans who registered received a message reading “Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name” — a nod to Sympathy for the Devil that made the speculation pretty obvious.

On April 11, 2026, the vinyl went on sale. But figuring out where to buy it required a little extra effort. On the Cockroaches website, a graphic of the plain white-sleeved record sat in the corner. Clicking it enlarged the image, and a “flip” button on the back revealed a list of 37 GPS coordinates — no store names, no addresses, just raw latitude and longitude. Fans had to run the coordinates themselves to identify their nearest participating shop.

Each store received just a handful of records. Some locations had only one. The release sold out within hours across the board, and within the same afternoon, copies were appearing online for several hundred dollars. The total pressing is believed to be only a few hundred copies worldwide, which makes this one of the most genuinely scarce modern vinyl releases in recent memory.

Copies of “Rough and Twisted” started appearing on eBay within hours of the in-store release. Early listings were asking $500 or more. Current sold listings are landing in the $1,000 to $1,500 range.

This is almost identical to what happened with Jack White’s “No Name” vinyl in 2024. White distributed copies of an unannounced album to customers at Third Man Records stores with no explanation, and those secret pressings eventually sold for around $1,000 on the secondary market. The parallel is close enough that you have to wonder if the Stones’ team was paying attention.

After eBay’s ~13% fee, a seller clearing $1,200 on one of these walks away with more than a grand in profit, assuming a retail purchase price of around $15 at the shop counter. That’s a strong return on a record store visit.

The album Foreign Tongues is reportedly due this summer, with an official first single planned for May. Even once “Rough and Twisted” is available through streaming services, these vinyl records will hold their value. While they might come down from the current $1,000+ price point, expect to see these remain valuable collectables for Stones fans.

If you have one and were thinking about flipping it, the window between now and the album’s release is probably the strongest selling position you’ll find.

And while the cat is most certainly out of the bag on these and all of the records have (probably) been snatched, you might as well check if one of the participating record stores is nearby. You never know, maybe there’s a free $1,000 waiting for you in the record bin.