Until I heard the words straight from the mouth of bassist Bill Wyman, I never gave much credence to the idea that Brian Jones (not Mick Jagger or Keith Richards) was the driving force that formed The Rolling Stones. Last week I watched the new documentary “The Stones and Brian Jones” and went to school on the subject.
I always though the band was started by Mick and Keith… how about you?
In case you didn’t know either, I felt compelled to share with Thunderbird Ranch Ramble readers. I am shocked that I was so misinformed reading Keith’s fantastic book “Life” (see that story from 2012 here).
The pictures above of Brian Jones with the band in the early days are a great representation of his role as the band’s founder.
In 1962 Jones was effectively ambitious placing advertisements looking to start a new band. He quickly connected with Mick and Keith. The rest is history.
Brian Jones handled all business-related activities to promote and legitimize The Stones. It wasn’t until a few years later that Mick began to slowly take over the lead role, while Brian Jones crumbled in the corner hurt and angry. The blues became Brian’s salvation.
Being the odd man out of the Keith-Mick song writing love fest had a devastatingly ugly impact on the ultra-sensitive Brian Jones. How could anyone “compete” with them? They are the best.
Jones had a few screws loose (sadly, he was a manic depressive) and the alienation from “The Glitter Twins” and constant self-torture fueled his all too common “poison yourself to death with booze and drugs” path.
Jones overdosed at 29 years old in his pool soon after the band kicked him out.
The Drive-By Truckers third guitarist Jason Isbell was heading down the same path as Jones when he was kicked out DBT by the songwriting duo of Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley (one of the most underrated rock and roll writing duos of all time).
We are all lucky (so is Jason) that after getting tossed out the Drive-By Truckers for drinking too much (please take a second and think about how hard that must be), Isbell cleaned up his act, power washed his liver and found that creative super power that drives his music today (click here to read “The Ying and Yang of Jason Isbell” from 2015).
Below is a picture of Jason then and now. Good for him!
From a young age, Brian Jones was a romantic who fell hard for the blues. He founded The Rolling Stones on the premise that he would bring the songs and sounds of the early blues players to London’s club scene in the early 60s.
At 16 years old Brian got himself a gig in the belly of the beast working the door at Filby’s Jazz Club.
The Rolling Stones popularity and Jones’ passion for blues music paved the way for Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters (who penned the song Jones named the band after). This was a true “pay it forward” story.
The below video from 1964 shows Brian at his best. He was a groundbreaking guitarist.
Jones should also be credited for bringing attention to blues style guitar tunings…. Open D (Elmore James) and Open D (Muddy Waters). Brian’s slide guitar on The Stones early hits like “Little Red Rooster” opened a whole new world for the black blues artists and white teens in London and the America.
The Stones record company was not happy that the band was releasing a blues-style single. Boy were they wrong… the single hit #1 on the charts after just one weekend on the radio and in stores.
The Rolling Stones rode the blues wave with dozens of other traditional tracks, such as “Not Fade Away”, “Spider and the Fly”, and “King Bee”.
In 1963, The Stones played over 300 gigs and Brian Jones was always front and center. They were breaking new ground.
Brian was a badass rebel. The original baby daddy. By the time he was 22 years old, Brian had five children with five different woman!
He loved the attention from pop magazines and young lady fans and often was “the life of the party”, but Brian Jones masked his loneliness and isolation. He was a really lonely dude. Jones increasingly became crazy by manifesting issues in his head, then acting on them at the bewilderment of those around him.
Charlie Watts said Brian wasn’t mentally tough enough to take all those drugs. Jones was actually so needy of attention and unsure of himself… he only dated girls who looked like him.
The final straw for Jones losing it all was when The Stones manager (and later Mick and Keith) started pushing pop songs and scored the hit of all hits with “Satisfaction”. Jones never recovered and the band was no longer his.
Brian’s last years with the band were awful. He was paranoid and became a mean son of bitch to all around him. The loss of his party pal accelerated his demise.
In 1966 Brian’s best friend (Tara Brown, the 21 year old heir to the Guinness fortune) died in a horrible car accident. The Beatles memorialized Browne in “A Day in the Life”… “he blew his mind out in the car. He did not notice that the light had changed. A crowd of people stood and stared.”
Tara Browne’s model wife (Suki Potier) was in the car with him, but escaped without injury. Soon after the accident, Suki and Brian Jones became an item. It was commonplace for ladies to jump from one rocker to another during this time.
Pattie Boyd’s switch-a-roo from George Harrison to Eric Clapton was the most well-known of these relationship flips. Mick, Keith and Brian paired with the same ladies more than a few times.
The most egregious was when elite model Anita Pallenberg left Brian Jones for Keith Richards at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. Although Brian was the biggest bastard of all, this broke heart.
Brian’s last appearance with The Stones was during the filming of “Rock and Roll Circus” in December 1968. Jones was so wasted, he couldn’t even play guitar… so hey gave him flute. He was 26.
On June 6, 1969… Jones was kicked out the band.
On July 3, 1969… Jones died. He was the first an awful list of rocks biggest names dying from massive abuse of drugs.
RIP Brian Jones.
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