The Rolling Stones have been sowing the seeds of rock 'n' roll since 1962, and they're still
at it today.
But just how can a band as wild and unpredictable as this conquer disaster after disaster and
still remain at the top of the rock 'n' roll heap?
A successful songwriting partnership is certainly one way to describe the long and rocky relationship
between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Another way to describe them, in the words of the Irish Independent, would be that of
a civil war between two massive ego maniacs.
In fact, the Glimmer Twins' volatile chemistry has brought the Rolling Stones to the brink
of breaking up several times over their long and storied career.
Richards feels that this is largely because while the two stars know each other extremely
well, they're also generally a little unsure about each other.
Richards pins a large part of the pair's issues to Jagger's "control freak" nature, but he
doesn't shrug off the blame entirely.
Richards has even admitted that he occasionally even wakes up in the night to make notes when
he dreams up a particularly good dig he can later use against Jagger.
Sometimes, the animosity between Jagger and Richards has meant more than just professional
and creative disagreements.
One such case came in the 1960s, when Richards became convinced that his girlfriend, Anita
Pallenberg, was having an affair with Jagger during a movie shoot.
The bitterness around this incident eventually drove the guitarist to write the Rolling Stones
classic "Gimme Shelter."
The band's troubles started with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' infamous drug bust in
1967, and continued mere months later when Brian Jones was arrested for marijuana possession
— and, again, allowing folks to smoke in his home.
Luckily, he got away with a warning, though Jones repeated his error in 1968.
This time, he was facing prison, but his lawyers were able to plead mental health issues and
get Jones away with another warning.
However, the situation later made it difficult for him to obtain a U.S. visa.
1968 brought about yet another marijuana charge, this time against Jagger and Marianne Faithfull,
and the 1970s brought even more trouble.
In 1972, Drummer Charlie Watts' wife, Shirley, was arrested for causing a scene at an airport.
Later that year, Jagger and Richards were yet again arrested, this time for fighting
with a photographer.
In 1973, it was Richards and drugs again.
In 1975, Richards and Ronnie Wood were brought in for reckless driving while smelling of
pot and carrying a hunting knife.
1977 saw yet another drug arrest for Richards.
After this, the band has apparently cleaned up their act somewhat — though in 1990,
Wood was "cautioned" for common assault against his girlfriend.
Still, it appears the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree — in 2011, Richards' daughter
Theodora got busted for committing graffiti and drug-related crimes.
Perhaps the biggest Rolling Stones tragedy involving a band member was the downfall of
Brian Jones.
Jones was fired from the band on June 8th 1969, though the other Stones apparently allowed
him to announce his own departure as he saw fit.
His statement began:
"I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting."
But the statement went on to lay the blame on his former bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards.
It read:
"I want to play my kind of music, which is no longer the Stones music.
The music Mick and Keith have been writing has progressed at a tangent, as far as my
own taste is concerned."
In a way, he had a point — as bassist Bill Wyman would later note, Jones had been the
de facto leader of the Stones at the early stages of their career before the sheer personality
and songwriting talent of Jagger and Richards bowled him over.
Unfortunately, the world never got to see what Jones really had to offer.
He was already riding a downward spiral, and within three weeks after his departure, Jones
was tragically found floating face down in his swimming pool, dead at the age of 27.
In the words of The Telegraph, the Rolling Stones' disastrous free concert at Altamont
on December 6th 1969, was "the day the music died."
The event was meant to be a happy, hippy, Woodstock-type affair, but the location was
changed a mere 20 hours before the concert to Altamont Speedway, which was dreary, grey,
treeless, and beleaguered by a laughably underpowered sound system.
As a result, some of the audience members grew angry, and the Hells Angels taking care
of the security were all too happy to return the hostility.
It didn't help that the promoters had neglected to inform the surrounding landowners about
the event, and they turned quite hostile when they discovered a horde of hippies and musicians
hanging about and using their fields as toilets.
The result was an unmitigated disaster.
As soon as the Stones' helicopters touched the ground, Mick Jagger was welcomed with
a sucker punch.
The crowd grew worse and worse by the hour, and by the time the Rolling Stones hit the
stage, it was a bloodbath.
"Who's fighting and what for? Why are we fighting?"
Things finally escalated to the point that an 18-year-old audience member named Meredith
Hunter was stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels during the Stones' concert.
A total of four people died at Altamont.
In 1971, the Rolling Stones released arguably the most controversial recording they've ever
made.
The song in question was, of course, "Brown Sugar," the Mick Jagger-penned lead single
on the album Sticky Fingers.
Lyrically, it is a coarse, nasty song about slavery, sexual assault, and other such unsavory
matters — not that this stopped the song becoming a number one hit at the time.
It's unclear if the song's misogynist, racist lyrics were inspired by an actual person.
Some say it's about Marsha Hunt, the mother of the singer's first child.
Others claim it was about the Stones' backing singer Claudia Lennear.
Others still think it wasn't about an actual woman at all, and was instead an ode to heroin.
Regardless, "Brown Sugar" remains a controversial song, and its infamy wasn't exactly helped
by the fact that the band decided to debut it during their catastrophic free concert
at Altamont.
In fact, even Jagger has even admitted in his later years that he went too far with
this particular song.
Most people agree that Exile on Main Street is among the finest albums the Rolling Stones
have ever released, but its recording process was far from serene.
Keith Richards rented a luxurious property called Villa Nellcote on the French Riviera
in 1971, after the original location fell through.
The building had a fairly strange vibe, as the Nazis had used it as their headquarters
during the occupation of France, and the band kept finding painted swastikas in the basement.
Nonetheless, the Rolling Stones made the place their home and started wreaking havoc like
only the early-1970s Rolling Stones could.
Villa Nellcote soon became a premier hangout for a revolving door of hangers-on and moochers,
not to mention celebrities and, of course, the obligatory drug dealers.
"'Cos it got a bit, you know, after awhile it got a bit sort of heavy going."
The place was damp, hot, and creepy, and the eerie atmosphere really reflected on the album's
sound.
However, the Stones ultimately emerged as winners — the weird fever dream of Villa
Nellcote clearly reflected well on their creative output, and Exile remains one of their most
well-liked works.
It's fair to say the Rolling Stones are pretty decent musicians.
After all, it takes a bit of talent to be able to excel for so long and still sell out
stadiums well into the sixth decade of their career.
However, there's no telling how good they might have been had they not lost their best
musician early on.
Guitarist Mick Taylor was the Rolling Stones' secret weapon during the golden early 1970s
years, until he unexpectedly walked out in December 1974.
Today, he is still considered very much as the one that got away by many fans, and even
the band itself, albeit sometimes begrudgingly.
Drummer Charlie Watts has even called the Taylor period the band's "creative peak."
In the 1990s, Mick Jagger came very close to publicly admitting that the Exile on Main
Street-era Stones is the best version that ever existed.
Even the grumpy guitar maestro Keith Richards has stated that Taylor's departure left the
band "in a lurch."
The precise reason for Taylor's departure has always been somewhat shrouded in mystery,
largely thanks to the subtly contradicting versions of the tale told by Taylor himself.
Some say it was about songwriting credits, interpersonal tensions, marriage and drug
problems, or even simply boredom.
It could also be that Taylor simply found the rock star life too much, as he was more
of a shy, withdrawn character, which probably didn't mesh too well with the outrageous antics
of the Glimmer Twins.
The 1980s were a tumultuous time in the Rolling Stones camp, to a point that it couldn't really
be called a single camp at all.
Between 1982 and 1989, the band's future was in question for a whole number of reasons.
Drummer Charlie Watts, the tireless engine of the band, was wrestling with his addiction
to heroin.
Mick Jagger, on the other hand, was finding the allures of a solo career more enticing
by the year, and by 1987, he was touring solo to support his own album.
He even went as far as to say that the Stones simply didn't matter anymore, explaining:
"No-one should care if the Rolling Stones have broken up, should they?
I mean, when the Beatles broke up I couldn't give a s--t."
Meanwhile, guitar ace Keith Richards spent most of his time sulking because the band
wasn't working together.
While the Stones did have a fairly steady output of new records during the 1980s, things
remained volatile right up until 1989's Steel Wheels and its accompanying tour.
In December 1992, the Rolling Stones went through yet another personnel change.
This was the year in which long-time bassist Bill Wyman walked out, though his exit wasn't
really reported until January 1993.
There are rumors Wyman had been unhappy with his Stones gig for awhile before his departure,
though some band members — Keith Richards in particular — have noted that he was close
to being fired anyway.
Richards went as far as to say that he, Mick Jagger, and drummer Charlie Watts were the
true core of the Stones, alleging that anyone outside this trifecta was expendable.
Wyman himself has said that the Stones didn't want him to leave, and while he's not exactly
swimming in money, the ex-Stone went on to enjoy life as a blues musician, photographer,
writer, and even archaeologist.
He has been known to reunite with the band occasionally, and says he still considers
the Stones a family of sorts.
Wyman was eventually replaced by Darryl Jones, who had played for a roster of talent from
Miles Davis to Sting to Madonna.
However, he was never made an official member of the group.
Ronnie Wood has mostly been content to play his instrument and live his best life over
the years, and as befits a Rolling Stone, said best life has been known to involve the
occasional beverage or two.
In fact, he's fully capable of challenging the likes of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
when it comes to partying.
"Keith and I said, 'we're in our late seventies, and in pain,
we'll take that up again."
In 2008, Wood proved this by indulging in a particularly infamous bender, as the 61-year-old
guitar man disappeared himself in Ireland, nursing a two-bottles-of-vodka-a-day habit
and accompanied by an 18-year-old waitress.
While this might seem par for the course for a Rolling Stone, it must be said that Wood
actively ran off from his wife and family to do this.
What's more, this was very much a falling-off-the-wagon situation, and the other Stones reacted with
shock and worry, rather than the pats on the back they might have given him back in the
day.
Still, Wood did eventually get his act together, and today he seems to be quite enjoying sobriety.
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