(Credits: A&M Records)
Tue 7 April 2026 17:00, UK
Given how long they’ve been going, there’s a good chance Mick Jagger and Keith Richards will keep The Rolling Stones going even if they have to come out in wheelchairs.
They were in for the long haul when they first started playing rock and roll, and just like their heroes became old sages of music, they wanted to do right by the BB Kings of the world and spread the message of the blues for as long as they could. But there are bound to be more than a few people who couldn’t stick around at the party for that long.
If we ignore the tragedy of Brian Jones, a lot of the people who left The Stones of their own accord have never been all that acrimonious. Mick Taylor was clearly good enough to be a member of The Stones, but when you look at how everyone else interacted with each other, he was clearly not into the same tribal feeling that Jagger and Richards were connected by when he played. He was almost a guitar player for hire, but all that really mattered was the beat behind everything.
Although Charlie Watts will forever be missed behind the drum kit, there is a bit of a question mark surrounding Bill Wyman a lot of the time. His bass playing always had a perfect countermelody to whatever Jagger and Richards were doing, and while he was locked into every single groove they ever played, it’s hard to think of someone with that kind of gig would have up and left one day with no real explanation.
Then again, you have to remember how much of a roller coaster The Stones could be even at the best of times. They were never about emphasising clean living by any stretch, but even for his reputation as being the quiet member of the group, Wyman was always ready whenever showtime came and could always fit in perfectly. But according to Richards, even the bassist had to realise when it was time for him to get off the train before it started going off the tracks too much.
When talking about Wyman’s time with the group, Richards said that it was time for Wyman to leave after working with Darryl Jones, saying, “In a way, I [miss Bill] because I’ve been with the guy so long, but Darryl’s like an engine. You really want to do this gig, and that’s why Bill left. If you’re not at all sure, you’re better off backing out. At first, I was gonna kill him. But Darryl and Charlie are playing great. So if you’ve got to make a change, you’ve got to make a change. It’s good for us.”
Richards might be a bit more diplomatic about Wyman leaving, but you have to remember where The Stones were at the time. The band had been through some turbulent years throughout the 1980s, and since Jagger and Richards weren’t getting along that well, watching the band start disagreeing wasn’t the kind of thing that Wyman wanted to be a part of after spending so much time anchoring them down.
It was one thing to go along with the disco craze, but after going off in other directions one too many times, Richards could probably see that Wyman lost the same spark that he had back in the day. He wasn’t the same kid who was hungry to take on the world like everyone else was, but it’s hard to really hold that against him when you have decades of rock and roll debauchery under your belt.
The band never officially grew up, but given how Wyman would later spring up playing more bluesy stuff, chances are he was more interested in moving back to his roots than going in whatever direction The Stones were heading. Voodoo Lounge did bring things back to the old days, but given that the next album was Bridges to Babylon, Wyman probably wasn’t going to be that comfortable flirting with modern styles anymore.
