What can one say about the Rolling Stones? They are the greatest rock and roll band in the world. Yet their roots are in rhythm and blues. They were the face of youth in the 1960s. Yet Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are now in their eighties and they put out an album (Hackney Diamonds) as recent as 2024.
The Rolling Stones are awash in irony. The late Brian Jones, the Stones guitarist who died tragically in 1969, once said he wouldn’t be in a band unless he was the leader. Indeed, Jones coined the name of the band (taken from a Muddy Waters tune). But not long into their years as a group, Jagger clearly eclipsed Jones as the leader and Richards was a more crucial part of the group, as he and Jagger were the composers.
Not long after the group formed in 1962, when they were getting their first taste of success, Jagger told a reporter that rock bands last only up to three years. Yet the Stones have lasted over 60 years. What’s their secret? One point has to be conceded. The group now includes only two of the original five members. Jones died (and was replaced by Mick Taylor who in turn was replaced in 1975 by Ronnie Wood). Bass player Bill Wyman retired in 1994 (and was replaced by Darryl Jones). And Charlie Watts died in 2021.
Yet the Rolling Stones are phenomenal. That Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the two essential Stones, are still at it is nothing less than remarkable. Rock historian Bob Spitz, who has authored books on both the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, has penned the current and definitive book titled “The Rolling Stones: The Biography.”
The book contains much detail and an abundance of anecdotes. The reader is introduced to the time Jagger and Richards were two awkward teenagers who reacquainted themselves from childhood while coming home from (separate) schools on the train. Their mutual and intense interest in music forged more than a partnership. Keith’s music collection was enough to inspire Mick to not let this friendship go by the wayside.
The two shared an original love for music which included, for the most part, black recording artists from the United States. Soon they were sitting in with bands at London clubs and were discovered by Brian Jones. And in all fairness, Brian Jones did put the band together. The three of them would then be joined first by Bill Wyman then by drummer Charlie Watts. Brian Jones also arranged the group’s first gigs.
But the more success the Rolling Stones enjoyed, the more they delved into rock and roll. This in turn led to Mick and Keith creating their own music. Though their first albums were rhythm and blues covers, Mick and Keith were innovative. By 1964 they recorded “England’s Newest Hitmakers” which included their first composition “Tell Me.”
Of course, the Rolling Stones saga is a durable epic. Though they could have stayed in the shadow of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones were not to be denied their place as the world’s most durable rock band. Though their first tour in the United States in 1964 did not match the success of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones still followed the Beatles that year on Ed Sullivan. Famous last words, the Stones so offended Ed Sullvan that he proclaimed they would never again be on his show.
Still Ed Sullivan had them back in 1965. Spitz goes into the story of the Stones performing “Let’s Spend the Night Together” that year on Ed Sullivan and the iconic host pressured the group into a slight change in the lyrics (to Let’s Spend Some TimeTogether). More important about the Stones in 1965 is that whatever disappointment their 1964 American tour handed them, their 1965 American tour was a smash hit.
The Rolling Stones are an illustrious story. Spitz not only deals with the untimely death of Brian Jones. He also outlines how Brian had actually become a liability to the band years earlier. He fathered four children with four different mothers by the time he was 22 years old. And he was a mess of legal and drug problems. Brian was also unreliable, missing both recording sessions and actual gigs. Far from being the leader of the group, Mick and Keith kicked him out only days before his death in July 1969.
Spitz makes clear, however, the extent of the tragedy of Brian Jones, Though drug infested and mentally ill, Brian was also a virtuoso. He went with ease from the guitar to the piano, to the saxophone, to the dulcimer, to the recorder. And though he was never the composer per-se, his instrumentalism was a huge contribution to Stones music throughout the 1960s.
Spitz chronicles the Stones replacing Brian with Mick Taylor (the other Mick). But Spits writes how Mick Taylor felt taken for granted by the rest of the group, especially by Keith Richards. Taylor would leave the group in 1974, to be replaced by Ronnie Wood (formerly of Rod Stewart and the Faces). Ronnie has since made a much better fit for the Stones.
An unfortunate yet unavoidable part of the story is how Keith would take Brian’s place as a liability. The trauma culminated in a drug bust in Toronto in 1977. He had legal problems before. But the law in Canada was stern. Spitz leaves one not knowing the real story behind the judge cancelling the trial in 1978 and handing down a lenient sentence. (Keith was placed on probation and ordered to perform a concert for the benefit of the blind.)
At this point, the narrative becomes general. The Stones would make a comeback album in 1978 with “Some Girls” and do a number of tours in both the 1980s and 1990s. They remain vital in their eighties. It’s doubtful many people predicted Keith Richards to still be around. Mick and Keith have stood the test of time. Bob Spitz has provided a readable history of this fantastic group which can only be called ageless.
John O’Neill of Allen Park writes a weekly review.
John O’Neill