Yeah sure, Bill was only saying that as a dig at Mick and Keith. Of course The Rolling Stones was a fusion of separate entities, a glorious meeting of minds and that's all. Mick was its voice and that counts for a lot. They all had contributing ideas.
I would never say, "No Jones, no Stones." The Rolling Stones did a pretty decent job of carrying on for a while with Mick Taylor on board. Anyway, I'm more inclined to say: "No Jones, no Watts...no Stones."
Brian remains the coolest Rolling Stone ever. There seems to be a lot of myths in the Stones camp. Some might say in the Richards book.
Tedious non rock period from 1965-1967? So.. “The Last Time” “19th Nervous Breakdown” “Paint It Black” “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” “We Love You” “Please Go Home” etc, are tedious non rock? They didn’t become an actual rock band until “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”? You must have a much narrower view of what “rock” music is than I do I guess .
Brian’s the man. To try & devalue his worth by throwing up spurious notes is pure stupidity…. They were a brilliant band with Brian, and a great band without him…
I’ve noticed that later created derogatory phrase “granny music” used along on this forum but remember in the later sixties when folks called such music border expanding.
I love the Stones... Their recorded output from the debut up to Dirty Work is fantastic. Who started it, is irrelevant to me. What happened with Brian was sad and tragic, but by that stage The Stones had made enough momentum to keep on rolling, and roll they did
Yes, I thought of adding “Satisfaction” but I decided to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise “Amanda Jones” “Connection” “Get Off My Cloud”, etc and .. other non rock songs, by a band that hadn’t become The Rolling Stones yet.
Irrelevant. What matters to me is, that the post-Brian Stones entered a period of slow artistic decline that has had few upward "bumps" in the ensuing half-century. Just my humble opinion, so don't bother ...
I completely agree with you. They were a fantastic rock and roll band, but once Brian was gone they became a rock band and I lost interest. I don't know how to define what he contributed, but once it was gone, I found most of their music uninteresting. They should have changed their name to 'The Stones'.
I've found the Rolling Stones to be patchy with significant highlights throughout the 60's and 70's, with possibly snow later on in the evening.
Everything changes. No one could have predicted in 1962 what was going to happen in just a couple of years. Brian may have been a “leader” of sorts in forming the group in the beginning, but he had no leadership skills to speak of to guide the band past that any more than Mick Taylor did.
Why on Earth it's important 60yrs on to strip Brian of some credit in The Stones' Saga is a bit mystifying. but - The letter does say Brian and Keith decided to pool resources. As we don't have tape revealing who first said the magic words, "Let's start a band, then!", I suppose co-founder is at least agreed upon. Is a co-founder not one of the founders? By adding Mick and Keith to him and Stu sounds a lot like choosing members. Just because The Glimmer Twins were already playing the blues, that doesn't contradict Wyman re. who chose the tunes they played. "Jones was seen as ‘the leader’ for some time. Absolutely, it’s documented he got the band the gigs." Now, I'm not a Brian worshipper - having not made an in-depth study, I've always been a bit unclear on what his musical contributions were, exactly. But it seems positively churlish to negate his role in the inception of the band. I think I'll take Bill's statement at face value, and Brian's letter too.
Simple, it's because he was a jerk and therefore must be erased from history-- you know how it is today. I may sound hyperbolic, but I'm simplifying the basic truth.
And I always figured Keith as a right todger - so it's all credit to Jagger, then! Magnetic Mick pulled them all together.
A perfectly appropriate marker for that place, considering that's not where they met Brian. Bill is a catty fellow.