Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was born on the 28 February 1942, the founding member of The Rolling Stones. Brian Jones life has been well documented and it's possible that had he not headed with so much enthusiasm into the first two parts of the triumverate of sex, drugs and rock and roll he could have been part of the Stones tour last year. As it was he died on 3 July 1969.
Brian played on all of the Stones singles up to Jumpin Jack Flash and if he should be remembered for only one musical moment it should be the playing of the great instantly recognisable riff on The Last Time.
3 comments:
D'you have any mp3s of that RS's stuff? I've only got Let it Bleed, Sweet Virginia, Gimme Shelter, and Torn and Frayed.... what was Brian Jones' issue? Just needed to be loved and plastered to death? What was his genius? Why did he self-destruct?
God - I loved the Stones! When I was little (in mid to late 60s) you were either a Beatles person or a Stones. I was a Stones.
When I worked in Bermuda (early 80s) I knew this bloke called Paul Perks. He was the brother of Bill Perks aka Bill Wyman.
My favourite Stones tracks - Let's Spend the Night Together; Gimme Shelter; Brown Sugar; etc
Michelle - Brian Jones began to fall apart when The Rolling Stones ceased to be 'his' band and became Mick and Keith's - partly because they got into writing their own material and partly because Brian couldn't handle the hedonistic side of his life.
There's no doubt that he was a talented multi-instrumentalist, he played most string instruments available as well as percussion. He appears uncredited on many artists records from The Beatles to Hendrix.
In the latter part of his Stones career the drug taking became more of an issue to the point where he failed to turn up for recording sessions and was eventually fired from what had been his group. Those recordings he did make his contributions were left way down in the mix. Even on Jumpin Jack Flash although he was credited as being on the song, the version that was released as a single in the U.S didn't feature Brian.
I read an interesting quote from Mick Taylor, who replaced Jones, and he also (almost) fell victim to the Stones addiction to heroin in the early seventies. Taylor said "I knew I had to leave because it was a simple choice between staying in the band and dying or walking away." Taylor announced his deaprture to Mick Jagger at a party and simply walked away.
Sarnia - That's such a British thing isn't it? Beatles or Stones? Led Zep or Deep Purple? Elton John or Dolly Parton?
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