{"id":2084,"date":"2021-01-22T22:22:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T22:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2021-01-23T16:44:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T16:44:39","slug":"ftv-brian-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2084","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Brian Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Try to remember the first time you saw The Rolling Stones on TV or an album cover.\u00a0 While reading Paul Trynka\u2019s book <\/span>Brian Jones:\u00a0 The Making of the Rolling Stones <\/span><\/i>(Viking Press, 2014) I went back and found a YouTube video of their debut appearance on <\/span>The Ed Sullivan Show<\/span><\/i> from October of 1964.\u00a0 Using this visual aide helped me recover my earliest thoughts about them\u00a0 because my current mental images of The Stones usually get hung up in the era of MTV.\u00a0 Some of the truly bad videos they posted in that period are hard to forget.\u00a0 I am always struck by drummer Charlie Watts’ inability to not sneer or raise his eyebrows at some of Mick Jagger\u2019s dance moves.\u00a0 Find a copy of the video used to promote <\/span>Miss You<\/span><\/i> and watch Charlie in the background.\u00a0 This is the RS image seared into my brain.\u00a0 It was kind of a relief to revisit 1964 and recall what the eleven year old me thought as I watched them on TV the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mind you, this was still a year and a half before I actually owned a drum set.\u00a0 My folks knew what direction I was headed so every time there was a new pop band on Sullivan\u2019s show, they were sure that I didn\u2019t miss it.\u00a0 Watching the Stones do <\/span>Time is on My Side<\/span><\/i> now, my left to right recollections of the band are as follows:\u00a0 Why does the bass player (Bill Wyman) hold the neck of his guitar almost straight up and down?\u00a0 Where did Brian Jones get a tear drop shaped guitar?\u00a0 Mick Jagger did not make that big of an impression on me because he wasn\u2019t playing an instrument.\u00a0 Keith Richards also did not move my interest meter all that much because Charlie Watts drumming was my main focus.\u00a0 In response to the horrified letters he received (some parents did not like the band appearing on a family themed show), Sullivan famously said, \u201cThe grubby Rolling Stones will never appear on my stage again.\u201d\u00a0 The thousands of letters that came in from excited teens far outweighed the negatives and Ed was enough of a showman to know that they would be back again and again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Until his exit from the band, my only persistent thoughts about Brian Jones were not in the positive vein.\u00a0 By the time I began following the band, he was already being pushed to the side with one foot all but out the door.\u00a0 It struck me that he was somewhat pouty and \u2018just a guitar player\u2019 in what appeared to be Mick and Keith\u2019s band.\u00a0 In my mind, he really had no reason to be so smug.\u00a0 Even after his tragic death and the press it generated, Brian\u2019s role in the band was never spelled out with the same amount of detail as it is in Trynka\u2019s book.\u00a0 Little did I know that The Rolling Stones began as Brian Jones\u2019 band nor that Jones was responsible for bringing rhythm and blues into the rock and roll mix that was just beginning to emerge in the early 1960s.\u00a0 There are many aspects of Brian Jones\u2019 personality that I do not cotten too, but credit must be given where due:\u00a0 he was older and a more accomplished musician than either Mick or Keith.\u00a0 It was his dogged determination to play R&B music even though everyone else told him that it was a niche branch of the music business and not something that would allow one to forge a sustainable career.\u00a0 It appears that the experts were wrong and in spite of my past appraisal of Brian Jones, there are other sides to his story.\u00a0 The word \u2018genius\u2019 can be applied to Brian Jones replete with the baggage, good and bad, that the label carries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Trynka\u2019s book was released in Great Britain, the original title was <\/span>Sympathy for the Devil;\u00a0 The Birth of the Rolling Stones and the Death of Brian Jones.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Why it was dumbed down to <\/span>Brian Jones; The Making of the Rolling Stones<\/span><\/i> in America escapes me because the more I read, the more the \u2018devilish\u2019 parts of the Jones saga emerged.\u00a0 Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones was born on February 28, 1942 and raised by typically staid, conservative post World War II parents in the typically\u00a0 English town of Cheltenham.\u00a0 He was a bright boy but his introverted, quiet nature opened him up for varying degrees of bullying as he grew up.\u00a0 Many of Brian\u2019s defining characteristics we remember from his Rolling Stones day can be directly connected to his search for acceptance and love.\u00a0 His parents were, to say the least, emotional cold fish who became even more so when Brian entered his rebellious teens.\u00a0 Quiet, yes, but there was also a side of Brian Jones that made him unafraid to take chances.\u00a0 He is remembered for being both a daredevil and a ladies man.\u00a0 He never really settled down with one companion and his wanderlust is well documented in the number of children he fathered with various girlfriends.\u00a0 Jones was also a rather sickly child and he grew to resent the asthma that prevented him from fitting in with the other rough and tumble kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Brian became entranced by music and was soon learning guitar.\u00a0 He picked up the instrument fast and was soon sitting in with bands at various dances and venues. \u00a0 His first working band, The Barn Owls, gave him an outlet for his creative side and recognition outside his ever more estranged family situation.\u00a0 Hearing American rhythm and blues music was the epiphany that pushed him to begin learning slide guitar and other R&B stylings like playing with open chord tuning.\u00a0 Popular music in Great Britain was dominated by big band and jazz music when rock and roll first began to make waves.\u00a0 While skiffle music inspired many new guitar players, most moved beyond that genre into early rock and roll (as evidenced by Lennon and McCartney\u2019s shift from The Quarrymen into The Beatles).\u00a0 Jones was caught in this same wave, but slowly found himself sidetracked by the R&B that was being played in a few isolated clubs.\u00a0 The more he heard, the more determined Jones became to incorporate this new music even though other Brit pioneers like Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner tried to steer him away from what they felt was going to be a branch of the musical tree that would eventually die like skiffle.\u00a0 Korner told Brian, \u201dDon\u2019t go to London!\u00a0 It\u2019s no good, you\u2019ll never make it there, it\u2019s all too commercial – this blues style is never going to be popular.\u201d\u00a0 Strong-willed and confident in himself, Jones ignored the advice and struck out for the big city to follow his muse.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first time Keith and Mick saw Brian perform, they were struck by the older musician\u2019s skills and musical knowledge.\u00a0 The early \u2018Rollin\u2019 Stones\u2019 were organized and driven by Brian Jones.\u00a0 The early recording sessions were equally arranged and conducted by Brian Jones.\u00a0 When Brian Jones began frequenting the new shops in Soho, he pioneered the fashions that would become commonplace on both sides of the Atlantic as the 60s decade marched toward the 70s.\u00a0 Brian Jones wasn\u2019t the only musician to incorporate R&B into the rock world, but he was one of the first.\u00a0 He was also passionate about what he was doing.\u00a0 Beneath all of his emerging rock and roll bravado, however, lurked the soul of a sensitive genius seeking approval.\u00a0 Brian Jones would not be the first rock star to sit on another soon to be too common cultural cliche:\u00a0 the three legged stool of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.\u00a0 Brian would find the middle item dominating his life to the point of ruining his R \u2018n\u2019 R career.\u00a0 Blues infused rock and roll was his passion but by the end of his life, he could barely play guitar.\u00a0 The drugs contributed to his declining mental and physical health as textbook examples of what not to do.\u00a0 Bouncing from one relationship to another did nothing to dull the pangs of isolation that followed him from his cold upbringing.\u00a0 The mounting pressures to create and be accepted also contributed to Jones losing control of the band he founded, now better known\u00a0 as The Rolling Stones.\u00a0 The Stones did not start out a \u2018Mick and Keith\u2019s band,\u2019 but the drama began in earnest when they hooked up with Immediate Records founder Andrew Loog Oldham.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Andrew Oldham became their co-manager and record producer.\u00a0 He had little regard for Brian Jones and thought his own path to fame and fortune would come via Mick and Keith.\u00a0 Oldham not only favored the future Glimmer Twins but joined in the acts that unwound Brian\u2019s hold on his band.\u00a0 Mick, Keith, and their cronies exploited Brian\u2019s fragile nature by making him the object of what can only be classified as \u2018acts of terrorism\u2019.\u00a0 When he was feeling stronger, Jones could give as well as he got.\u00a0 When Brian was low, the nastiness would leave him feeling isolated and literally abandoned.\u00a0 On more than one occasion, the band left him behind when he didn\u2019t show up precisely on time for departure.\u00a0 Having suffered asthma as a youngster, Brian had several episodes where his ill health made him miss gigs.\u00a0 Mick and Keith cite Brian\u2019s unreliability as one of the reasons he was \u2018let go\u2019 from the band, but in truth, out of the hundreds of gigs they played, Jones missed a dozen.\u00a0 Some of the nastiness came from five pounds:\u00a0 early on, Jones was granted five pounds more salary per gig than the others and it further alienated him from the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oldham must not have understood how basic Brian Jones\u2019 contributions to the band\u2019s success were.\u00a0 Not only did he join in some of the nasty antics directed at him, Oldham also began sowing the seeds of the, \u201cThe Rolling Stones do not need Brian Jones in the band,\u201d movement.\u00a0 How out of touch with reality was Andrew Oldham?\u00a0 When his Immediate Records label was well established on the foundation laid by The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger approached him about a cut of the action.\u00a0 Mick pointed out that the label had done very well because of his contributions and he thought it would only be fair to be cut in for one third of the company.\u00a0 Oldham was incredulous and after a bitter argument, Mick went away empty handed, but not completely.\u00a0 By now alienating his former favorite Stones, Oldham instigated their defection to another label.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oldham lost his band and eventually his entire company due to his short sightedness.\u00a0 Sadly, he had also helped prime the pump for Brian Jones demise as he pulled the band\u2019s strings.\u00a0 Those who hung around the early Stones viewed it as \u2018Brian\u2019s band\u2019 but those directing the band\u2019s later business fortunes either ignored or did not recognize his enormous contributions to their sound and image.\u00a0 Alan Klein took over control of the band\u2019s management.\u00a0 Klein\u2019s interest was in the bottom line so whatever petty squabbling that was going on in the band was not his main concern.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The most high profile relationship Jones had was with German actress Anita Palenberg.\u00a0 They became the golden couple of the mid-1960s scene, but as glamorous as it seemed on the outside, it was also a toxic relationship.\u00a0 Jones bears the responsibility for his part in their doomed relationship but he was ultimately driven from The Stones by what he felt was the betrayal of his own band mates.\u00a0 Palenberg eventually hooked up with Keith and became Mrs. Keith Richards.\u00a0 When Keith and Mick began writing together, the balance of power shifted from Brian to the Twins.\u00a0 Brian\u2019s contributions were still responsible for improving many of the Jaggar\/Richards songs, but he wasn\u2019t listed in the songwriting credits.\u00a0 The haunting recorder that immediately identifies the song <\/span>Ruby Tuesday<\/span><\/i> was created by Brian.\u00a0 The Middle Eastern feel of <\/span>Paint it Black<\/span><\/i> was vintage Brian Jones.\u00a0 Brian may not have written many songs himself, but he could be a formattable collaborator if the rest of the band would have wanted it.\u00a0 Gene Clark from The Byrds says that he and Brian wrote their hit <\/span>8 Miles High<\/span><\/i> yet Jones refused to be credited for his work.\u00a0 As Jones’s influence in the band waned, they began erasing and re-cutting some of his guitar tracks.\u00a0 At times, his voice was buried in the mix or his mic turned off during live performances.\u00a0 Eventually, the Glimmer Twins ousted Jones from the band in favor of former John Mayal guitarist Mick Taylor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Soon after The Stones presented a made for TV event entitled <\/span>The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus<\/span><\/i>, Jones was gone.\u00a0 Looking at the dark lines under his eyes during the <\/span>R&R Circus<\/span><\/i>, one senses that he was worn down.\u00a0 Brian had become an obsessive object for scorn for a police detective named Norman Pilcher.\u00a0 Nicknamed \u2018Groupie Pilcher\u2019 for his penchant of asking his high profile busts for their autograph, the Detective Sergeant made Brian Jones his special project.\u00a0 When Mick and Keith were busted at Richard\u2019s Redlands home, the target was actually Jones.\u00a0 Pilcher had already tipped off the press and though disappointed he missed an opportunity to bust Jones on drug charges, he settled for nabbing the Twins.\u00a0 With the legal support of Alan Klein and their record label, Jagger and Richards weathered the storm.\u00a0 The whole drama was pretty much responsible for their newfound image as counter culture rock and roll outlaws.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pilcher put more pressure on Brian, eventually busting him twice.\u00a0 With Jones being eased out of the band, he received little or no support from the band\u2019s circle.\u00a0 His increased isolation compounded his drug problems which caused a downward spiral in his overall mental and physical health.\u00a0 When he was finally ejected from the Stones, there was some talk of Brian forming a new band.\u00a0 He had pioneered what we would today call \u2018World Music\u2019 by traveling extensively in Morocco.\u00a0 By the time he had pulled together enough ethnic music from Africa to build a new sound around, he was mentally and physically too far gone to pull it all together.\u00a0 Alexis Korner tried to lure him out of his last home, Cotchford Farm, by promising him a spot on tour with Korner\u2019s new band, New Church.\u00a0 It became apparent that Brian no longer had the will or ability to play music so the offer was quietly withdrawn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jones last night was a typical one albeit an evening that still leaves more questions than answers.\u00a0 After an evening of drinking wine and swimming with his latest girlfriend, a semi-live in carpenter (who was remodeling the home), and the carpenter\u2019s girlfriend, Brian would be found floating face down in the pool.\u00a0 Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful and the coroner pronounced it a cause of \u2018Death By Misadventure\u2019, adding, \u201cHe would not listen.\u00a0 So he drowned under the influence of alcohol and drugs.\u201d\u00a0 Brian\u2019s death sparked many conspiracy rumors and spawned dozens of books, but perhaps Pete Townshend makes the clearest statement of the whole sad affair:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve become angry about a business in which people, especially the press, sneer if someone tries to save their skin by going into rehab after raising hell.\u00a0 Brian should have been sectioned into a mental hospital, not allowed to flounder around in a heated swimming pool taking downers.\u00a0 If I\u2019m honest, I suppose, I was one of the friends who should have called the ambulance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Brian Jones was a complicated puzzle and no one could have seen the pieces arranged in the way they ended up.\u00a0 Those who contributed to his death have told their own stories and more or less absolved themselves while still trying to profit from his short life.\u00a0 Townshend was not a band mate, but I admire him for acknowledging that the system let Brian Jones down.\u00a0 His music will be his legacy,\u00a0 the thing that will outlive the demons that haunted him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jones and George Harrison became friends and bonded as they both played second fiddle to Jagger\/Richards and Lennon\/McCartney.\u00a0 George later said, \u201cI often seemed to meet him in his times of trouble.\u00a0 There was nothing the matter with him that a little extra love wouldn\u2019t have cured.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he had enough love or understanding.\u00a0 He was very nice and sincere and sensitive, and we must remember that\u2019s what he was.\u201d\u00a0 This is how I will remember Brian Jones going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The Stones make their first appearance on Ed Sullivan’s show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Try to remember the first time you saw The Rolling Stones on TV or an album cover.\u00a0 While reading Paul Trynka\u2019s book Brian Jones:\u00a0 The Making of the Rolling Stones (Viking Press, 2014) I went back and found a YouTube video of their debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show from October of 1964.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2089,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}