This story is very well known, but what the heck, I love these guys.
In October 1961, Keith and Mick start talking on a train into London about their love of the blues. Keith was fascinated by the records Mick was carrying, and Mick was amazed when Keith said he could play Chuck Berry’s licks. They were soon huddled over records with Mick singing and Keith playing guitar. About the same time, Brian Jones came to London to form a band with his mate, Ian Stewart. They met Mick and Keith at the Ealing Blues Club, and Ian told Brian, “Mick can’t sing to save his fuckin’ life,” but it was obvious he was going places. When the four of them began to look for work, someone asked them their name — Brian responded, the Rollin’ Stones. They started to play gigs in jazz clubs that were offended by the rock ’n’ roll side of the group, and they still needed a drummer and a bass player. With an older Bill Wyman playing bass, they started to draw crowds and generate enthusiasm around London. They finally landed Charlie Watts.
Brian, Keith, Mick, Stu, Bill, and Charlie were now a band. They believed they were on the cusp of something, and then came the Beatles. They would stick to their blues-based rock ’n’ roll to compete. The Stones landed a regular Sunday gig and began to draw crowds that loved to dance to their music. One Sunday in April 1963, the Beatles came in to listen and were blown away. They soon had a 19-year-old manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, and a deal with Decca. Because of his older, hangdog look, Stu was demoted to session musician and road manager. As 1963 closed, Brian’s demons were getting the better of him, and he was slowly separating from the group. More importantly, Andrew told Keith and Mick they had to write their own songs. They finally delivered “Not Fade Away.” Oldham pushed the bad-boy image and got them a US tour.
The tour was a bust, with only one good night — 2,600 happy, screaming fans at Carnegie Hall. Upon their return home, they released “It’s All Over Now.” They came back to the US in October on the heels of “Time Is on My Side” and nailed a performance on Ed Sullivan. The following spring of 1965, they recorded “The Last Time” and “Play With Fire.” “Satisfaction” followed, and “it would become the most iconic riff in the history of rock ’n’ roll, as identifiable as the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.” As the band ascended, Brian fell deeper into abusive drug use and further separated from the group. That summer, they brought in Allen Klein to improve their record deal and released “Get Off of My Cloud.” By the end of the year, the Stones were stars whose concerts were wildly rowdy. Mick and Keith kept writing, and Allen Klein was filching most of the royalties.
The following year, one of London’s tabloids decided to put two investigative reporters on the Stones. They tipped off the police, who raided a party at Brian’s house on Feb. 11, 1967. Just before they took off on a European tour, Mick and Keith were summoned to appear in court in May. Brian was busted later that spring. At their trial, Keith was sentenced to a year and Mick to three months. Public reaction, even including The Times, was vehemently opposed to the mistreatment of Mick and Keith over absurdly minimal offenses. On appeal, Keith’s case was dismissed and Mick’s deferred. They had dodged a bullet. They were fed up with Oldham, who was equally unhappy and quit. To finish up an unsatisfactory year, Their Satanic Majesties Request flopped.
They opened the new year with Mick beginning to run the business and a new producer in place. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Street Fighting Man” erupted, and in June they laid down “Sympathy for the Devil.” They released Beggars Banquet, and everyone just loved it. Over the Christmas holiday, Keith and Mick took a trip together and did some serious thinking about the future. They had to get rid of Brian, who had just been convicted of a serious crime. And they had to dump Klein, whom they figured out was stealing them blind. They were on top of the world, and they were broke.
Back in the studio in early 1969, they produced “Gimme Shelter,” “Honky Tonk Women,” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” They picked Mick Taylor to replace Brian, and Charlie, Mick, and Keith broke the news to Brian, who seemed to accept it. Soon thereafter, though, Brian was dead. Two days later, the band played in public for the first time in two-and-a-half years. They went to LA and prepared for a US tour. They started on Nov. 7 and were ready for the tag many were using — The Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the World. The tour was a resounding success, with the band developing a show that would carry them around the world for decades.
They had agreed to do a free show and went to Altamont, which featured “masses of angry, drug-addled kids.” Security would be provided by the Hells Angels in exchange for $500 worth of beer. The place was a dump, the Angels were using every drug they could find, and in the madhouse they killed a man. The Stones were lucky to escape in a helicopter. Everyone blamed them, and they left the country immediately.
They looked forward to 1970, a new record deal, and decamping to France to avoid Britain’s taxes. They got the record deal they wanted with Atlantic and convinced France to let them in. The only real fly in the ointment was that Keith was so addicted to heroin and coke that he could barely function. Through a haze of drugs and daily chaos, they created Exile on Main St., a double album released in 1972. The following tour was a much-heralded success. However, they were still fighting with Allen Klein, facing endless drug busts and legal problems, and Keith’s addictions ran rampant. He and Mick were no longer the Glimmer Twins — they were barely speaking and certainly not writing. Mick Taylor got fed up and quit. He was replaced by Ronnie Wood.
As they prepared for their 1975 US tour, the Stones opted for special effects, turning their monstrous concerts into spectacles. The band rolled on until Keith was in such bad shape that he was arrested for trafficking in Toronto. He had to clean himself up or the band might not be able to renew its record deal or tour again. He did, for a while.
In 1982, the band celebrated its 20th anniversary. At this stage, though, they were primarily a performing band. Their music was simply not as impactful as it once was. Soon thereafter, they were falling apart — sniping, fighting, doing solo work, and unable to keep it together. They made an album that Mick decided was not even worth touring behind. Ian Stewart, the foundation of the whole group, died of a heart attack. By the end of the ’80s, the Stones were no more. At their lowest point, one of their financial advisers observed, “The way you make money is as a band. You have to do group work. This is what the world wants from you.”
Mick and Keith got together in 1989 and settled their differences. They cranked out the Steel Wheels album in just five weeks in Barbados and were heading out on tour for the first time in eight years. Mick came up with an eight-story, $18 million stage. They reconnected with their audience and with each other. Keith said, “If we made it through the ’80s, we can go on forever.”
They toured into the ’90s, and no one could unseat them. Bill Wyman withdrew, and they brought in Daryl Jones. They went out on a yearlong tour beginning in the summer of 1994 and grossed $320 million. They have toured ever since, most recently in 2024, although Charlie had to step away in 2019. They opened the Hackney Diamonds tour at SoFi in LA and brought the house down sixty years after their first California gig.
It has been speculated that they have been seen in person by almost a billion people. They all left smiling and singing the songs of the Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the World.
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