The Rolling Stones’ Doomed Genius 

Charlie Watts had the decency to go to his funeral. He was always a class act.

"Brian was a brilliant, fluent multi-instrumentalist, he was the one who founded the Rolling Stones and he had the creative vision that helped them to evolve organically from a mop-top blues-pop group into the mystical rock gods they became--something that many people today might not realise."--Mick Fleetwood

Jagger, called him manipulative, the tea pot calling the kettle black.

When your friend is spiraling out of control you abandon Him That is what Mick and Keith did and you can't tell me otherwise. He will always be my favorite Stone as well as Charlie & Bill.

Had there been no Brian Jones, there would be no Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Fun fact, when Jethro Tull played at the Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus, Tommy Iommi was playing lead guitar for Tull

I'm a fan of the early Rolling Stones, and that means when Brian Jones made essential musical contributions to the band. At that time you never knew how their new song would be. Which instruments would figure in them, which pre-world music vibe would be in it. I always knew that Brian Jones was the musical genius behind all that. As to drugs and all kind of rivalries, almost every group of these times was doing them.

Poor Brian. Rehab could have helped him. He was the most talented.

To eke out my student grant I took a summer job that year as a deck chair collector in London's Royal Parks. My pitch was Victoria Tower Gardens. The Stones' concert was held in a part of Hyde Park called the Cockpit, also one of our deck chair pitches, that backed onto the Serpentine. The concert became a memorial to Jones. We saw a good deal of it stage-side and the remainder from a rowing boat floating on the Serpentine with a picnic hamper. Happy days.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both had their own legal woes due to their respective drug use. Jones was no saint, but neither were Jagger and Richards. The biggest problem with these three was battling egos.

Robert Johnson was the first member of the 27 Club. He died in 1938.

The great Alan Wilson from Canned Heat is also, sadly, a part of the 27 Club..

He was the Boss! -- Inspiration, Founder, Teacher, and All Round Grand Master, Brian Jones made the Rolling Stones into the kind of band he wanted. They are still, to this day, his creation.

First, our favorite narrator again! I don't think Jagger's answer was twisted at all. I think the group's animosity towards Jones (who probably was afflicted with bipolar disorder) was the inevitable result of his persistently contemptuous attitude towards the group. I am curious as to why someone would hear what was essentially a deathbed confession and then not follow up right then and there. Makes me wonder if he said it at all, because the fewer the details, the harder it is to prove.

“Brian’s pioneering status as a musician has become steadily less obvious thanks to the very success of his mission. The blues and world music that he championed and dragged into the mainstream have become so ubiquitous that we all suffer a hindsight bias-we find it impossible to imagine what the world was like without this music. As counter-intuitive as it might seem, this is proof of Brian’s accomplishment.”-Sympathy for the Devil by Paul Trynka

Mick got Marianne, Brian got Anita. Nuff said. Even tough Keith looked like a wasted heroin zombie after a decade with her.

Perfectly logical statement from Jagger.

"In 1966, I witnessed, on numerous occasions, the remarkable spell Brian would cast while working in the recording studio. Mick and Keith would bring songs in, Brian would listen and effectively take charge, and everyone was in awe of him. He was a real perfectionist. While recording the recorder part in Ruby Tuesday he explained to me that he had to do it over again as he had been a quarter tone off tune."--Prince Stash Klossowski de Rola (artist and friend of the Stones) in Brian Jones: Butterfly in the Park.

Didn't He Start, The Rolling Stones, Group, ORIGINALLY????!!!!

And he was the best looking of the bunch.

Brian was my favorite member of the Stones. In my opinion, they were never the same after he died.

According to one excellent biography, Frank Thoroughgood and his workers had been allowed far too much freedom by B.J. when renovating his home. Brian gave them pretty much the run of the place and they abused the privilege and treated the place like their personal squat! Brian was finally getting his act together and realising that things had gone too far, tried to wind-up the arrangement and get them out. Frank took exception to this and a huge bust-up ensued. F.T. on his deathbed confessed to drowning Brian.

“Brian Jones was indeed the father of what we now regard as world music…Brian’s championing of ethnic players such as the Moroccan Master Musicians of Joujouka back in 1967 should be regarded as groundbreaking artistic development, portents of the future.”-John Phillpott, Blues in Britain

I was in Vancouver, BC visiting my aunt when Brian Jones died. My late older brother, about 23 years later, was invited over to Keith Richards' house, where he would spend much of the 90s and early 2000s. We saw the original lineup of The Stones perform live (NYC-1966). They performed 'Lady Jane' and ended their set with 'Paint It, Black'. If I remember correctly, my brother told me that the front door of Keith Richards' house is painted red (or, at least it was in the 90s). After my brother died, a message arrived at his memorial service from Keith Richards' business manager: A lady named Jane. I remember asking my brother how come he's wasn't in Keith Richards' autobiography ('Life', released in 2010). After all, he spent virtually a dozen years at his house. His reply was-"I heard all the stories that didn't make it into the book first hand.' For instance, Brian Jones was not the first one to be kicked out of The Stones. Keith was-in the very early days of the band. My brother claimed it was Keith's mother, Doris, who told that story in their presence!

Jagger and Richards knew that Brian Jones had more talent than all of the other 3 put together. Jones was a great musician.

"We listened to the Stones' first EP, I Wanna Be Your Man, with Brian's remarkable solo. Charlie was sitting on the couch with his back to the window, the lights of Los Angeles below. Keith flopped besides him. 'What happened to Brian?' Charlie asked. 'He did himself in,' Keith said. 'He had to outdo everybody, do more. If everybody was taking a thousand mikes of acid, he'd take two thousand of STP. He did himself in.' Charlie nodded sadly. 'It's a shame,' he said. 'Brian could do that'--nodding toward the record player--'without even trying'."--The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth

Thank you for this. It is very refreshing to see a video about a celebrity who had a sad end which is not sensationalist or lurid. Your handling of the facts and your respectful treatment of all the people involved does you credit. It was also a very nicely put together film,. understated and tasteful. I hope that you will continue to produce such worthy and informative films. Regards, Bob McGowan, (Not the Chair Circle!)

I always liked Zeppelin, The Who, Ten Years After and Foghat much more than the Stones from the English bands. Enjoyed Floyd too. Feel bad for Brians rise and demise and hope he came back as a better human and musician.

Jealousy of the highest order. Brian was the genius of the RS.

Robert Johnson was the founding victim of the 27 club. That doesn’t make what happened to Brian Jones any less of a sad tragedy, and he may have been second, but he wasn’t first.

Some observations, in no particular order. First is that Jones was clearly one of those people who was always going to plough his own furrow. A fine and wonderful thing, but there will always be a point beyond which it'll generate antipathy, and the more antipathy it generates the more some people are determined to carry on with that furrow. Drink and drugs exacerbate the situation, chronic substance abuse tends to lock a person more into themselves and rational objectivity goes down the tubes. That situation with Jones is a common one, notable similar examples are Syd Barrett getting the boot from Pink Floyd the year before, Sid Vicious ten years later would have been kicked out of the Pistols if they hadn't imploded, and latterly Anton Newcomb seems to be heading pretty much the same way, although I think he's more likely to be left by his bandmates (or maybe go solo) than be kicked. Secondly, Jones' death will forever be shrouded in speculation. In general, when there are competing theories for the cause of an event the simplest explanation is usually the most likely, the further a theory is from that the more evidence will be required to support it. In this case the the most likely explanation is that Jones was just too mashed to keep his head above water and get out of the pool, there's plenty of evidence to support that and no evidence of murder, and according to Bill Wyman in 2002 Keylock subsequently denied that Thorogood had confessed. Make of it what you will, people will always believe what they want to believe. Thirdly, the 27 club has been refuted by research, one study in 2011 found similar spikes at the ages of 25 and 32, another published in 2014 found that between 1950 and 2010 over two thirds as many more musicians had died at the age of 56 compared with 27 (2.2% vs 1.3%). A bar chart of age vs percentage published in The Conversation shows a familiar bell curve with 56 at its peak, albeit with fewer deaths before that age than after it, and over 30 ages with more deaths than those at age 27. Finally, Jagger's comments in that Rolling Stone interview were a bit of a mix. On the one hand he admits that the other band members picked on Jones and that he (Jagger) was no angel in that regard, on the other he cites Jones' own behaviour as a justification for it (see my first point), and he also cites a contemporaneous lack of understanding of substance addiction as a factor. I have never bought Jagger's claim that contractual obligations prevented him from attending Jones' funeral, by 1969 he was big enough to take on United Artists over that and the public backlash against UA if they had taken action against Jagger for doing it would have hurt UA more than UA would have hurt Jagger. My own (highly personal) view is that Jagger's non-attendamce was largely a mixture of guilt and apathy but Jagger is sticking to his story and that's where it has to be left. On the whole it's a sad but familiar tale and maybe, 55 years later, it's one that needs to be put to bed.

Hey, just wanted to say that I love your Scottish accent! I also appreciate the care and attention you put into your narration. Greetings from Austin!

Brian was definitely the most talented stone!!✊🇨🇦

Enjoyed this video, took a look around the channel and decided I needed to SUBSCRIBE & HIT THE BELL!

Never let your little head rule your big head boys !

It was like syd Barrett getting booted out of his band

My favourite narrator 🙏🏻

Brian Jones WAS the heart and soul of the Rolling Stones. The Stones were at their greatest 1963-69, before the rot set in.

Brian jones was the hottest stone .... jagger wasnt going to handle that

Those early Stones singles wouldn't have had the memorable qualities that they had without Jones's instrumental contributions. He also was almost singlehandedly responsible for their blues/rock n' Roll aesthetic. He was a mess but also could've been helped.

Brian Jones was a true innovator! Jones was playing "Bottleneck" Slide Guitar in the early 1960s which always fascinated me.

Mick Taylor made the difference. Brilliant

I can’t help thinking that virtually every ‘incident’ was a publicity stunt.

Anita Pallenberg largely contributed to the demise of Brian Jones.

Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman who was the closest to Brian Jones all along speculates in his autobiography "Stone Alone" that Brian Jones may have been epileptic and perhaps a seizure overcame him in that pool that fateful night. This speculation is based on a finding that one of Jones' children, a daughter has an epilepsy diagnosis and the girl's mother has no family history of it.

Dont believe he ended up in pool by accident..was his band he named them and was best musician.

See the movie "Stoned." It is a bio of Brian Jones.

Don't forget Ian Stewart, He as well started the Rolling Stones !!!!

Very informative and interesting! I have followed the Stones since their records came out in America and got to see them live 3 times! I know Brian was a very talented musician and it's so sad he was so yroubled! GBY. Jim

Excellent work. Thank you.

I think Jagger's comments concerning Brian Jones are honest and fair.

I appreciated a fairly complete account of Brian Jones’ story.

I agree that Charlie Watts was a classy man and I once read he regretted that Brian was thrown out of the group . Charlie Watts was the heart of The Rolling Stones and was a really decent guy ! RIP Charlie Watts - 🙏🏼 You will always be missed !

I hope I'm never held in judgement for the person I was in my twenties when I reach my eighties..... Some folks really need to check themselves.

Jagger’s reply was not twisted at all. Click bait once again…

At least he and the girlfriends had the maturity to allow the babies to be adopted. Those babies probably thrived.

Absolutely fantastic have a wonderful day also a fantastic weekend ❤😊

Thanks so informative

Very informative! Good presentation

Good Day. Excellent and Educational Video. Brian was a Great Musician. I've seen the STONES twice. 1968 & 1996. A Sad Ending. RIP Brian Thank You & Best Regards

Loved early Stones! So good!

Jones years were the best Stones years They ended up like AC/DC without Bon Scott, or Pink Floyd without Syd Barret; repeating themselves ad nausea

Best narrator.

They wanted to tour in America and Brian couldn't go.

Many thing I wasn't aware of till I watched this video.

Brian was a musical genius. He could play so many instruments. He did get heavily into drugs. Missed studio sessions or showed up wasted.

What was so "twisted" about Jagger's response? It seems quite understandable to me.

Imagine being able to pick up any instrument and play. Obviously Brian was cursed.

Mick jagger was very honest about his treatment of Brian Jones. Contrary to public belief, he has always been a gentleman in person.

Robert Johnson is the founding memder of the 27 Club in 1938...

At least both Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman (plus Ian Stewart) were the only Stones to attend Brian's funeral, Keith was recording in the studio (in an interview) and his reason for not attending was because he didn't want to get caught in a "circus atmosphere" I believe (I may be wrong) Mick actually wanted to come but he was in Australia filming "Ned Kelly" and the producers told Mick (apparently) he could not go because it would've costed money for each delay but Mick and Marianne did send flowers. One book had mentioned that both Keith and Anita Pallenberg were at the funeral when they weren't and the same with newcomer Mick Taylor who stated that he never went to the funeral, and that he has never met Brian Jones. (Mick Taylor did say he had seen Brian perform)

Loads of talent 🎉

Pretty sure Jones was a very difficult person to have around, and then there was the money thing. He was essentially useless by the end. I wouldn't be surprised if he was rubbed out. It happens.

Pink Floyd done the same thing to Syd Barrett 😢

Why do people consistently mention Brian Jones as "the first member of the 27 club" when it was obviously Robert Johnson who began the 27 club? I just don't get that at all. They didn't recognize Robert Johnson for years as the master musician he was, and they still recognize the correlation of him being THE founding member of the 27 club, not that it's something you'd really want to be known for admittedly.

Imagine how messed up your life must be to be too wasted to be in the Rolling Stones.

But he had great hair!

I went to the same school in Cheltenham that Brian Jones had attended, 1970-75. Amazingly, none of us students had any idea that a Rolling Stone, the founder no less, was an alumnus; I only found out about 15 years ago. That was because there was no internet in the 70s, but also because Jones had been expelled from the school and was known to have gotten involved with "drugs", so his attendance was kept secret from us. The name of the school was Dean Close School.

You’re my favorite narrator!

All within a month, my opinion of Mick has changed twice. First, I heard he often went to the handicap section of concerts, because wheelchairs didn't have seating on a lot of arenas in those days, and Mick gave out T-Shirts and 8 Tracks and CD's. One of his roadies admitted it. Then I hear this, and I have met a lot of crappy rich people in business. They didn't get to the top by being a nice guy.

the group started in 62 not 69. I have album from 65

They used to call it fishing death. You fish and drink all day on a boat then jump into the cold lake....heart attack formula.

Ain't no Stones without Brian Jones!

The dude doesn’t show up for rehearsals and sessions, and when he does turn up he’s often too drugged-up to play. What can you do but throw him out of the band?

You don't get someone "accidentally" pregnant. And then do it again.

Mick's response sound more confessional than twisted. Everyone wonders how good a career Jones might have had, but was his path any different from the other tragic characters in Rock history? Ego can be a toxic thing. It's a sad story which recurred way too often.

The 27th birthday is the beginning of the Saturn Return which longs for 2 1/2 years. During this period, people change from young to mature… or dead!

It all comes down to fanny at the end of the day. Brian got more of it than Mick or Keith, and that's why he had to go.

The band started in 1962 ,

just goes to show, we don't always get what we want

Jones was murdered. Thorogood and an accomplice drowned him in the pool. The two men held him down in the pool and drowned him. It was like a Randy Quaid star whackers mafia hit. Jones was still standing over an income stream from the Rolling Stones, and whatever other reasons, and there was a hit called on him.

You forgot Gram Parsons and Pigpen from the Grateful Dead in the 27 club

I was in the music business many years ago, and knew individuals familiar with the band members. They were a great band, but a bunch of messed up missfits who brought dirt to the industry. Yes, they had a massive fan base and still going strong. Amazing, to say the least.

The "inspiration" behind the Stones is understated. He wrote almost all their best songs, but is not credited, Jagger/Richards are instead. The rest of the post Jones catalog speaks for itself in this realm. "Let it Bleed" , "Angie" , and "It's Only Rock'N Roll" were released posthumously because the other albums were still doing so well there was no need to crowd the field until they cooled down. His personal problems did indeed contribute to getting voted out, but his death was a hoax. He did not drown in his own swimming pool. His grave then, is empty. Actual Jagger/Richards songs are not as good, he was the genius. "Exile on Main Street" is a second tier Stones Album, though "Sweet Virginia" is another left-over Brian Jones song. The dew on "Turd on the Run" is your clue. Jagger himself once told me he regretted the song, now you know why. It's time the fans, not just music insiders, knew the truth.

Brian Jones was murdered by Tom Keylock and Frank Thorogood. The deathbed 'confession' by Thorogood was contrived to cover Keylock's guilt. Together they drowned Brian in a horse trough and threw his lifeless body into the swimming pool. There's a government D-notice on events that occurred at Cotchford Farm on July 3, 1969 due to the fact that Princess Margaret had been a guest of Brian's earlier that day.

Wonder what Brian would think of his geriatric band mates dancing around and trying to twist their arthritic fingers in to chord shapes now...

Even Charlie said Brian was an asshole.

Never should have become Involved with them in the first Place!

Technically, Robert Johnson is the first member of the 27 club.

If i had a genie, one wish would be how did Brian Jones die? Jones was such a wasted talent. Great video of Brian, awesome as always.