When founding member of The Rolling Stones, Brian Jones was found face down in the swimming pool of his newly purchased country home in Sussex, it sent shock waves throughout the world, floods of questions and an avalanche of conspiracy theories.
Even stories of how Brian Jones left the rest of the Stones is one of contradictions – he quit – he was fired – his drug use was taking over and something had to be done – he was adamantly against the direction the Rolling Stones wanted to take – a question of clashing egos. A little bit of everything – a lot of some things and maybe none of the above. The bottom line; Brian Jones, who was viewed as something of a pathfinder for the Stones and a pursuer of new ideas was increasingly in friction with the rest of the band was now gone – not coming back – not to be reconciled – not to be argued with. Brian Jones was dead.
The direction was in fact changing. Whether this was something brought on by Brian Jones initially, since his influence can be felt a few albums later or whether his influence was something hard to shake is fuel for a lot of speculation.
The conspiracy theories are rife – he committed suicide – he was the victim of a drug deal gone bad – he rubbed the wrong person the wrong way and was murdered. To this day there are theories.
Ultimately, The Rolling Stones were a changed band after Brian Jones left – some say they were never the same – some say they lapsed into a state of complacency because Mick and Keith lacked the adventuresome spirit Brian Jones had and because of that there have been remarks that Post-Brian Jones has been an exercise in variations on the same theme that he avoided like the plague.
How ever you feel about The Rolling Stones; whether you were a fan from the beginning or just coming to them recently it should never be forgotten that Brian Jones was an integral part of the band and without him, things might have gone very differently.
This BBC Radio Documentary, produced in 1969 shortly after news of his death, offers a few insights to the complexity of a brilliant artist and musician and how expansive his musical world was.
It’s an interesting half-hour of a story that has many different endings and many different interpretations.
