Case file Nº 016 1962–present

The Rolling Stones

The Stones' genius is institutionalizing conflict. Brian Jones founded the band and was voted out of it in 1969 as his condition collapsed; the Jagger–Richards partnership then spent six decades oscillating between symbiosis and siege — peaking in the 1980s 'World War III,' when Jagger declined to tour the band's album in favour of his solo career and Richards responded in kind, in print, at length, forever. Keith's 2010 memoir reviewed Mick's anatomy and character; the next tour was announced on schedule.

Formed: 1962
Origin: London, England
Genre: Rock / Blues rock
Status: Active — the feud merely well-managed
Documented lineup changes: Founder dismissed 1969; guitarist quit 1974; bassist retired 1993

The file

The Rolling Stones were founded in 1962 by Brian Jones — who named the band, chose its material, and initially paid himself a secret extra £5 a week as leader, a fact his bandmates discovered with lasting effect. By decade's end the band he built had outgrown him: sidelined by the Jagger–Richards songwriting axis and undone by drug convictions (which barred US touring) and deteriorating health, Jones was visited at his farmhouse in June 1969 by Jagger, Richards and Watts and informed the band would continue without him. Less than a month later he was found dead in his swimming pool, aged 27; the coroner recorded misadventure.

The band's second great fracture was slower and funnier, in the way of wars between millionaires. Through the mid-1980s, Mick Jagger signed a solo deal alongside the band's new CBS contract, released solo albums, and declined to tour Dirty Work — a betrayal Richards prosecuted in the press for years, coining the era's title, 'World War III,' and referring to Jagger's solo debut by a title too unkind to reprint. The band did not tour for seven years; both men released solo work that charted beneath their standards; and the 1989 reconciliation in Barbados — two weeks of shouting, then Steel Wheels — established the modern Stones settlement: maximum grievance, minimum interruption to commerce.

Around the principals, the ledger filled steadily: manager Allen Klein's ABKCO ended up owning the 1960s catalogue (the band's lawsuits recovered less than the songs did); guitarist Mick Taylor quit in 1974, later citing credit and money among his reasons; and Bill Wyman simply retired in 1993 and took up archaeology, this archive's single healthiest exit.

The thread

Timeline of unravelling

1962–63

Brian's band

Brian Jones forms and names the Rollin' Stones, recruits Jagger and Richards, and negotiates himself leader's pay. Manager Andrew Loog Oldham then locks Jagger and Richards in a kitchen, per legend, until they emerge as songwriters — quietly relocating the band's centre of gravity forever.

1967

The Redlands bust

The News of the World tips police to a party at Richards' Redlands estate; Jagger and Richards are convicted on drug charges and briefly jailed before appeal — with The Times' famous 'butterfly on a wheel' editorial helping turn establishment opinion. Jones' separate busts, however, permanently damage his US visa prospects and his standing in the band.

8 Jun 1969

Brian Jones is dismissed from his own band

Jagger, Richards and Watts drive to Jones' farmhouse and inform the founder that the band will tour without him; a settlement of £100,000 plus annual payments is agreed, and the press is told he chose to leave. Mick Taylor is announced days later.

3 Jul 1969

Death at Cotchford Farm

Jones is found dead in his swimming pool at 27. The inquest records death by misadventure. Two days later the Stones proceed with their free Hyde Park concert as a tribute, releasing thousands of white butterflies over 250,000 mourners.

1970–72

Divorcing Klein, funding exile

The band discovers the extent of Allen Klein's contractual grip: ABKCO retains the US rights to the 1960s catalogue, a loss litigated for years and never reversed. Fleeing UK taxes, the band decamps to France and records Exile on Main St in Richards' villa basement, an arrangement combining masterpiece and misdemeanour in equal measure.

Dec 1974

Mick Taylor quits cold

Taylor — the virtuoso who elevated the band's greatest run — resigns abruptly at a party, to the band's fury, later pointing to uncredited songwriting contributions and the milieu's dangers. Ronnie Wood arrives on permanent probation that has now lasted five decades.

1977

Toronto: the trafficking charge

Richards is arrested in Toronto with enough heroin to be charged with trafficking, facing potential years in prison; the eventual sentence — a benefit concert for the blind, following the intervention of a devoted blind fan — remains among the most Canadian judgments ever rendered. The episode pushes Jagger into operational control of the band, an imbalance with a long fuse.

1985–86

World War III begins

Jagger's solo album She's the Boss (recorded while the Stones awaited him) and his refusal to tour Dirty Work detonate the partnership. Richards briefs the press with escalating candour; Jagger tours solo with a set full of Stones songs; Richards forms the X-Pensive Winos, partly, he concedes, to prove which of them was the band.

1989

Barbados: the armistice

Jagger and Richards convene alone in Barbados, conduct what both describe as days of comprehensive mutual grievance, and emerge with an album (Steel Wheels) and the modern Stones business model: colossal tours on Cirque-scale infrastructure, personal relations conducted through counsel and craft.

1993

Bill Wyman retires, alive and solvent

The bassist of 31 years leaves to pursue restaurants, archaeology and metal detecting — an exit so devoid of scandal it stands out in this archive like a unicorn. (His personal life's genuinely serious controversy — his relationship with and marriage to Mandy Smith — predates the exit and is a matter of extensive public record.)

2010

Life: the memoir as artillery

Richards publishes Life, reviewing five decades of partnership including Jagger's alleged imperiousness ('Her Majesty,' 'Brenda') and a disparaging anatomical aside that required a negotiated semi-apology before the next tour. Jagger's public response is silence, the next tour, and — reportedly — an unamused reading. The tour grosses half a billion dollars.

2021

Charlie Watts dies

The band's gentleman drummer — who once, per band legend, answered a 3 a.m. summons of 'where's my drummer?' by dressing in a Savile Row suit, descending, and punching Jagger with a clarification about whose singer he was — dies at 80. The band, with his blessing arranged beforehand, continues with Steve Jordan.

2023–25

Hackney Diamonds and the eternal machine

The first original album in 18 years debuts to the band's best reviews in decades, followed by yet another stadium tour in their ninth decade of life. The Jagger–Richards partnership — the longest-running feud-marriage in this archive — enters year sixty-two, unresolved and unstoppable.

Personnel ledger

Who held the thread

Mick JaggerVocals · 1962–presentAssumed control of the enterprise in the late 70s and never relinquished it; his 80s solo detour triggered the band's near-death and its most quotable war.

Keith RichardsGuitar · 1962–presentThe partnership's keeper of the flame and its chief press officer against Jagger; survived heroin, Toronto, a coconut tree, and six decades of Mick.

Brian JonesFounder, guitar · 1962–69Named the band, led it, lost it, and died within a month of his dismissal. The archive's starkest founder's fate.

Charlie WattsDrums · 1963–2021The band's dignity reserve; jazz-inclined, immaculately suited, and the author of its most beloved punch. Died 2021.

Bill WymanBass · 1962–93Kept a meticulous diary of everything, then retired voluntarily — the exit interview the rest of rock never gives.

Mick TaylorGuitar · 1969–74Played on the imperial-era albums, quit at 26 citing credit and survival, and guested decades later once the arithmetic improved.

Ronnie WoodGuitar · 1975–presentFifty years in the band, technically salaried for the first several — the longest probation in employment history.

Allen KleinBusiness manager · 1965–70Renegotiated their royalties up and their ownership out; ABKCO holds the 60s catalogue to this day.

Where the thread lies now

The Stones persist as popular music's longest-running going concern: touring stadiums past their 80th birthdays, releasing acclaimed new work, and managing the Jagger–Richards relationship like the nuclear arsenal it is — never disarmed, never deployed. Watts' death and Wyman's guest return for Hackney Diamonds gave the late era an elegiac warmth the 1980s version would not have predicted.

The file's throughline is Brian Jones: the founder's dismissal and death established this archive's grimmest pattern — that a band can outgrow, remove and outlive the person who invented it — while the Klein catalogue loss taught the second lesson, that the paperwork outlasts everyone. The Stones learned both lessons the hard way and then, unlike most, never forgot them.

Exhibits