MICK TAYLOR:ONCE A STONE

 (updated:May 6,2013;see update at the bottom of the article)

 We all knew that Brian Jones had founded the Stones,given its name and direction in the sixties.When he was booted from the band he himself had formed,many were considering him as the adamant fella who would soon form another band after feuding with Jagger and Richards for ages.But tragedy struck by then,he was found dead in his swimming pool,he was only 27.

1969 seems to be an odd year that most of these great bands were in their breakup phase--sort of.The Beatles had their own breakup phase due to business problems and personal conflicts between John,Paul,George and Ringo in which Paul would make it official a year later.The Monkees were finished by then and Davy Jones is enjoying his solo career.Even the Bee Gees had their breakup phase during this period of time,with Robin Gibb going solo after his much publicized rift with his own brothers Barry and Maurice.And some other bands like Lovin Spoonful with John Sebastian making his first solo appearance in Woodstock.

Many people would say and agree that Brian Jones is indeed irreplaceable but the Stones had other plans in this difficult time of their career.A new decade was coming and its time to switch gears.One cannot imagine what Mick Jagger and Keith Richards might have done or accomplished if the Stones decided to breakup at the end of the sixties like their contemporaries did.But again,they didn't,instead they replaced Brian with somewhat a guitarist with awesome blues riffing and impeccable style that guided the band's sound from 1969 to the first half of the 1970s.

A GUY NAMED "MICK"

 Mick Taylor isn't to be confused with Mick Jagger,though both of them share the same names,Michael Kevin Taylor was born January 17,1949   in Hertfordshire,England and was six years junior compared to Mick Jagger's(whose real name is Michael Philip Jagger) age.Taylor learned to play the guitar at the age of nine and was active in school bands during his teens.He met John Mayall at age 16 and joined the Bluesbreakers onstage during Eric Clapton's absence in 1965.Mayall,who was heavily impressed by Taylor,later invited him to join the band as an official member after Peter Green(who would later form Fleetwood Mac) had left.

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers became a nursery for Taylor,musically.Like his predecessors before him,Eric Clapton and Peter Green.He got better and better,playing with the group for three consecutive years,from 1966 to 1969.

In 1969,when Brian Jones was booted from the Stones,Mick Taylor was recommended to Jagger by Mayall himself.With Mick and Keith impressed by Taylor's riffs,they immediately put him to work during the Let It Bleed sessions,with some unfinished tracks Jones had left behind,Taylor laid down these beautiful licks on songs such as "Country Honk" and "Live With Me". One of his memorable riffs was the Stones' 1969 single "Honky Tonk Women" where he played a beautiful blues melody alongside Keith Richards,giving a new musical direction and style to the late sixties-era Rolling Stones.

Though Let It Bleed is considered to be the Stones' album during its transitional phase,it wasn't until July 5 of that year that Taylor would make his first public appearance with the band.The Hyde Park concert was considered to be the Stones' concert for Brian.Brian Jones,who died two days earlier,drowned in his swimming pool.The event was a farewell tribute to the man who founded the Rolling Stones,given its name and direction.Jagger was noted at the time for his white transvestite outfit,he took time to tell the audience to cool off for a minute as he reads the lines of a poem giving tribute to their departed leader and founder.

ON WITH THE STONES

The Rolling Stones toured to great acclaim with Mick Taylor on guitar and was hailed by many as one of the great times the band has ever had on their 50 year career.

 Taylor played on four other Rolling Stones albums:Sticky Fingers(1971);Exile On Main St.(1972);Goats Head Soup(1973); and Its Only Rock N' Roll(1974). He defined the Stones' sound of the early 1970s,playing those cool riffs inspired by both jazz and blues.

(photos:left:Honky Tonk Women single sleeve;below right:Sticky Fingers album cover;below left:Exile On Main St album cover)

PROBLEMS WITH THE BAND

Mick Taylor's departure in 1974 was shrouded with mystery as to what might have been his reason why he suddenly left the group.

One reason being pointed out was the songwriting credits Taylor was claiming to have written with Mick Jagger in which the latter never gave him.Second was the group's bad influence on him which took toll in 1974.It was said that Mick Taylor didn't even smoke before he met the Stones,and he became a heroin addict after joining the band.Years later,it was said that he sneered on John Phillips when the latter invited him to play as a session musician on his solo album.It was said that he first snubbed and declined Phillips' offer as he was still battling his drug addiction that he didn't touch his guitar for about a year.Though Taylor played later on with John Phillips alongside his former bandmates in the Stones,but the album wasn't released until 2001.

Another reason being cited was Taylor's feud with none other than Keith Richards himself.Richards was later said to be yelling at Taylor in the studio in which any person wont take kindly.In one of his recent interviews made in 2009,he admitted that the Stones nearly broke up and that he was arguing with them all the time with him pointing out to Keith Richards' massive addiction in 1972 and 1973.Perhaps Keith was jealous at Mick Taylor and feeling he was kinda overshadowed by his presence.

(photo:The Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor,second from left)

RUMORED POLITICS BEHIND TAYLOR'S DEPARTURE

Another rumor at the time was pointing to the fact that both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards did forced Mick Taylor out of the band so that they could get their friend Ron Wood into the group as the Faces were in their breakup phase during that period of time.Though nobody has actually proven this accusation with Mick and Keith strongly denying this saying that they were upset about Taylor leaving,it remains one of the many speculations on what would have been the reason of Mick Taylor quitting the Rolling Stones.

His replacement Ron Wood,however,was less of an acclaimed guitarist compared to his accomplishments with the group.

GOING SOLO

Mick Taylor had indeed left the band in 1974,he was to pursue a solo career.One album,self-titled Mick Taylor was released in 1979.Though the LP has been praised by the music press and blues fans alike,it didn't fare well commercially perhaps due to the advent of disco music at the time.

Mick Taylor later went bankrupt,playing in small bars and touring with a group of musician friends in a small van.He was said to have refused playing songs by the Stones.One spectator later noted that Taylor would put his show to a halt everytime somebody from the audience would request a Rolling Stones song.He would walk off and wont finish his set.Perhaps the wounds of his past was still fresh that he chose not to live with it.

Taylor later collaborated with other artists such as Bob Dylan and his former Stones bandmates,playing on Keith Richards solo album in 1988.He also played and toured with Bill Wyman who also left the band in 1993.

In 2009,a British newspaper revealed Taylor's condition wherein he was broke as a joke and admitted he was no longer receiving royalties from the Stones.Taylor later pointed out his former band's change of recording contract as the reason the payments had stopped.He even mentioned his drug problems as the main reason he was flat broke as he was financing his addiction when the money was still in his hands.He would go on tour with a group of friends playing gigs at small bars to be able to pay his electric and water bills.

LEGACY

With the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary it was rumored that Taylor would take part on this important occasion.Joining his former band would be one of the best things that would ever happen in the history of rock music.

Mick Taylor's career with the band might have been short.But listening to songs like "Honky Tonk Women","Bitch" and "Brown Sugar" will make a kid  pick up a guitar today and form his own band.

Mick Taylor was never a showman and will be remembered as the guy who played those awesome riffs from our generation to the next.With hopeful fans crossing their fingers of seeing him joining his band once again perhaps for the last time.The guy with the colossal riffs but with a quiet,humble and down to-earth persona,Mick Taylor,the man who was once a Stone.

Update: Mick Taylor joins his former bandmates in the Rolling Stones see link here