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| Jaxx |
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the Back of the Book segment, the Rolling Stones are racking up millions of dollars, rolling around the USA, playing their rock tunes. This is perhaps the most successful band in history.
But one of their members, Bill Wyman, quit in 1993. He has a new book out called Rolling With the Stones, and I talked with him a couple of days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: So you quit the band in the early '90s. Why did you do that?
BILL WYMAN, FORMER ROLLING STONE: I'd been in the band 31 years, half my life, and I wanted to do some different things. I'd always had other interests, you know. So I decided enough was enough and a nice, fond good-bye, and then move on to do my other projects.
O'REILLY: Do you speak to Jagger and Richards now? You guys...
WYMAN: We're great friends. Not Keith. I don't see Keith because he stays over here and I stay over there. But I -- Charlie I still see all the time. Mick. My wife's very good friends with Jerry. My kids play with Jerry's and Mick's two youngest ones.
I see Woody quite a lot because I'm godfather to his eldest daughter, Leah, so -- and we mix when we're down socially in France on holidays. We mix and we go to each other's houses for dinner and that. And we get up and jam sometimes if we're at the same parties and stuff like that.
O'REILLY: Those guys are never going to quit, Jagger and Richards. They'll be...
WYMAN: Well, they might.
O'REILLY: ... 80 years old. They don't need the money, do they?
WYMAN: I wouldn't have thought so, no.
O'REILLY: And you...
WYMAN: That's why I write books, you see.
O'REILLY: What is it with the drugs and rock 'n' roll people? I've never understood that. You guys got a great job because you really don't have a job. I mean, you play music. You like doing that.
WYMAN: Yes. We don't have a real job.
O'REILLY: Yes. You get paid an enormous amount of money. You have women all over the place. Why do you want to take drugs and get away from all of that? I mean, what -- can you explain it?
WYMAN: That's what I always asked them. I never took it. I never took any drugs. Never.
O'REILLY: Ever?
WYMAN: Never.
O'REILLY: Because you were busted at a big drug party?
WYMAN: No, I wasn't. I wasn't.
O'REILLY: But you were there?
WYMAN: No, I wasn't.
O'REILLY: You may not have been participating, but you were there.
WYMAN: Where?
O'REILLY: In the drug party bust.
WYMAN: Which one?
(LAUGHTER)
O'REILLY: Ha! You see? But I don't understand why so many rock 'n' rollers want to take hard drugs. Keith Richards and heroin. All of those...
WYMAN: Oh, it's all of them. Very many of them anyway. But they don't -- they -- some people think it enhances your performance, but it doesn't. It's -- if you're there and you're straight and you're dealing with people on drugs, it's very difficult to work. It really is, and it's...
O'REILLY: So, when you were only stage, sometimes the other guys were stoned?
WYMAN: Well, only Keith really. The other guys messed a bit earlier on, but they all got sorted out. Keith really through the '70s was the hardest bit.
O'REILLY: Brian Jones died, 27 years old.
WYMAN: Yes, I know. Not from drugs, though.
O'REILLY: Well, he was -- he had them in his bloodstream when he was found at the bottom of the pool. Somebody might have killed him, but he was a mess.
WYMAN: Oh, he used to take pills. That's all. But he drank a couple of bottles of brandy a day. That's what did it mixed in it, you know, and he had very bad asthma.
O'REILLY: Were you ever tempted to use drugs yourself?
WYMAN: I was in rooms all the time with people, everybody around me, all kinds of people.
O'REILLY: Why didn't you use?
WYMAN: Because I didn't want to be involved. I saw the problems they had, you know, trying to score stuff, deteriorating their lives, and things, and I had responsibilities. I had a son at home.
O'REILLY: Did you ever get heat for not using?
WYMAN: Well, they used to sort of tease you, but it's like the same problem kids have in school now in America and England, isn't it? You know, you're either part of the thing or not, you know?
You're either in the gang and you do what the gang does-- and it's that peer pressure thing, isn't it? You know -- and I just avoided it, and they made fun and they teased me a bit, but it didn't change me.
O'REILLY: What about women? You were married when you joined the band.
WYMAN: Yes.
O'REILLY: And women are all saying, Hey -- hey, Bill, come on over here. You can do whatever you want. You don't even have to take me out and buy me supper. You can jump on me. That happens all the time.
WYMAN: Yes, but it helps to pass the time when you're in a hotel in a room -- in a town where you can't go out. You can't do anything except sit in your room and watch TV.
O'REILLY: So it helped to pass the time.
WYMAN: Yes. And then it became a habit, see.
O'REILLY: You did get a lot of negative press with -- when you married that young girl. Mandy was her name?
WYMAN: Yes, yes.
O'REILLY: And you started dating her when she was like 13 or something?
WYMAN: Yes.
O'REILLY: How do you -- in retrospect, you seem like a pretty mature guy. You didn't do the drugs. You had...
WYMAN: Yes, yes.
O'REILLY: ... your life in order, and then, all of a sudden, there's the young babe. How do you look on that?
WYMAN: Well, we all have a skeleton in our cupboards. The trouble is, if you're a taxi driver in Manchester, no one knows about, and that was my one mistake in my life. But it was something that was very emotional to me, and I had no control over it.
O'REILLY: And the press really let you have it, huh?
WYMAN: Yes. Only for about eight years.
O'REILLY: Only for eight years.
WYMAN: All my friends were saying, They'll forget about him in three or four days. It was about eight years, yes.
O'REILLY: Last question. What was the most fun you ever had as a Rolling Stone?
WYMAN: Well, it was all fun, really. Especially -- the '60s was wonderful because we were all naive. We never knew how long it would last. So every band thought maybe two years, maybe three, but it just went on and on, and just to go into new countries was wonderful just to see the world.
O'REILLY: And see the rise.
WYMAN: But you could never see the world. You thought you would, but you never did. You just saw the hotel rooms and the airports.
O'REILLY: Because the groupies would grab you if you went out there.
WYMAN: Yes, because you couldn't go out.
O'REILLY: Yes. All right. Mr. Wyman, thanks very much.
WYMAN: You bet.
O'REILLY: Nice book. Very interesting to look at. We appreciate it.
WYMAN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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| nankerphelge |
Wyman never did drugs? Please... |
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| parmeda |
quote:
Wyman never did drugs? Please...
yeah...and I'm the queen of england
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| jb |
Boring interview from a boring guy....he will never be forgiven for being a quitter... |
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| sirmoonie |
Man, I didn't know that girl was 13. Isn't that like "illegal"? It should be. That is demented.
Makes sense though. Remember that first single from Monkey Grip? "Old Enough To Bleed, Old Enough For Me"
Kaaayyyyyyyyyyyo! Bammmmmm! Completely lacking in taste, but a knockout nonetheless.
Later. Much, in fact.
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| Jaxx |
quote:
nankerphelge wrote:
Wyman never did drugs? Please...
if my memory serves me correctly, in Stone Alone wyman claims that he and CHARLIE were drug free. |
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| jb |
Stray, Stray cat...13 yrs old...makes sense to me. |
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| nankerphelge |
In Greenfield's book, he recounts a story of Bill smoking a joint at some interview with Dick Cavitt.
I cannot believe that he never did drugs -- just can't buy it. Charlie -- maybe -- even that seems doubtful.
I wonder what he categorizes as "drugs" -- maybe it's a definitional thing.
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| jb |
Charlie had a heroin problem as reported in 94 on 60 minutes. |
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| F505 |
i agree the man is very boring. He claims to have written the JJF-riff which is hardly believable when you also write songs like Je suis un rock star |
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| Jaxx |
quote:
jb wrote:
Charlie had a heroin problem as reported in 94 on 60 minutes.
when? the stone alone book is a recount of the early days through brians death. i think charlie was clean back then. does smoking "the jane" count as doing drugs? hmmmmm |
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| jb |
Yes Jaxx..I remember being shocked also, but I am almost certain that this was reported..if i am in error, I apologize in advnce. |
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| Jaxx |
quote:
jb wrote:
Yes Jaxx..I remember being shocked also, but I am almost certain that this was reported..if i am in error, I apologize in advnce.
no need to apologize, but its a ponderable bit of trivia. i mean he could have been clean in those early days and riding the horse more recently--you never clarified when it was said he was chasing the dragon. |
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| nankerphelge |
Chaz's bout with heroin was in the mid-80s I believe. |
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| Fiji Joe |
From the interview:
O'REILLY: So, when you were only stage, sometimes the other guys were stoned?
WYMAN: Well, only Keith really. The other guys messed a bit earlier on, but they all got sorted out. Keith really through the '70s was the hardest bit.
Hilarious...funny...man my side hurts |
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| Fiji Joe |
Now my signature rocks...How funny is that SIA? |
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| BILL PERKS |
IN STONE ALONE THERE'S PASSAGE ABOUT BILL'S POT SMOKING PHASE AROUND 1972.WHY LIE ABOUT IT NOW? |
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| KeepRigidsLawyer |
Not at all. I believe the legal age is 12 in the Netherlands and now 14 in Russia. I may have to check my notes on this matter, however, given the current world climate. |
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| gypsy |
Nice post, KRsL. You are just a wealth of knowledge on certain subjects, aren't you?
Charlie had a heroin addiction in the late 80's. He also had a 'fling' and he and Shirley separated for a period. I'm not sure how long his addiction lasted, or for how long he and Shirley were apart. I know it wasn't long 'til Shirley set him straight. |
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| dkmonroe |
Bill smoked a joint in '72? OMG! What an out-of-control druggie!
Actually, I don't remember Bill saying he smoked dope, but even if he did, I really think that when he says he "didn't do drugs", I think he meant DRUGS, like cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc. I think he could be forgiven for sloppy classification.
I mean, really, technically alcohol, nicotine, and antihistamines are drugs, so are you going to start pointing fingers and shouting "Hypocrite!" at every rock star who claims to to "drug free" but smokes Marlboro Lights? Give me a break. |
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