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From drug usage to controversial lyrics, rock�s original bad boys have shocked fans for decades
ERNEST A. JASMIN
Scripps Howard News Service
Today�s pop stars are a pretty unsavory bunch. Except for Hanson, as far as we know.
You�ve got P. Diddy reportedly whacking record executives with chairs, Marilyn Manson accused of bumping and grinding on security guards� heads and Snoop Dogg producing porn films. Need we even bring up Eminem?
But those guys are bush league compared to the Rolling Stones. In four decades, the legendary British rock band, which is now touring the United States, wrote the manual on rock excess and public bad behavior.
�Mick Jagger is the pope of bad boys,� Greg Gutfeld of Stuff magazine said on a recent VH1 special on �Bad Boys and the Women Who Love Them.� �If you want to be a bad boy, you have to go to Mick Jagger and kiss his ring.�
Not that his band-mates are cherubs. Collectively, the Stones have left a trail of groupies, narcotics, mob scenes, love children, bruised photographers and even a couple of bodies in their wake since launching in 1962.
Here are just a few examples of how they�ve shocked fans and paved the way for today�s rowdiest rockers:
Bands such as Limp Bizkit and Guns N� Roses were at the center of larger riots than the Stones, but has any band been in the midst of mayhem more often? Mob scenes were common at early shows, and the group was banned from �The Ed Sullivan Show� in 1964 after the crowd got a little too riled up.
�I promise you they�ll never be back on our show,� Sullivan said. �Never� apparently meant �not for another two years and four months.�
The most infamous incident at a Stones show took place at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, Calif., in 1969. Someone thought it was a good idea to have the Hell�s Angels work security for the free concert, and the bikers responded by starting several fights and fatally stabbing and bludgeoning an 18-year-old fan who pulled a gun.
�Looking back, I don�t think it was a good idea to have the Hell�s Angels,� guitarist Keith Richards said later. �But the Grateful Dead, who�ve organized these shows before, thought they would be the best.�
No word on whether the Crips and Bloods are available to work the current tour.
Today, reports of rock drug busts are just as likely to inspire yawns as shock. Maybe we�ve all been a little desensitized by the Stones.
The most infamous Stones bust happened in 1977 when Toronto police nabbed Richards for possession of 22 grams of heroin and five grams of cocaine. Richards posted bail but, according to Rolling Stone magazine, asked for some of his stash back until he could score more. Now that�s nerve.
But Richards wasn�t done, �They�re out to make rock �n� roll illegal,� he said after being handed a lenient sentence. �Well, they�ve missed another chance at it. Don�t lock up the rock.� Canadian officials were not amused.
A bit of related Richards mythos � popularized by biographer and former employee Tony Sanchez, author of �Up and Down with the Rolling Stones� � has the guitarist trying to beat his addictions by having his blood replaced in 1973. But here�s the take at urban legends Web site Snopes.com:
�The �blood change� claim is almost certainly untrue, because Richards himself says he made up the story, no real evidence supports it and such a procedure is medically questionable in terms of both safety and effectiveness.� More likely, the Web site says, Richards simply had his blood filtered.
Today, critics say Eminem�s lyrics promote sexism and bigotry. But with the 1978 release of �Some Girls,� the Stones found themselves on the receiving end of similar claims. The album was called sexist and racist, the latter accusation based on a line in the title track about black women�s sexual stamina. Several black stations banned the record, and Jagger eventually apologized to the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
But the album�s biggest critic may have been comedian Lucille Ball, who threatened to sue after learning she was depicted unflatteringly on its cover. When Lucy talks, people listen. The original artwork was soon replaced.
Then there are the groupies. �In every country around the world there are signs that say, �Mick Jagger slept here,� and they mean it,� rock journalist Cindi Lieve said on MTV. In 1977, speculation about Jagger�s relationship with �Madcap� Maggie Trudeau � then the 28-year-old wife of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau � led to scandalous headlines.
Jagger got involved with longtime girlfriend and eventual wife Jerri Hall while still married to Bianca Jagger. And neither his relationship with Hall nor the singer�s age appear to have slowed him down. Jagger and Hall�s marriage ended in 1999 after Brazilian model Luciana Morad told the world she was having Jagger�s child.
But the most scandalous Stones fling has to be Bill Wyman�s affair with teen model Mandy Smith. Smith told the press their relationship began when she was 13.
�Bill knew the risk he was taking, but it didn�t occur to me,� she said in 1986. Scotland Yard pursued the case, but neither the girl nor her mother wanted to press charges. Singer R. Kelly is not so lucky.
� Tacoma News Tribune
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I thought I'd read Jagger never apologized to JJ. More likely he told him to f himself. Or maybe he left it to Keith. |
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