The Rolling Stones

1950: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first meet in a sandpit in the playground of Wentworth County Primary school. “I used to see him around,” Keith later recalled, “on our tricycles.” According to Mick, “I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said a cowboy like Roy Rogers and play a guitar.”

Dec 25, 1955: Charlie Watts is given his first drum kit for Christmas.

1956: Brian Jones discovers Charlie Parker and immediately drops clarinet lessons and takes up the alto sax. Doris Richards buys Keith a guitar for seven pounds.

Sep 1956: Mick attends Dartford Grammar School, Keith atttends Dartford Technical School.

1958: Little Boy Blue & The Blue Boys rehearse in Bexleyheath, Kent.

Keith is expelled from Dartford Technical College. Attends Sidcup Arts School instead, where he meets Mick’s old friend and bandmate Dick Taylor.

Brian leaves school with nine O Levels and then leaves town after fathering a baby from a 14-year-old. He has a variety of jobs, including colman and bus conductor.

Mick and Keith meet in a carriage on a train from Dartford to Victoria. They vaguely recognise each other from Wentworth Primary School, but what prompts Keith to finally speak to Mick is the collection of Chuck Berry and blues albums Mick is carrying. The pair agree that Keith should audition for Little Boy Blue & The Blue Boys.

1961

Mike Jagger becomes Mick Jagger. Brian Jones fathers a child from Pat Andrews. Brian leaves the Cheltenham band The Ramrods, with whom he played alto sax, and travels to London. Brian plays guitar with Blues Incorporated under the name Elmo Lewis.

Oct: Mick attends the London School of Economics, where he is studying for BA in Economics.

Dec: Brian Jones joins Mick and Keith.

1962

March 17: A new blues venue opens above an ABC teashop on Ealing Broadway

May 19: Mick once again sings with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. A week later, a headline in Disc reads: “Singer joins Korner.”

July 11: The name “The Rolling Stones” first appears in Jazz News.

Aug: Mick, Keith, and Brian move into a flat in Edith Grove, London. They support themselves with Mick’s student grant, Brian’s salesman job in an electrical store and Keith’s mum’s care packages of food.

Sep: Dick Taylor leaves the band to attend the Royal College of Art.

Dec: Bill Wyman officially joins the band.

1963

Jan: Charlie Watts joins the Stones and plays his first gigs. The band gigs constantly with residencies at venues like Ealing Jazz Club, Ken Colyer’s Studio 51 and Eel Pie Island in Twickenham. They rehearse above a pub called The Bricklayers Arms on Berwick Street in London’s West End.

Feb: Audiences often consist of fellow budding blues musicians like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend. The Beatles make a visit to see the band. Their weekly steamy nights at the Crawdaddy at Richmond’s Station Hotel result in ecstatic press reviews. The band are paid six pounds per night or half the take at the door, whichever is greater. The Merseybeat invasion hits high gear when the Beatles’ “Please Please Me” vaults to Number One on the British charts.

Apr 28: Andrew Loog Oldham (who also did PR for The Beatles) and Eric Easton see the Rolling Stones at Richmond and sign a management deal the next day. Oldham’s previous plan for becoming rich included kidnapping a wealthy heiress, keeping her drugged up in an apartment in Monte Carlo and selling the story to the tabloid press. Unfortunately, the family of the heiress he chose had friends in Government and managed to ban any and all mentions of their daughter in the press.

May: Rolling Stones sign with Decca Records. They are signed by the same A&R man who had turned down the Beatles the year before.

May 10: First official recording session at Olympic Studios. Andrew Oldham produced. Tracks include “Come On,” and “I Wanna Be Loved.”

Jun 7: “Come On”/”I Wanna Be Loved” released and the Stones make their TV debut on Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Aug 27: The Stones play Windsor without Brian Jones because the guitarist is sick. It is the first time the band has played without him.

Sep 29: First English tour with Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley opens. On various dates, show organizers have to plead with the audience to shout “We Want the Everlys” instead of “We want the Stones.”

Nov 1: Stones release version of the Lennon/McCartney song “I Wanna Be Your Man” backed by “Stoned”. The song reaches Number 12 on the British charts.

1964

Jan: Combo, a male pop fan magazine ran a story “categorically denying” rumours that Mick Jagger was about to go to Sweden and have a sex change operation.

Jan 6: The Rolling Stones start another tour, topping the bill for the first time, with the Ronettes. They become the first band to ditch their stage uniforms and are immediately described by the establishment as “long-haired louts.”

Feb: A headline in Melody Maker reads, “WOULD YOU LET YOUR DAUGHTER GO WITH A ROLLING STONE?” Within a week, the British press picked up on the idea and asked the nation, “WOULD YOU LET YOUR DAUGHTER MARRY A ROLLING STONE?”

Feb 21: Release “Not Fade Away”/”Little By Little.” It reaches Number Three on the British charts.

Mar: The Stones appear on “The Hollywood Palace” show with a troupe of circus elephants, acrobats, and cowboys. Unfortunately, the show is hosted by Dean Martin who, thoughout the show slams the Stones at every chance possible. “Their hair isn’t that long,” Martin says. “It’s just smaller foreheads and higher eyebrows…Now don’t go away, everyone,” taking the audience into a commercial break, “You wouldn’t want to leave me alone with these Rolling Stones, would you?” Later, introducing a trampolinist, Martin says, “That’s the father of the Rolling Stones. He’s been trying to kill himself ever since.”

Mar 27: The UK Daily Mirror reports that 11 pupils from a boy’s school in Coventry have been suspended for imitating the Stones’ hair style. Mick is invited to Paul McCartney’s party, which Marianne Faithful also attends. Andrew Loog Oldham immediately seizes on the idea of Faithful recording the Jagger/Richards song “As Tears Go By,” which he considers too soppy for the Stones to record.

Apr: Release their first LP, The Rolling Stones. Mayhem erupts when the band plays a New Musical Express poll winners party at Wembley Arena.

Apr 17: “Not Fade Away” goes to Number One in Britain.

Jun 3-20: First American tour. The band learns the hard way that Americans expect their stars to pay their dues.

Jun 6: The Stones play the San Antonio State Fair, where they are forced to play on a water tank full of trained seals. Keith later claims that he had never been hated by more people he had never met than in the mid-West that year.

Jun 13: Keith is told by a cop to empty a drink, assumed to be whisky and Coke, into the dressing room sink before a gig in Omaha, Nebraska. When warned that drinking alchohol in a public facility contravenes state laws, the guitarist attempts to negotioate with a cop, claiming the cup was only filled with Coke. Negotiations are quickly curtailed when the cop pulls out his .44 Magnum and points it directly at Keith’s forhead. A perfectly miserable day is rounded off by the Stones performing for just 600 people.

Jun 16: The band break from the U.S. tour and fly to Magdalen College, Oxford, to honor an agreement booked the previous year. They then immediately resume the tour.

Jun 24: A gig at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool ends up in a riot as 70 policemen are called in to contain the crowd, who smash up the Stones equipment.

Jun 26: Release “It’s All Over Now,” a version of the Valentino’s song backed by “Good Times, Bad Times.” It was recorded at Chicago’s legendary Chess studios — home of Muddy Waters and other Stones heroes — during the group’s first visit to the States that month. The Stones arrive at the studio at the same time as a portly black man who helps carry their equipment in. The band later realize it’s Muddy Waters.

Jul 8: “It’s All Over Now” goes to Number One in Britain.

Jul 24: Thirty-two fans and two policemen are injured during hysterical scenes at the band’s Blackpool gig. At one point, a fan spits on Keith, inciting severe retribution from the guitarist. The venue later claimed 4,000 pounds in damages.

Jul: The Stones predate the dance music explosion by 25 years and headline their fan club’s All Night Rave at London Alexandra Palace, which also features John Lee Hooker and winds up at 6:30 in the morning.

Aug: Marianne Faithful has a Top 10 hit with the Jagger/Richards composition “As Tears Go By.”

Sep 5: British tour with Charlie and Inez Foxx until Oct 11.

Oct 24: At Kennedy Airport(awaiting The Stones arrival), girls who broke from the crowd barriers grabbed a random TV interviewer and answered his simple question of “Why do you like The Rolling Stones” with “Because….Keith is beautiful, and because…they’re so ugly, they’re attractive.”

Oct 20: The Olympia is the band’s first show in Paris and hundreds of stampeding fans break windows at the theater after the show. Police are called in, there are riots in the streets, resulting in 150 people arrested.

Oct 26: The Rolling Stones appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. The group presented the nation-wide audience with the spectacle of a studio apparently being torn apart by its audience. Sullivan disclaimed all responsibility for the Stones’ engagement and vowing they would never pollute his air time again. “I promise you, they will never be back on our show.”

Nov: The Stones appear on a T.A.M.I. (Teenage Music International) pop package. Included in the lineup is Gerry and the Pacemakers, Jan and Dean, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, the Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and James Brown. “We’re all terrified about appearing on the same bill as James Brown”, Bill Wyman says, “he told everyone that when he went onstage, he was going to make the Rolling Stones wish they’d never set foot in America.”

1965

Jan: Release of The Rolling Stones No. 2 album.

Feb 26: Release of “The Last Time”/”Play With Fire.”

Mar 5: Begin major European tour with the Hollies, including stops in England, Scandinavia, and France. During their Manchester show, a girl fell from the upper circle, at the Leicester gig, a girl lost her front teeth, and after the Stones show at Sunderland Odeon, the band’s used cigarette butts are sold for a penny each and fans try to buy the water the Stones had washed in.

Mar 18: The final night of the British leg of the tour, by which time the Stones had played 14 consecutive nights, two shows per night. After the final gig, in Essex, a Daimler driven by Mick with passengers Brian and Bill makes a pit stop at a gas station on the Romford Road in Forest Gate, East London. Bill has to relieve himself, but is told the toilets are locked. He urinates against a wall and the Stones drive off thinking nothing of the incident. Station attendant Eric Lavender lodges an official complaint with the police and suddenly, all hell breaks loose. The Stones become public enemy Number One. Mick is reported to have said, “We’ll piss anywhere, man.”

Apr 22: Fly to Montreal for Canadian and American tour.

Apr 26: Canadian police shut down a gig at the Treasure Island Gardens in London, Canada after just 15 minutes because of crowd trouble.

May: The Beatles receive OBE in Queen’s Birthday honours list.

May 2: With the growing success of The Rolling Stones, there was no possible way Ed Sullivan could uphold his ban on the group. They make a return appearance, looking slightly sharper , at their host’s request, and agree to bee cooped up in the studio for eight hours beforehand. After the appearance, Sullivan sends them a telegram that reads, “Received thousands of calls from parents complaining about you but thousands from teenagers praising you. Best of luck on your tour…”

Jul 22: Mick, Brian and Bill appear at the West Ham magistrates Court after the Forest Gate petrol station manager, Charles Keeley insisted on pressing charges. The magistrate calls Bill “a shaggy-haired monster.” The bassist admits to the court, “I just happen to suffer from a weak bladder.” The band is fined 15 Guineas.

Aug 20: Stones release the single “Satisfaction”/”Spider And The Fly,” which immediately becomes a world-wide anthem. Keith claims he woke up in the middle of the night in a motel room in Clearwater, Florida with that riff in his head and had to whack it down on a cassette there and then. When he woke up the next morning, he couldn’t remember even writing the riff.

Aug 24: The Rolling Stones meet with Allen Klein for the first time.

Aug 28: Andrew Oldham and Allen Klein to co-manage the Rolling Stones. The band sign a new five-year contract with Decca.

Sep 14: Anita Pallenberg first meets Brian Jones backstage at the band’s show in Munich.

Sep 15: Mick decides that goosestepping on the stage might be an interesting wheeze. The audience think otherwise and riot.

Oct 17: Release LP Out Of Our Heads.

Oct 22: Release “Get Off My Cloud”/”The Singer Not The Song.”

Oct 29: Again, fly to Montreal for the fourth Canadian/American tour.

Nov 13: Release of “Little Red Rooster”/ “Off The Hook.”

Nov 29: To honour the band’s gig in their fair city, officials of Denver, Colorado announce this date is the official Rolling Stones Day.

Dec: In Los Angeles, Keith and Brian attend the second Acid Test party given by the Beat associate and writer Ken Kesey and his followers, the Merry Pranksters. Keith and Brian both pass the test which was to sample a man-made drug so new, it had not been declared illegal: lysergic acid diethylamide, a.k.a. LSD.

Dec 4: During a gig in San Jose, California, Keith’s guitar accidently hits a live microphone and the guitarist is badly electrocuted. He recovers conciousness after seven minutes. Oct 23: Stones fly to the US for 12 dates, including the Academy of Music.

Dec 21: Publication of pocket book Ode to a High Flying Bird by Charlie Watts. It’s the story of legendary sax player Charlie “Bird” Parker and was written in 1961.

Dec: The Stones end the year by beating the Beatles in Record Mirror’s first end-of-year reader’s poll.

1966

Feb 4: Release “19th Nervous Breakdown”/”As Tears Go By.”

Mar 26: European tour begins.

Apr: Release Aftermath LP, their first Number One album.

May 13: Release “Paint It Black”/”Long While.”

Jun 23: Rolling Stones arrive in New York for their fifth American/Canadian tour, which ends in Hawaii.

Sep 10: The Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York and Ready Steady Go in England.

Sep 23: Release “Have You Seen Your Mother Baby”/”Who’s Driving Your Plane.” The cover photo of the band in drag shocks audiences in both the UK and US.

Sep 23 – Oct 9: Opening of British tour at London’s Albert Hall with reception afterwards. Tour with Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds.

1967

Jan: Appearance on the famous UK live concert show “Sunday Night at the London Palladium.” The band causes major upsets when they refuse to get on the roundabout stage at the show’s end. They are branded rebels by the TV executives.

Jan 20: Release of the Between The Buttons album in America.

Jan 28: Release of “Let’s Spend The Night Together”/”Ruby Tuesday.”

Feb 12: Kent Chief Inspector Gordon Direly knocks on the door of Keith’s Redlands home. He shows Keith a search warrant. Police raid the house and discover four amphetamine tablets in a coat belonging to Marianne Faithfull and some resin and ash thought to be cannibis. Mick claims the tablets are his and Marianne is not charged. Mick and Keith are not so lucky.

Mar 25 – Apr 13: Opening of European tour in Oerbo, Sweden. The Stones make their first visit behind the Iron Curtain when they play Warsaw, Poland.

May 10: Police raid Brian Jones’ house and charge him with possession of cannibis.

Jun 27: Mick and Keith face charges of possession of drugs at Chichester Crown Court. The court hears how the police found the four tablets and the cannibis resin. The court also allegedly hears that police first discovered Marianne Faithfull wearing nothing but a fur rug. The British tabloid press have a field day. Richards is given a one year jail sentence and is fined 500 pounds. Jagger fairs slightly better and is given a three month sentence and ordered to pay 100 pounds costs. Mick ends up in Brixton prison, Keith resides in the notorious Wormwood Scrubs.

Jun 28: There is an outcry over the harshness of the sentences passed out to Mick and Keith. The Times, that bastion of the British establishment, prints an editorial condemning the sentences, claiming they would have been far more lenient on people less famous and using the oft-repeated phrase “breaking a butterfly on a wheel.”

Jul 31: The case comes to the court of appeal and the judge tosses out the sentences of the lower court. Keith’s verdict is overturned because the evidence is found to be too circumstantial and Mick’s sentence is reduced to one year probation.

Aug 18: The hastily-assembled “We Love You”/”Dandelion” single is released to thank the public for their support during the Jagger/Richards trials. Lennon and McCartney pop up on backing vocals while Mick and girlfriend Marianne Faithfull returns the favor by joining in with The Beatles “All You Need Is Love” for the “Our World” simultaneous satellite TV broadcast.

Sep: The Rolling Stones announce that they have broken away from Andrew Oldham and will in the future produce their own records.

Oct 30: Brian Jones is sentenced to nine months in prison for possession of cannibis.

Dec: Release Their Satanic Majesties Request LP.

1968

April 8: The Daily Express reports a controversy surrounding Mick Jagger and theOlympic long-jumper champion Lynn Davies. The Stones’ and the atheletes were all staying at the same hotel in West Germany. According to Davies, the hotel’s breakfast room had been polluted by the obscenities coming from the Stones’ table. “I felt ashamed to be British,” that athlete stated. “They are tarnishing their country’s name in a foreign land….” Mick replies to Davies allegations with, “We deny any sort of bad behavior, we hardly ever used the public rooms in that hotel. They were crammed with athletes behaving very badly.”

May 25: Release “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”/”Child Of The Moon.” It remains at Number One in the UK for six weeks.

Aug: The Beggars Banquet album is supposed to be released, but Decca objects to the Stones’ graffiti-splattered toilet wall sleeve and it finally emerges in a plain white cover in December.

Sep 1: Mick begins work on his first film role in Nic Roeg’s “Performance”

Dec 5: The Rolling Stones hold a “beggars” banquet at Elizabethan rooms in London to mark the release of their LP, Beggar’s Banquet. Lord Harlech deputizes for Keith who is ill. They surprise guests with a custard pie throwing party.

Dec 12: The Rolling Stones’ Rock’N’Roll Circus is filmed at Wembley studios for television. Friends include John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Beggar’s Banquet is released.

1969

Jun 8: After a meeting with other band members at his home, Crotchford Farms (“Winnie The Pooh” author A.A. Milne’s old estate) during which members of the Stones tell him his services are no longer required, Brian declares he is leaving the Stones, saying he wants to form a new group. The Daily Sketch reports “Brian Jones quits the Stones as group clash over songs.” A few days later the Stones hold a photo call in London’s Hyde Park to introduce their new guitarist, Mick Taylor, who was formerly in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. The band announces that their new guitarist will make his live debut with the Stones at a free concert to be held in the park on July 5, and plays on the upcoming single, “Honky Tonk Women”/”You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Jul 3: Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool at his Cotchford Farm home. The East Grinstead coroner later returns a verdict of “death by misadventure” due to “immersion in fresh water under the influence of drugs and alcohol.”

Jul 5: The Stones perform their Hyde Park gig, which now becomes a memorial for Brian. Mick Jagger reads Percy Byshe Shelley’s “Adonais” as a dedication to Brian and releases thousands of butterflies. The free concert is attended by over 350,000 people.

Jul 6: Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull fly to Australia to begin filming “Ned Kelly.”

Jul 11: Release “Honky Tonk Women”/”You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Sep: Release Through The Past Darkly album.

Oct 17: The Rolling Stones arrive in Los Angeles to set up their sixth American tour.

Nov 7: Stones begin their U.S. tour.

Dec 6: The Stones arrive at the Altamont Speedway track just outside San Francisco for a free concert. After a few numbers, a spectator takes a gun and aims it at the stage. He is immediately pounced on by Hell’s Angels security. The band restarts the concert, but more trouble breaks out as the Angels run rampant through the audience. Keith stops playing and announces, “Either those cats cool it, man, or we don’t play.” The Hell’s Angels around the stage start to circle the band. With his usual diplomatic flair, Keith notices the burliest of the encroaching Angels and says only, “Fuck you.” Surprisingly, the posse backs off and the gig continues for another hour.

Then the 70’s