1966
I'm glad I opened your eyes
1966
I'm glad I opened your eyes
January 5, 1966: Bill Wyman produces a recording session in London for
Ian Stewart, where Bill, Stu and Keith
Richards record the song Stu-Ball.
January 1966: Mick holds a party in his apartment where the group attends,
along with John Lennon, George
Harrison and Ringo Starr.
January 20, 1966: The Rolling
Stones perform on British TV's Top of the Pops.
February 3-6, 1966: The Rolling
Stones perform again on British TV's Top of the Pops, as well as
on
the Eamonn
Andrews Show.
February
4, 1966: The Rolling Stones' single 19th Nervous Breakdown is released
in the UK. (Released in the U.S. on February 12.)
| Mick Jagger
(1966): Pills and breakdowns
(I get inspiration from t)hings that are happening around me - everyday life as I see it. People say I'm always singing about pills and breakdowns, therefore I must be an addict - this is ridiculous. Some people are so narrow-minded they won't admit to themselves that this really does happen to other people beside pop stars. |
February 8, 1966: Keith Richards fails his test for a driving licence.
February 13, 1966: From New York
City, the Rolling Stones appear on The Ed Sullivan Show for the
third time.
February 16, 1966: The Rolling
Stones arrive in Sydney, Australia, for their second Australasian tour
and hold a
press conference at the airport.
February 17, 1966: The Rolling
Stones tape an appearance on Australian TV's Bandstand Special.
February 18-26, 1966: The Rolling
Stones perform concerts in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and
Melbourne.
February 27-March 1, 1966: The
Rolling Stones perform concerts in New Zealand, in Wellington and
Auckland.
March 2, 1966: The Rolling Stones
end their second down under tour by performing in Perth, Australia.
March 3-5, 1966: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie and Shirley Watts
spend time in Fiji. Brian Jones and
Bill Wyman hang out in Los Angeles.
March 6-9, 1966: At RCA Studios
in Los Angeles, the Rolling Stones continue and conclude their
recording
sessions for Aftermath, as well as for their next single Paint It Black.
Under
My Thumb,
Lady Jane,
Out
of Time, Stupid Girl and High and Dry are recorded among
others.
| Keith Richards
(1966): "Paint It Black"
We were in Fiji for about 3 days... They make sitars and all sorts of Indian stuff. Sitars are made out of watermelons or pumpkins or something smashed so they go hard. They're very brittle and you have to be careful how you handle them. Brian's cracked his already. And we had the sitars, we thought we'd try them out in the studio. To get the right sound on Paint It Black we found the sitar fitted perfectly. We tried a guitar but you can't bend it enough. |
| Keith Richards
& Mick Jagger: "Under My Thumb" and the girl put-down songs
Keith: Songs like Under My Thumb and Stupid Girl were all a spin-off from our environment... hotels, and too many dumb chicks. Not all dumb, not by any means, but that's how one got. (Brian) was still fantastic making records, because he was so versatile. I mean, he'd have marimbas - which is why you have marimbas on Under My Thumb - or dulcimer, sitar. He kind of lost interest in guitar, in a way. But at the same time he added all of that other color, those other instruments and other ideas. He was an incredibly inventive musician. Mick: There was one song that was particularly chosen as an anti-women thing, which was Under My Thumb. And actually Under My Thumb - how does it go... (sings) Under my thumb, there's a girl who once had ME down. So the whole idea was that she - that I was under HER, she was kicking ME around. So the whole idea is absurd, all I did was turn the tables around. So women took that to be... against femininity where in reality it was... trying to "get back", you know, against being a "repressed male". (Pause) This was a long time ago (laughs).... |
| Charlie
Watts, Ian Stewart, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman & Mick Jagger: Brian
Jones vs. The Glimmer Twins
Charlie: In a way I suppose Brian resented Mick and Keith being sonwriters. Physically and in every other way Brian wasn's strong enough to take control. He was a very clever musician but he didn't stay with anything long enough to prove himself a GREAT musician. He'd play something for three weeks and then never again. Ian: Songwriting caused a lot of bitterness. But there again Brian could not write songs. He's a little bit like Bill in that respect - writing nice little songs that are all right by themselves but not in the Rolling Stones' style. Brian's attempts at writing were really awful and pretty grim. Keith: Mick and I being songwriters affected Brian a lot. It took Brian a long time to come to terms with that because it was very early on. After that he never reagained any sort of status. He lost more and more interest as he went along. It got to the point where we were going in the stdio and Brian had to play or learn a song that Mick and I had written. That would bring him down more and more. Brian's only solution became clinging to either Mick or me, which created a triangle of sorts. It was like Brian's open wound. Eventually, though, he became a sort of laughingstock to the rest of the band. Bill: Charlie and I were all right 'cause we're fairly easygoing, but for Brian it really threw him. Brian was lost. He wasn't even singing backup vocals like he used to. He got confused over what his purpose in the band was. So he started to practice less and get drunk more. He really couldn't handle it, and just went from bad to worse over two or three years. It was difficult to break this cult thing and feel like we were all friends. The atmosphere was a bit strange, a little tense. There would be in jokes that you didn't know about. I went through a period that lasted several years where I was the scapegoat for funny remarks and sarcastic comments. I didn't like it very much. Then suddenly Brian became the one that wasn't liked. I was OK then, back amongst the pluses and Brian was in the minuses. In those days it was a bit vicious. Mick: We really were vicious. In the beginning if anyone was the slightest bit flaky in a recording sesion, they were really in for a hard time. When you're young you put the knife in. Brian couldn't even be botherered turning up for sessions. There's only so much you can do. |
Mid-March 1966: Brian Jones spends time with Andrew Oldham in New York
City. While in New York, Brian
catches the Velvet Underground perform at the Paraphernalia, as part of
Andy Warhol's touring multi-media
spectacular Exploding Plastic Inevitable show. Meanwhile, Keith
Richards purchases the house Redlands in
West Wittering, Sussex.
March 26, 1966: The Rolling Stones
arrive in Amsterdam in the Netherlands for a European tour. They
perform in
Den Bosch, near The Hague, for the first time.
March 27-29, 1966: The Rolling
Stones perform in Belgium, Brussels and Paris, France. The group
meets Brigitte
Bardot in Paris.
March 30-31, 1966: The Rolling
Stones perform for the first time in Marseille and Lyon in France. In
Marseille,
Mick Jagger is hit with a piece of wood over the eye while performing,
and requires
hospitalization
and stitches.
April 1-2, 1966: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts spend time
in England, with Mick attending a
recording session by The Troggs. Bill Wyman, Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg
spend time in Paris; Bill
Wyman and Brian Jones attend the taping of a special Ready, Steady,
Go! edition at Paris TV studios
featuring The Who and The Yardbirds.
April
2, 1966: The Rolling Stones' first greatest hits compilation album, Big
Hits (High Tide and Green Grass), is released in the U.S.
April 3-5, 1966: The Rolling Stones
end their brief European tour with concerts in Stockholm, Sweden
and Copenhagen,
Denmark.
April 14, 1966: The Rolling Stones
perform in London for British TV's Top of the Pops.
April
15, 1966: The Rolling Stones' fourth U.K. album, Aftermath,
is released.
April 15-30, 1966: The group enjoys time off. Mick Jagger and Chrissie
Shrimpton, Brian Jones and
Anita Pallenberg spend time in Dublin, Ireland. Bill Wyman and his family
vacation in Scandinavia.
May 1, 1966: For the third year
in a row, the Rolling Stones perform at the New Musical Express'
Poll-Winners
Concert at the Empire Pool in Wembley, London. They share the bill
with the Who,
the Yardbirds
and other artists, and for the last time with the Beatles.
May 4, 1966: Anita Pallenberg moves in with Brian Jones.
May
7,
1966: The Rolling Stones' single Paint It Black is released.
May 8-12, 1966: The Rolling Stones
appear for the last time on British TV's Thank Your Lucky Stars,
and perform
as well on Top of the Pops.
May 15-25, 1966: Brian Jones spends time in Marbella, Spain; Bill Wyman
and his family spend time in Majorca,
Spain.
May 16, 1966: Mick Jagger and Andrew Oldham visit Beach Boy Bruce Johnston
at his hotel room in London,
England where they are played the just-released Pet Sounds album.
May 26, 1966: The Rolling Stones and girlfriends/wives attend Bob Dylan's
concert at the Royal Albert Hall in
London.
May 27, 1966: The Rolling Stones
perform on British TV's Ready, Steady, Go - Live.
June 1, 1966: Brian Jones joins the Beatles in their recording of Yellow
Submarine at EMI Studios in London.
June 8, 1966: Mick Jagger collapses from exhaustion and is ordered rest.
He moves into a new apartment near
Regents Park, London.
June 23, 1966: The Rolling Stones
arrive in New York City for their fifth North American tour, their
last of the
teenybopper era.
June 24, 1966: The Rolling Stones
hold a press conference aboard a yacht in New York City, spend
time afterward
with Bob Dylan at a recording studio, then start their tour with their
first ever
performance
at Manning Bowl in Lynn, Massachusetts.
| Mick Jagger
(1966): Vietnam
Vietnam has changed America. It has divided and made people think. There's a lot of opposition - much more than you think, because all the opposition is laughed at in American magazines. It's made to look ridiculous. But there is real opposition. Before, Americans used to accept everything, my country right or wrong. But now a lot of people are saying my country should be right, not wrong. |
June 25-July 10, 1966: The Rolling
Stones tour the Atlantic coast and Ohio Valley/Great Lakes
region of
the United States and Canada. The group performs in arenas and stadiums
in Cleveland,
Pittsburgh,
Washington DC, Baltimore, Toronto, Montreal, New York City, Syracuse, Detroit
and
Chicago. They
also appear for the first time in Hartford, Connecticut; Buffalo, New York;
Atlantic
City and Asbury
Park, New Jersey; Virginia (Virginia Beach); and Indianapolis, Indiana.
| Mick Jagger
(1966): Montreal
It was unbelievable (in Montreal). We've never seen anything like it before. I was disgusted. There were about 30 bouncers when we appeared - all of them huge blokes, wrestlers, I think. They were punching people for no reason at all and then throwing them out. One fight broke out at the front of the theatre while we were playing and 6 of the chaps set on one kid. It was terrible. It was going on in front of 12 000 people, too. In the end we stopped playing because the fans were booing and hissing and pointing at the bouncers. We joined in - and after the show, had to run for our lives because the wrestlers tried to get up on the stage after us. I was scared out of my life. I thought we were going to get it that time. |
July
2, 1966: The Rolling Stones' U.S. version of Aftermath,
their sixth North American studio album, is released.
July 2, 1966: Following their concert at New York City's Forest Hills Tennis
Stadium, the group witnesses
unknown Jimi Hendrix - calling himself Jimmy James - performing at a club.
July 6, 1966: In Syracuse, Brian Jones attracts controversy by allegedly
dragging an American flag across
the floor.
July 11-15, 1966: The Rolling
Stones pursue their tour through central Canada and the U.S.,
performing
for the first time in Houston, Texas; Missouri (St. Louis); Winnipeg, Canada;
and again
in Omaha,
Nebraska.
| Keith Richards:
A rapprochement with Brian
To some extents the hatchets with Brian were buried on that ‘66 tour.... Brian brought Anita Pallenberg along half-way through somewhere in Texas. We were totally wrecked every day on real good Mexican grass. It was much easier to get along with Brian because we were all into the same thing. Mick too. This was like a rapprochement with Brian. Brian was very happy that everybody was getting along. We knew this was going to be our last American tour for a bit, so this was more of a celebration. |
July 16-18, 1966: The Rolling Stones spend some days off from the tour
relaxing in Los Angeles.
July 19-26, 1966: The Rolling
Stones tour the western coast of North America, appearing in
Vancouver,
Seattle, Sacramento, Pheonix, Los Angeles (at the Hollywood Bowl) and San
Francisco.
The group also plays for the first time in Oregon (Portland); Utah (Salt
Lake City); and
Bakersfield,
California.
| Tour manager
Michael Gruber: Brian and Anita on tour
One night at the Bel-Air in Los Angeles, Brian and Anita had to get off by beating the shit out of each other. He'd take a chair and bash it over her head. Cary Grant is in the next bungalow. He doesn't want to hear you fucking cunt and televisions being smashed over champagne and caviar. About 4 AM the manager came to my bungalow. He tells me one of our party is destroying their bungalow. I told him not to worry as we'd pay the damanges. When I go to Brian and Anita's bungalow it looked demolished, like a truck had ran through it. |
July 28, 1966: The Rolling Stones
end their 1966 North American Tour in Honolulu, Hawaii, which
they play
for the first time.
July 29-August 2, 1966: The Rolling Stones take more rest time in Los Angeles.
August 3-11, 1966: The Rolling
Stones start work on their next single and album at RCA Studios in
Los Angeles,
including Let's Spend the Night Together and Yesterday's Papers.
| Mick Jagger:
"Yesterday's Papers"
Yesterday's Papers was the first song I ever wrote completely on my own for a Rolling Stones record. |
August 8, 1966: Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys visits the Rolling Stones
in the studio in Los Angeles, where he
hears the track My Obsession. The Stones then proceed to get Wilson
high on marijuana.
August 1966: Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg holiday in Morocco, Charlie
and Shirley Watts in Greece, Bill and
Diane Wyman in Florida, Mick Jagger in Mexico and Keith Richards in New
York. Mick Jagger starts seeing
Marianne Faithfull.
August 31-September 2, 1966: At
IBC Studios in London, the Rolling Stones continue work for
the most part
on Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?.
September 1966: Brian Jones starts work on the soundtrack for the German
film A Degree of Murder.
September 8-9, 1966: Mick Jagger,
Keith Richards and Andrew Oldham finish work on Have You
Seen Your
Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? at RCA Studios in Los Angeles.
September 10-11, 1966: The Rolling
Stones are in New York City to shoot the cover for their
next single,
film a promotional film clip and make their fourth appearance on The
Ed Sullivan Show.
Mid-September 1966: Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg move into a new apartment
on Courtfield Road in
London.
September 22, 1966: The Rolling
Stones rehearse in London for their British tour.
September
23, 1966: The Rolling Stones' single Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby,
Standing in the Shadow! is released.
| Mick Jagger:
"Have You Seen Your Mother?"
Have You Seen Your Mother? was like the ultimate freakout. We came to a full stop after that. I just couldn't make it with that anymore; what more could we say? We couldn't possibly have kept it up like that. You just drain out totally. Because it's just the end of a certain period and we just had to stop. |
September 23-October 9, 1966:
The Rolling Stones undertake their 1966 Tour of Great-Britain, what
would be their
last for over four years, with opening artists Ike & Tina Turner and
the Yardbirds
among others.
The group performs at the Royal Albert Hall in London, then pursue with
concerts in
northern England
(Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Stockon-on-Tees); Glasgow in Scotland;
Newcastle,
Ipswich, Birmingham and Bristol in northern and central England; Cardiff
in Wales; and
Southampton
in southern England.
| Mick Jagger,
Brian Jones & Keith Richards: The Fall 1966 Tour and a new generation
Mick: It's good to be touring again. When we toured last time, we'd done so much we had become blasé about it. But we haven't toured Britain for a year now, so it's fresh again. I'm very surprised at the fans - I thought they'd be older but they seem as young as ever. I never expected this sort of reception. It's a knockout. Brian: A new generation came to see us on tour with Ike and Tina Turner. Youngsters who had never seen us before, from the age of about 12, were turning up at the concerts. It was like it was three years ago, when the excitement was all new. Keith: The tour has been an enormous success because it's brought the young people back again. In the It's All Over Now era, we were getting adults filling up half the theatre and it was getting all draggy. We were in danger of becoming respectable! But now the new wave has arrived, rushing the stage just like old times. |
October 4-5, 1966: The Rolling
Stones make their last appearance on British TV's Ready, Steady,
Go,
and also perform on Top of the Pops.
October 1966: Marianne Faithfull separates from her husband John Dunbar
to continue her relationship with
Mick Jagger.
Mid-October 1966: Mick Jagger
and Keith Richards work on recordings of the British tour with Glyn
Johns in London
for a live album, attended also by other members of the group.
| Bill Wyman:
Got Live If You Want It
Got Live we recorded on 4-track. Some of the vocals were overdubbed later and some of the guitars, too. I remember Mick and keith going into the studio a few times on that one. Charlie and I didn't do any studio stuff so the rhythm section is pretty much from our concerts. Plus there are two studio cuts, of course, Fortune Teller and I've Been Loving You Too Long with audience tracks overdubbed on them. Don't forget in those days we didn't do very long shows, we used to play 25 minutes at the most if you or we were lucky. Kids would get onstage, attack me, attack Brian, Charlie, Mick and Keith. So you would ahve the guitar go out for twenty seconds, drums, etc., half a minute where you would lose the bass or drums completely. Out of six shows you would be lucky to get together a full set LP. |
October 1966: Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg holiday in Paris, France.
October 1966: Ron Wood joins some of the Small Faces for a party at Mick
Jagger's, with Marianne Faithfull.
Early November 1966: Brian Jones joins Anita Pallenberg in Munich, West
Germany, who is shooting A Degree
of Murder.
November
4, 1966: The Rolling Stones' compilation album Big Hits (High Tide and
Green Grass) is released in the UK.
November 8-26, 1966: The Rolling
Stones pursue and finish work on their next single and album,
Between
The Buttons, at Olympic Sound Studios in London. Songs include Ruby
Tuesday,
Connection,
Miss
Amanda Jones and Something Happened to Me Yesterday.
November 14, 1966: The Rolling
Stones shoot the album cover for the Between The Buttons LP.
Late November 1966: The Rolling
Stones shoot promotional film clips in London for their next single.
| Keith Richards:
Slowing down
All we wanted was to catch up on everything we hadn't been able to do. Although we made money we were still living in rented apartments or hotels. Consequently we hadn't been able to appreciate the position we were in. By '66 we reached a point where anoter change was coming. Over the next two years we would get there. We needed to be part of the audience for a while. We just needed to enjoy ourselves and take stock of what was happening. We had lots of personal things to deal with too. Brian was becoming impossible to work with. In every other way he was totally alien to the band. Much of that though was caused by the non-stop work. |
December 1966: Ron Wood does his last work with his group The Birds.
December 6-16, 1966: Keith Richards and Brian Jones holiday in Los Angeles,
California.
December 8, 1966: Bill Wyman first meets Astrid Lundstrom at a London club.
December
10, 1966: The Rolling Stones' first live album, Got Live If You Want
It!, is released.
December 17, 1966: The Rolling
Stones perform in London for BBC TV's Top of the Pops.
December 18, 1966: Mick Jagger breaks up with Chrissie Shrimpton, who tries
to commit suicide and is
hospitalized.
December 20, 1966: Mick Jagger performs a duet with Chris Farlowe on UK
TV's final Ready, Steady, Go!.
Late December 1966: Charlie and Shirley Watts holiday in the United States.
December 24, 1966: Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg meet up with Keith
Richards and Linda Keith in Paris,
France for Christmas.
| Keith Richards:
Late 1966
It was the first time where we didn't have to think about getting to a gig or anything like that. That was one of my real concentrated periods of pulling chicks as Brian and Anita were together and Mick was getting into Marianne. And we were all enjoying getting stoned. As we started to get out of this stupor. I remember Linda Keith was there. And I suddenly realized the relationship had been over for months as far as I was concerned. I was not interested in starting anything serious. I hwas having too good a time on the loose. We spend the whole of Christmas on our hands and knees. We'd conned the hotel nurse into thinking we couldn't sleep so she'd given us all these downers that were very, very strong... We used to take two pills at a time and everybody would crash out, sleep, and order another Christmas dinner. |