The Stones did not stop for me in 69. The Flavor changed, most definitely, but Sticky Fingers and Exile were brilliant and I do not think these two albums could have been as great as they were without an enormous amount of songwriting/musical talent from the remaining Stones. I like most of the albums, save Emotional Rescue, up to Tattoo You. I think the last song that they wrote that I like was Saint of Me, and I really like that song.
The frosty reception exists and it sucks. It goes beyond the refusal of an egg sandwich all the way up to outright hostility. If you bring up Brian, inevitably, and I do mean
inevitably, some one who obviously knows aaaaaaalllllll there is to know, comes in with with tired, old litany of "woman beater, made all these children and then abandoned them, druggie, asshole, talentless and really did not play these instruments". Then they go on to extol the virtues of Mick and Keith.
Well, let's review, shall we?
I think Keith's drug addiction went far beyond what Brian ever acheived. I mean, Good Lord. And the bad father of the year award can go to both of them. Keith continued to impregnate Anita all the while knowing she was, like he, addicted to heroin. All of their children had a good taste of smack before they slipped out of the birth canal. And his third child died under very, very suspicious circumstances. The death, in my opinion, was not at all investigated properly. What he did to Marlon was not right. The life that child lived and the things he saw were things a child should never have to see. I am sorry, but my 7 year old son doesn't even say the word Fuck, much less would ever tell the First Lady of Canada to "Fuck Off when she tried to comfort him. Marlon did not have a childhood and that is tragic.
Then we have Mick who created a child with Marcia Hunt and abandoned the both of them. He never recognized her or financially supported her until Karis was nine years old and a court of law forced him to support her. Then he went on to have 1 with Bianca and 4 with Jerry which of course he recognized and supported because he obviously couldn't get out of those ones. When he impregnanted Luciana Morad and little Lucas was born, he refused to acknowledge him until a court of law forced him to do so. And was a DNA test really necessary? I mean, Jagger offspring are as obvious as Jones offspring and Lucas is the picture of his dad, but with brown eyes. Mick knew Lucas was his son, he just was going to try to save his ass.
And this bit about Brian not being a talented muscian who did not play several instruments is merely an attempt at the revision of history and why they are doing it is beyond me, but some people are actually choosing to believe it. Go figure.
So they have all done things that were less than admirable. They are human. Humans are not perfect nor do they always do the right things. They were very young when fame hit and that changes you. Drugs change you. One should not be singled out and damned and the others exhalted because they all screwed up, but yet they were/are extremely talented.
Does that make them unworthy of praise, admiration and adulation? Do their faults make them less talented and does it take away from the things the have done? Of course not! However, it seems that a lot of Stones fans want to do that to Brian exclusively and THAT is what pisses me off. I don't know who wrote the line, but Eric Clapton sings "Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself". So I think all the bashing of any party is really counterproductive. They were/are a great rock and roll band and each one of them has a rich contribution to rock and roll history.
All I do is talk here and I need to shut up and start posting Brian Piccies.