Anyone else feel Keith's a real knob in the way he portrayed Brian in his book? He paints Brian as a guy who was barely involved in the band even in the beginning--Just a sideman, and basically gives him very little credit for anything the guy did. He glosses over or omits entirely Brian's contributions to the band and you only really see Brian's bad side--As if Brian was this utterly untalented, utterly bad man who just happened to tag along with The Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Co) for 7 years.

Keith goes on and on gushing about Ian, and Ian was very important no doubt--but so was Brian during his time in the band; at least from '62 to '68. And Brian was a key, core, official member. One of the personalities of the band. An icon of the 60s on his own. The man had a lot of personal flaws, but that's no reason to write him off entirely and sort of bury his part in the band's history. I mean he treats Brian as if he was not much more than a woman beating Pete Best. I've just read up to page 273--dealing with Brian's death--and Keith's bitterness doesn't end there. It only gets worse. And it shocked me.

His attitude toward the idea of Brian being possibly murdered is basically, "Meh. Big deal if he was. Had it coming, really." I mean, Jesus, the guy was flawed but it seems like Keith really HATES Brian even to this day and I don't understand it.

It's one thing to say "The guy was a temperamental asshole and really difficult to work with", but to be like basically, "The fucker was a little crazy bastard who contributed little to nothing, and if he was killed at age 27, well, he was whiny  and probably annoyed Frank Thoroughgood and his builders, so it'd be just manslaughter to me, he had it coming, and he had nothing left in life anyway."

To be honest, Keith was a hero of mine for a long time. He seemed to be a no nonsense, yet cool, laid back guy. A debonair sort of cool cat in his own way. Yeah, he was a heroin addict, but so were many great guitarists and musicians really. It's well known that Brian was like Jerkyll and Hyde in his personality--So I'm not defending him as any saint or anything. He was probably severely bi-polar, had woman issues, and the drugs only made whatever mental problems that were there ten times worse,. He probably was impossible to work with at times, no doubt.

But to be honest, going thus far, Keith's treatment of Brian in his book--in history, basically--has kind of taken the shine off Keith for me as a person. As a guitarist I'll always respect him and love what he's done...But as a person he seems a bit of a cold hearted, bitter bastard who rewrites history based on how he feels about people, which is an utterly wrong thing to do. A passive aggressive bitter man who can't get over shit that's nearly 50 years ago.

I know people in real life who are like that, bitter shells who rewrite and recolor history based on their own emotional biases and either erase people out totally or limit their participation in history to nothing even if they were key players; people who destroy pictures of people they dislike or hate to erase them from history, or only tell you every single bad thing they did and not mention one good thing. It's a great disrespect to the deceased, who aren't there to defend themselves or give their side. If you're writing a book and presenting an inside history to the public, you should take your emotional bias off, give someone credit where it's due, and at least TRY to be objective. Brian was no saint but I imagine he was not a monster 24/7, and whether Keith wants to admit it or not, the guy contributed to tons of their songs from '62-'68. He wasn't just some Pete Best or some hireling. Some of the most beautiful or important elements of the Stones '60s period songs wouldn't be there if not for Brian.

Did Keith's portrayal of Brian come off to anyone else here as incredibly callous and wrong? Did it change anyone's perspective or feelings on Keith even just a little?

Heart Of Stone wrote on Jan 24^th, 2012 at 7:39am:


I was paraphrasing but here is the actual quote:

Quote:


Page 272 of my paperback edition.

uncleson wrote on Jan 24^th, 2012 at 12:47pm:


I'm going to look into that book, whether I read it or not, I read so many books about Brian that I got from the library, I'm going check it out.

Sioux wrote on Jan 24^th, 2012 at 6:00pm:


And in Keith's book, it's BEYOND that of a talented sidemen. Keith really glosses over 1965-1967, mentioning Brian just on the sitar on Pain't It, Black, and even mentioning that doesn't go without an air of subtle sort of sarcasm. If you go by Keith's book, Brian was a psychotic, utterly untalented pretty blonde haired weird guy who no one except Anita Pallenberg liked really and he beat her and Keith saved her from Brian. He even touches that he felt Brian might've tried to kill Anita. Him taking Anita isolated Brian in the band, but that didn't matter because as soon as he "gave up the guitar", an act Keith sort of mocks and mentions incredously several times, he was basically out of the band anyway.

Like I said, he makes Brian sound like a psychotic Pete Best: A nobody who contributed little to nothing and did nothing but horrible deeds and somehow got to tag along for seven years. A nobody who has as much or maybe just a little more importance in Stone history as Dick Taylor. The one nice thing he says about Brian is that when he first saw him he was amazed by his slide guitar. That's pretty much the only positive mention he gets out of a 7 year partnership, and like I said, the period where Brian contributed a hell of a lot is glossed over almost entirely except for the more guitar driven hits. He's basically been relegated to a psychotic Mick and Keith wanna be who happened to be in the band when they began. Worse than a sideman; more like he was barely involved at all. I haven't read further yet but I'd imagine Bobby Keys gets more musical credit and is paid more respect to than Brian.

I think KEEF is still mad that Brian beat Anita and over the years it contributed to a larger disgust with Brian and a diminishing opinion of Brian, giving him no fair share of the credit he deserves. Long before KEEF's book came out most of us have formed our own opinions and gathered facts, and learned to understand the circumstances. KEEF was trying to turn opinions against Brian because of the way he treated Anita, no doubt, KEEF neither forgives or forgets. Still its not nice to badmouth a dead guy who isnt around to either apologize or defend himself.  

What's struck me as bizarre is how his attitude toward Brian has changed over the years. The the few years after the event, Keith seemed genuinely saddened over his bandmate's death. There's that interview footage (glimpsed briefly in the 25X5 documentary) in which Keith looks almost despondent. Then there's the 1971 Rolling Stone magazine interview, in which he does admit that Brian could be a bastard, but he also praises him as a musician and as a person. Even as late as 2002, Keith still had some nice things to say about Brian and his talents.

I, too, have to wonder what happened between then and now. I still enjoyed the majority of Keith's book, but his poor treatment of Brian and Bill in particular was not lost on me.

StickyStones wrote on Jan 24^th, 2012 at 11:55pm:


FWIW. In October 1969 I had an interesting conversation with Alexis Korner. He was among the people who visited Brian at home after he was fired.
And yes, among other nice words about Brian he described him as a very intelligent guy.

Child of the Moon wrote on Jan 24^th, 2012 at 10:57pm:


I remember that keith interview in 25 x 5 and it looked like keith was fighting off tears..

Maybe somewhere inside Keith never really got over Brian's death and his way of dealing with it is pretending (even to himself) that Brian barely existed...Sort of blocking off most of his memories of him, except the bad ones, as they say the bad memories are the ones that stick with you. Basically throwing the hate he has on him is his way of expressing grief and sort of "You had to die before you and I made up. You little bastard, you had to do that". Some sort of misplaced emotion. It's obvious there's something really deep and unresolved there, but it isn't just the hate in his book.

Brian is on film talking about that project. Can't remember if he had a name for it, but I guess nothing came of it...

Back to the original subject....I am not, in any way, condoning Brian's behavior towards certain women in his life, but....in reference to Anita, I have read that she could give just about as good as she could take. There is one instance, in some book or other, that when they were both in a drug fueled haze, she broke a chair over Brian's head. Needless to say, they did NOT bring out the best in each other. I think they were basically just too much alike. And the increased drug intake and alcohol consumption, on Brian's part, didn't help matters either. Interestingly enough, some of Brian's other girlfriends in the early/mid 60's, Pat Andrews, Linda Lawrence, Dawn Malloy, never mention Brian being physically abusive with them. And they all three have been very supportive of Brian over the years....

I, too, believe that Brian sufffered from some form of bi-polarizm. There is one type, called dysphoric mania, which has criteria that describe a lot of what Brian seemed to experience--it's essentially depressive and manic episodes that occur simultaneously. Also characterized by extremely excited moods, irritability, anger, agitation, grandiosity, HYTERSEXUALITY, wearing of FLAMBOYANT clothes, PERSECUTORY DELUSIONS.....yep. That pretty much sounds like Brian in the mid/late 60's. If only these things had been better understood, and treated, back in the 60's...

As far as Keith goes, I'm wondering if he doesn't feel a sense of guilt about everything---not guillty as far as Brian's death is concerned, but that they {he and Mick} weren't more sympathetic towards Brian and try to either help him or get him more professional health. Yes, I know that Brian spent some time in the Priory Clinic, but I know he didn't get the treatment he needed. Keith is SO bitter now, he's really irrational about it all. But I think that deep down, if he's not too far gone, Keith still remembers how close he and Brian were in those early Edith Grove days. It may be a case of "Methinks thou dost protest too much." He may not want people to think he could possibly have a soft spot for Brian anywhere

Yes, the Anita thing broke off that friendship for good, but, if Brian hadn't died when he did, I think that he and Keith would have regained some of that early friendship they shared.Brian was only  27 when he died---and yes, he'd lived, and done,  enough for 30 men! But, he was still, really, a young man. And he was changing....I think he could have led a contented life...

That could be. But it seems to me as if it's more than just anger with, or at, Brian. It's more like hate. And it just seems way out of context---more severe than one would expect. Keith would love to erase Brian from all Stones history, I think. And that's not possible, since Brian founded, named, managed, and directed the group in the early days! He invited Keith to join HIS band. Keith may not like how Brian ended up, but give the guy credit where credit is due. All the vitriol just reflects badly on Keith.

Yes, Bitch--very good points! It's just so strange that, over time, instead of Keith's heart softening towards Brian, the very opposite has happened. It would be interesting to sit down with Keith and really try to find out why his negative feelings about Brian have intensified so drastically over the last number of years. I would love to hear his reaction {if it was shown to him today} to that 1971 interview, in which he still seemed bewildered by Brian's death, and seemed saddened by it all.

Bitch wrote on Jan 26^th, 2012 at 8:41pm:


There's a difference between being coldhearted and downright cruel. I mean you saw the passage about Brian's death--he almost makes it sound like he had it coming, that he probably was being whiny and annoyed the builders and would've died anyway, even if he wasn't murdered. That's downright hateful, beyond being a cold hearted "call it as I see it" person.

Does he not realize that Brian, for all his myriad flaws, was just 27 years old, a kid compared to Keith now, who could've, with time and the right help, really become the great person he had the potential to be? I mean Brian seems to have been a very sensitive, a very nice spirited, very bright guy who had severe emotional problems which caused his kinder side to be eclipsed by a kind of violent, ugly Mr. Hyde. With growth, maturity, and the right treatment, that side of Brian could've been cured. He sadly wasn't given the time to grow and was taken from the world far too soon.

I think perhaps I have sympathy for Brian because I always try to look both sides of an issue. I usually see good even in people who are really hated. I try to save the whole story of a person and not just the bad side. I come from a family of deeply flawed people, so, who am I to cast stones?

Off topic slightly, but I think Keith has this weird contempt for drug addicts who die. Instead of feeling like, 'Hey, I was lucky, those poor sobs weren't" he seems to have this sort of attitude where the people who were druggies and died were bad people or something. Like I said, a weird contempt. One time he spoke of Jim Morrison, for example, and all he had to say was about Jim's death was "There goes another one" with a laugh and sort of a roll of the eyes.