I never got the chance to see Brian Jones live. By the time I was born, he was already a tragic legend, forever 27, frozen in time at the bottom of his swimming pool. But like so many others who came of age long after the 1960s, I discovered Brian through the records, the grainy black-and-white footage, and the stories whispered through liner notes and interviews. And the more I learned, the more I realised: Brian Jones wasn’t just a founding member of the Rolling Stones. He was the soul of their early sound, a musical polymath who helped shape rock ‘n’ roll into the genre we know today.
The Man Behind the Band
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones was born in Cheltenham, England, in 1942. By the early 1960s, he had already carved out a name for himself as a blues fanatic with a taste for American R&B. It was Brian who founded the Rolling Stones in 1962, placing an ad for musicians and gathering a group that would eventually include Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman. While Jagger and Richards became the faces of the band, it was Jones who was its original visionary.
He was more than a guitarist, he was an instrumental alchemist. Brian could (and did) play just about anything: slide guitar, sitar, marimba, mellotron, recorder, dulcimer, and even the obscure African kamele n’goni. His genius lay in bringing these sounds into the Stones’ music, colouring their bluesy backbone with world music long before it was trendy.
Songs like “Paint It, Black” owe their eerie, hypnotic vibe to Brian’s sitar. “Under My Thumb” gets its swagger from his marimba. “Ruby Tuesday” would be unrecognisable without his baroque recorder part. He didn’t just play instruments, he created atmospheres.
A Life Spinning Out
But by the mid-1960s, the band was changing. Jagger and Richards began to dominate the songwriting. Brian, sensitive and increasingly unstable, struggled with substance abuse and legal issues. He became less involved in the studio and more of an outsider in the band he created.
In June 1969, he was fired from the Rolling Stones. Less than a month later, on July 3rd, he was found dead in his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm, the former home of A.A. Milne, author of Winnie-the-Pooh. The official cause: “death by misadventure.” He was 27.
The circumstances of his death remain murky and controversial, with theories ranging from overdose to foul play. What isn’t in question is the loss. Brian Jones was gone, and the Rolling Stones and the world would never be the same.
A Ripple Through Generations
Though his time in the spotlight was brief, Brian’s influence is vast. Jimi Hendrix cited him as a peer and rival. Jimmy Page, who worked as a session guitarist during the Stones’ early years, was in awe of his inventiveness. Artists from Patti Smith to Thurston Moore have referenced Brian’s spirit and style as inspirations. Even bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre wear his name like a badge of honour.
You hear echoes of Brian’s musical curiosity in Beck’s genre-bending work, in the orchestral textures of Radiohead, and in the baroque instrumentation of Tame Impala. Anyone who’s ever tried to make rock sound like more than just guitars and drums owes a debt to Brian Jones.
