Brian Jones
Many people don't realize that before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards opened up and took their places at the forefront of The Rolling Stones, Brian Jones was really the bandleader. Jones was an incredible multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, harmonica, keyboards and anything else he touched. In the beginning, Jones did it all. He formed the band, managed the band and chose the songs they played. It was his band. In those days, The Rolling Stones did not write their own songs. The band played primarily blues and R&B cover songs, and the British club scene ate it up! Under Jones' lead, the band blew up the London club scene.
Beginning in 1963, with the addition of manager Andrew Oldham, Jones' place in the band would begin to slip. Oldham had worked for Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, before picking up the Stones, and he immediately recognized Jagger's stage presence as a capitalization point. He also understood the value of original songwriting from watching the Lennon-McCartney effect, so he set Jagger and Richards to the task of writing music together. Even as the stage focus centered on Jagger and Richards, Jones' musical abilities clearly contributed to the band's early success.
Unfortunately, however, Jones did not take his overshadowing well and began to abuse drugs and alcohol. Jones was arrested in 1967, after authorities found marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in his flat, and again in 1968 for possession of cannabis. On top of the distractions of these arrests, Jones began to become estranged from the rest of the Stones and his substance abuse caused intense mood swings and friction. Finally, in 1969, Jones was informed that The Rolling Stones would continue without him. Less than a month after Jones was kicked out of his own band, on July 3, 1969, he was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool, his heart and liver heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse. He was 27.
Jim Morrison
If it had not been for a young man named Ray Manzarek, who he met while attending film school at UCLA, Jim Morrison would have never had any interest in being a musician. He was a poet and had an abstract vision of life, which he attempted to display in his film making. After reading some of his poetry, Manzarek brought Jim over to his house and eventually added Robby Krieger and John Densmore to the sessions. The Doors was formed.
While many know of Jim Morrison through his songs and poetry that were left behind, and of course for his infamous stage antics that accompanied the end of his career and life, few know him for his admirable business practices with the band. At Jim's bidding, The Doors remains to this day the only known band in history to split all songwriting credits among each member of the band, no matter who actually was the primary writer. Not only did every band member have a voice, but every member had "veto power." If one member of the band says, "No, I don't think we should do that," then they would not do it. Jim was so adamant that the band be considered a group, a team, an unbroken circle, that when the band was announced for a television performance as Jim Morrison and The Doors, he refused to perform until the announcer correctly introduced them as simply The Doors.
Many also know of Jim Morrison by his unique views on life, which he expressed through his raw, untamed and sometimes raunchy lyrics. Songs such as "The End" sing "This is the end, my only friend," leading many to believe that Jim knew he would die young. Many of his songs, in fact, flirt with the concept of mortality. Toward the end of his career, that concept began to form a reality, as a demon arose within him, causing more and more inappropriate antics on stage. His alcohol abuse took over his mind, and he began to yell at the audience, and he was even arrested for indecent exposure at a concert in Miami. He came to studio sessions and rehearsals inebriated and even turned up late for live performances.
In the end, his demons took a firm hold. James Douglas Morrison died in Paris on July 3, 1971, after inhaling what he believed to be cocaine, which turned out to be heroin. He was 27.
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