‘Satisfaction’: why Brian Jones hated The Rolling Stones’ biggest hit
It’s every artist’s dream to put together a band that will stand the test of time. Even though it takes years of hard work to finally find something that works, it’s all worth it when you finally find that one song that takes you to the top and cements you among the A-list of rock stars. Brian Jones was on the ground floor of rock stardom with The Rolling Stones, but ‘Satisfaction’ was the double-edged sword that made him hate his place in the band.
Before they even dreamed of having hits, let’s roll back to when the band started. Since Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were barely in the equation, Jones was the one putting together the group in the early 1960s, looking to create the bluesy outfit that no one could turn away from when they came on.
He worked as their manager, attended all the stuffy business meetings, and even named the group, but no one could argue the star power of Jagger and Richards. Jones was certainly photogenic with the traditional bowl cut and incredible guitar chops, but once ‘The Glimmer Twins’ started writing their own material, things changed. ‘Satisfaction’ saw the band shift on a dime.
Dreamed up by Keith Richards while on tour, the classic guitar riff defined what rock and roll was supposed to be. Since the whole song focuses on those first five notes, Jones knew that the band didn’t really belong to him anymore.
You have to remember that Jones could play nearly anything that could create music, but seeing him getting his band stripped out of his hands wasn’t something that he was just going to walk off. Outside of the classic song, there’s also a criminally low amount of solo work on the piece, giving him even less to do when it comes time to play the track live.
If he couldn’t get a word in with the song, he would have to prove himself by playing the best music he could. Since he flip-flopped between different instruments, Jones turned in the kind of resume that most musicians would die for, playing everything from piano to dulcimer to oboe and everything in between when working on the band’s core albums.
When you have that music in your soul, though, it’s hard to deal with being a sideman for the rest of your life. By the time The Stones started entering their legendary phase, Jones seemed to clock out most of the time, with producer Jimmy Miller remembering that all Jones did when working on albums like Beggars Banquet was sit in the corner and keep to himself most of the time.
Granted, if he thought that he wasn’t going to get as much attention as his bandmates, time has actually been kinder to Jones’s work. Throughout history, many fans have applauded Jones for contributing everything he could to the band and how tragic it was when he eventually passed shortly after his firing.
Then again, no amount of adulation could ever account for the amount of insecurity that Jones had from being demoted from his own group. It’s only natural for musicians to get back up on their feet, but Jones honestly seemed like a man who had his heart broken as soon as he got the millions for someone else’s songs.
