6 From Bad to Worse

CHAPTER 6 From Bad to worse The other band members grew tired of the way Brian was behaving. Even when he did show up for shows or recording sessions, he was often too sick to play. In June 1969, Keith, Vlick, and Charlie went to Brian's house and broke the news—they were kicking him out of the band. Brian didn't seem surprised. With Brian gone, the Rolling Stones needed a new guitar player. They called Mick Taylor. Taylor was a talented guitar player, and they were all impressed with him. He had also grown up loving blues music.

Only a month after being fired from the band, Brian died in his backyard pool. It was not clear if he had been drinking or taking drugs, or if he had drowned by accident. It was a tragedy for the Stones. They had lost a friend. And their fans had lost an amazing musician. But the Stones had no plans to slow down. They were giving a free concert on July 5, 1969 only two days after Brian's death, at Hyde Park in London. The stage was one of the largest ever built for an outdoor concert in England. Hundreds of thousands of people came. Before the Stones started playing, they remembered Brian by reading a poem. Then they released thousands of butterflies into the sunny summer sky.

The Stones had big plans for the rest of that year. They recorded their next album, Let It Bleed, and left for another US tour. Mick said that the huge hit from this album, "Gimme Shelter," was "a kind of end-of-the-world song, really." And for many Americans, it felt a bit like the end of the world. The United States was fighting in the Vietnam War, where many soldiers died every day. Americans were gathering to protest the government and its choices. President John F. Kennedy, Senator

Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. had all been assassinated. People were angry. The Stones' music reflected the same angry energy. At the end of the Stones' US tour, the angry feelings expressed in their music became all too real. The final concert of their tour was set up at the Altamont Speedway in California on December 6, 1969. The Rolling Stones arrived by helicopter with a view of the 350,000 fans below. Such a large audience would be hard to handle.

A motorcycle gang was in charge of security keeping the band and the audience safe. But the mood of the crowd felt dangerous. And the poor choice of security didn't help. The motorcycle gang wasn't keeping the concert peaceful. In fact, they were causing even more trouble by pushing and fighting fans back from the stage.

The Stones started playing. But they had to stop to tell everyone—both the crowd and their own security—to "cool out." As soon as the Stones were done, they rushed to the helicopter and left. Before the night was over, members of the motorcycle gang had killed a man. In all, four people died at Altamont. Other fans had to be treated for beatings and for drug use. A magazine article called Altamont "perhaps rock and roll's all-time worst day."