Honestly, if you look at the credits of the biggest Rolling Stones hits from the mid-sixties, you'll see the names Jagger and Richards plastered everywhere. It makes sense. They wrote the lyrics. They handled the core riffs. But there is a massive, shimmering elephant in the room that most casual listeners miss: Brian Jones.
Brian didn't just play guitar. He was the guy who decided that a rock song about depression needed a sitar, or that a track about a controlling relationship needed a marimba. Without him, Brian Jones rolling stones songs would just be straightforward blues-rock. Instead, they became these weird, psychedelic, baroque masterpieces.
He was the band's founder. He literally named them after a Muddy Waters track. Yet, by 1969, he was out. Between those two points, he essentially acted as the band's color palette. If Mick and Keith provided the sketch, Brian was the one who decided whether it should be painted in neon pink or deep, moody indigo.
The "Aftermath" Era and the Multi-Instrumental Shift
In 1966, something shifted. The Stones stopped just covering American blues and started getting weird. Aftermath is the album where Brian Jones really stopped being "just the other guitar player" and became a sonic architect.
Take "Paint It, Black." You know that haunting, Eastern melody that kicks the song off? That’s not a guitar. It’s a sitar. Brian had been hanging out with George Harrison and picked up the instrument. Most people don't realize how difficult a sitar is to integrate into a Western pop structure, but Brian just made it work. It transformed a decent rock song into something legendary and vaguely threatening.
Then there’s "Under My Thumb." If you take away the marimba, the song loses its "bounce." Brian played those wooden bars with a specific, staccato rhythm that gives the track its signature sneer. It’s subtle, but it’s the hook that gets stuck in your head.
Why the Marimba and Dulcimer Matter
It wasn't just about being "exotic." Brian used these instruments to fill gaps that guitars couldn't reach.
- "Lady Jane": He used a mountain dulcimer here. It gives the song this Elizabethan, courtly feel that fits the lyrics perfectly.
- "I Am Waiting": Again, the dulcimer. It creates a nervous, pitter-patter tension that builds until the chorus hits.
- "Mother's Little Helper": That buzzing, droning sound? That's Brian on a vox Mando-guitar and a sitar, creating a "raga rock" vibe before that was even a real term.
The Truth About the Songwriting Credits
One of the biggest points of contention in Stones history is why Brian never got songwriting credits. He was arguably the most musically gifted member of the group. He could pick up a saxophone, a recorder, or a kello and play it in thirty minutes.
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The harsh reality? He didn't write "songs" in the traditional sense.
He wrote parts.
Marianne Faithfull once described the process as "painful." She recalled Brian mumbling a few words over a blues riff and then getting frustrated and quitting. He lacked the discipline—or maybe just the specific type of focus—to sit down and grind out a verse-chorus-bridge structure like Mick and Keith.
However, many fans and some former associates argue that his contributions were so fundamental that he deserved a "co-writer" nod. "Ruby Tuesday" is the classic example. While Keith wrote the lyrics about his girlfriend Linda Keith, the melody is often attributed to Brian. He’s the one playing the recorder and the piano on that track. If you hum "Ruby Tuesday," you’re probably humming the part Brian Jones created.
The Experimental Peak: 1967
1967 was a chaotic year for the band. Drugs, arrests, and the pressure to compete with Sgt. Pepper led to Their Satanic Majesties Request. Critics often bash this album, but for Brian Jones fans, it's a goldmine.
He was basically the captain of the ship on this one because Mick and Keith were frequently distracted by legal troubles. On "2,000 Light Years from Home," Brian plays the Mellotron. It’s this eerie, space-age sound that defined the "outer space" vibe of the late sixties.
He also brought in the brass. On "Something Happened to Me Yesterday," he played saxophone, trumpet, and trombone. He was a one-man horn section. It’s a bit messy, sure, but it shows his range. He wasn't just a blues purist anymore; he was a full-blown avant-garde musician.
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Notable 1967 Contributions:
- "She's a Rainbow": That beautiful, brassy Mellotron part? All Brian.
- "Dandelion": He played the oboe. Seriously. An oboe on a rock record.
- "We Love You": He mastered the Mellotron "flute" and "brass" settings to create a wall of sound that felt like a protest.
The Final Bow: "No Expectations"
By 1968, the drugs were winning. Brian was frequently absent from the studio. When he did show up, he was often too "out of it" to contribute much. But he had one last moment of absolute brilliance during the Beggars Banquet sessions.
"No Expectations" is arguably his finest hour.
He returned to his first love: the slide guitar. He played an acoustic slide part that is so lonely and fragile it practically bleeds. Mick Jagger later admitted that this was the last time he remembered Brian being "totally involved" and contributing something of real significance. It serves as a haunting bookend to his career. He started the band as a blues slide specialist, and he left it with one of the most beautiful slide performances in history.
What Most People Get Wrong
People like to paint Brian as a tragic victim or a wasted talent. Kinda true, but also kinda reductive. He was a difficult person. He was competitive, often cruel, and his internal demons were massive long before the fame hit.
But musically? He was the reason the Stones survived the British Invasion. Without his "weird" instruments, they might have just been another R&B cover band that faded out by 1965. He gave them the "texture" that made them "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World."
When you listen to Brian Jones rolling stones songs today, don't just listen to the vocals. Listen to the background. Listen for the harpsichord on "Yesterday's Papers" or the harmonica on "Midnight Rambler" (one of his very last contributions on Let It Bleed).
How to Truly Experience the Brian Jones Sound
If you want to understand what he actually did, you have to go beyond the "Greatest Hits" collections. Those usually focus on the loud guitar tracks. To hear the "Brian sound," you need to dig into the mid-career deep cuts.
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Step 1: Listen to the Mono Mix of Aftermath
The stereo mixes of the sixties were often rushed. In the mono version, Brian’s instruments—the marimbas and bells—sit much more prominently in the mix. It sounds much more cohesive and aggressive.
Step 2: Track the Harmonica Evolution
Brian was a master harmonica player. Listen to "Not Fade Away" and then compare it to his work on "Dear Doctor" from Beggars Banquet. You can hear the technical proficiency, even as his health was failing.
Step 3: Watch the "Sympathy for the Devil" Footage
The Jean-Luc Godard film One Plus One shows the band recording "Sympathy." You can see Brian in the booth, looking isolated, playing an acoustic guitar that you can barely hear on the final track. It's a sobering look at how a founder becomes an outsider.
Step 4: Explore the World Music Influence
Long before "World Music" was a marketing category, Brian was recording the Master Musicians of Jajouka in Morocco. His interest in non-Western scales and rhythms is what he brought to the Stones. Listen to "Street Fighting Man" and focus on the sitar and tamboura drone in the background. That's the Jajouka influence leaking into a rock anthem.
The legacy of Brian Jones isn't just about his mysterious death or his fashion sense. It's about the fact that he was the one who pushed the Rolling Stones to be more than just a blues band. He was the friction that created the spark.
Next Steps for Music Historians:
- Analyze the "Ancient Art of Weaving": Look into how Brian and Keith Richards shared lead and rhythm duties interchangeably on early tracks like "It's All Over Now."
- Research the "Degree of Murder" Soundtrack: This is the only "solo" work Brian completed, and it features Jimmy Page on guitar. It’s the best glimpse of what Brian might have done if he had stayed alive to pursue a solo career.
- Compare the Taylor and Wood Eras: To see what was lost, listen to the Mick Taylor years (technical perfection) and the Ron Wood years (interlocking guitars), then go back to the Brian years. You’ll notice the "weirdness" is what’s missing later on.