Danny Garcia
Rolling Stone: life and death of Brian Jones

I imagine it is very understandable the suspicion that may arise when hearing about a death that occurred under mysterious circumstances. While admitting that investigations aimed at clarifying the exact dynamics of the facts are difficult, there is always the suspicion that this happens precisely because there are those who have every interest in keeping the truth about the instigators and perpetrators of an unnatural death, as it's a murder, in the dark. And do not think that all this is a prerogative of Italy, a renowned land of secretive and mafia mysteries, as this can also be found in unsuspecting nations, at least according to enduring stereotypes.

This is exactly what emerges from this documentary (available on the Netflix platform) made in 2019 by Danny Garcia titled "Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones," centered on the troubled life of the said musician who died under mysterious (?), circumstances in England in 1969. The director has assembled interviews with people and his lovers who had the chance to know Jones during the years of his turbulent life, images, and footage from the era in which the musician lived, to offer us the portrait of a man still uncomfortable (it is no coincidence that the surviving Rolling Stones refused to contribute to Garcia's work).

What emerges is Brian Jones' ability to be divisive for all those who had dealings with him. Gifted with great musical talent (although not having the same compositional capabilities as Jagger and Richards), he was the true founder of the Rolling Stones. However, when the group gained worldwide fame, he found himself partially marginalized. This should not surprise, considering his fragile psychological profile typical of a bipolar subject, his insecurity, paranoia, and many other flaws that rendered him, at times, no longer a kind and loveable person but rather a perfect jerk. If we add, besides a sexually uninhibited lifestyle, his excessive propensities for the use of drugs and alcohol, which were the origin of legal troubles with British authorities, we have a very bleak overall picture.

And if this was, broadly speaking, Brian Jones' life, his death remains even more enigmatic. Here, the documentary has its strong point, as the facts as officially reported do not entirely convince. Retired in a villa in the Sussex countryside, Jones was trying to get back on track and ponder doing something after being ousted from the Rolling Stones. But one evening in July 1969, something terrible prevented him from realizing his projects. He was found dead at the bottom of the villa's pool for accidental causes, according to the coroner who arrived on the scene. But over time, disturbing details emerged, according to which that evening he was with workers who had not brilliantly worked on the site. An altercation ensued between Brian Jones and the foreman Frank Thorogood, which degenerated into a fatal brawl. The latter, on his deathbed in 1992, allegedly admitted the murder (as reported by Tom Keylock, the Rolling Stones' roadie and not entirely estranged from the events). Furthermore, Jones' post-mortem report mentions the presence of chlorine-free water in the victim's lungs. But wasn't he supposed to have drowned in the pool? And how could a proficient swimmer like Jones die in such a manner?

There are therefore too many dark points in a story that saw potential inconvenient witnesses disappear or die. The British investigative authorities did not deem it appropriate in 2010 to reopen the case on the musician's death. Therefore, the author of the documentary outlines a sensible hypothesis on these tragic facts: at the time, the Rolling Stones were perceived as outrageous and annoying to the establishment; they somehow had to be neutralized. If they failed in this attempt with the 1967 drug trial against Jagger and Richards, the weak link of the group was the eccentric Brian Jones. Once undermined by various legal proceedings for possession and use of drugs, it would have been only a matter of time to get rid of him, given his ability to get into trouble. And this would have served as a warning to young British generations and beyond not to imitate the reprehensible lifestyles of certain dissolute rock stars.

Obviously, Brian Jones had a large number of flaws in life that do not make him a saint. But beyond his undeniable artistic and musical qualities, it remains confirmed how inevitably those who set themselves in opposition, in terms of thought and action, towards the system end up in a great vortex of trouble. Fortunately, however, his musical contribution to the rock of the twentieth century remains indelible.