10 Musicians That Got Fired From Huge Bands

Most of the Rolling Stones' story seems to begin and end with the partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Since they started writing songs together in the early '60s, the band went from some of the hottest blues players that the British Invasion had ever seen to a songwriting powerhouse, trying out everything from psychedelia on She's A Rainbow to raw menace on a song like Gimme Shelter. The Rolling Stones may have been born from their songs, but the actual group began in the mind of Brian Jones.

For all of the great songs that he played on, Jones was really the mastermind behind the group in the early days, giving the band their name from a blues song and acting as the outfit's manager before Andrew Loog Oldham took over later down the line. Despite being able to play a myriad of different instruments, Brian never had an outlet for his creativity, always having to play second fiddle to Mick and Keith and never really getting a chance to let loose. With all of that energy stifled, Brian started to spiral fairly quickly, drinking heavily and becoming less reliable during Stones' sessions, bringing in Mick Taylor halfway through Beggars Banquet and kicking Brian out of the band.

Brian didn't last long after the Stones cut ties with him, getting more blitzed out of his mind at home before dying in his swimming pool under very mysterious circumstances. Given the fact that he built the band from the ground up and now seeing them go into the big leagues without him, the drugs may have just been trying to soothe Brian's broken heart.