Brian Jones' Final Decline: Drugs, Paranoia, and the Band That Left Him Behind

By 1968, Brian Jones was barely recognizable as the founding guitarist of the Rolling Stones. Heavy cocaine, heroin, and alcohol use had turned him paranoid and unreliable—he missed sessions, showed up incoherent, and sometimes couldn’t hold a guitar. The band was already recording Let It Bleed without him, overdubbing his parts or leaving him out entirely. Frankly, he was being phased out well before the official announcement.

In May 1969, his legal troubles caught up: a second drug bust at his country home, plus a two-month-old charge for cannabis possession. Facing jail time and unable to function, the other Stones gave him an ultimatum. On June 8, 1969, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger drove to his house and told him he was out. They offered a £100,000 severance plus a yearly payment—a soft landing. Brian said he agreed, but reportedly cried afterward. Less than a month later, he was dead in his swimming pool, drowning at 27. His body still had traces of alcohol and non-barbiturate sedatives in his system.