Mick Taylor’s 1990 Rehab and the Long Slide After Leaving the Stones

By the time Mick Taylor checked into rehab in 1990, his life had already been spiraling for years. After quitting the Rolling Stones in 1974 — famously walking away from the biggest rock band in the world — he fell into a heavy cycle of cocaine, heroin, and alcohol that eroded his playing and kept him off stages for long stretches.

He’d actually started drinking and doing drugs during his Stone years, but his bandmates and manager kept it contained. Once he left, there was no one steering the ship. His 1980s output was spotty, his solo attempts fizzled, and by the early 90s he was broke and out of shape. The rehab stint in 1990 was his first serious attempt to get clean, and it worked for a while — though later relapses would keep him from ever fully reclaiming the spotlight he left behind.