Mick Taylor’s herniated disc and how it kept him offstage with the Stones

Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones in 1974, but he didn’t disappear entirely—he showed up for a handful of guest spots over the decades, most notably at the 2012-13 “50 & Counting” tour. What a lot of people don’t realize is that by the 2000s, a herniated disc was grinding his spine into chronic pain, and he eventually needed surgery around 2008 to deal with it. That kind of back trouble is a nightmare for any guitarist who has to stand and play for two hours, let alone one who’d be stepping back into the physical grind of a Stones arena show.

The pain didn’t just make him hesitate—it actively killed a few reunion chances. According to Taylor, Keith Richards had reached out about doing more together over the years, but the physical toll of performing full tours was a non-starter. He could handle a one-off guest spot here and there, like the London O2 shows in 2012, but the idea of committing to a long run of dates was out of the question while his spine was still giving him hell. Even after surgery, he’s described his playing stamina as limited, which explains why those collaborations stayed sporadic and short.