Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Deeply hurt

While the impression may be that Ian Stewart resigned to the decision of Andrew Loog Oldham to take him 'out of the picture' of The Rolling Stones for rational reasons, there were -of course- emotional aspects too. Here's what Stu's wife, Cynthia Stewart (born Dillane), with whom he married in 1967 and who was, spicy enough, a personal assistant to Andrew Oldham for five years, has to say about the topic:

Whatever Stu or anybody else said, he did care about being relegated. He had enough to worry about because he was so painfully shy. But the bottom line for Andrew was that Stu's face didn't fit; Andrew loved the pretty, thin, long-haired boys. Stu felt bitter, not because he was not up there on stage, but about the savage way he was kicked to one side.

Stu was contemptuous of Andrew - understandably as he kicked him out of the band. Stu just thought it was Andrew who was responsible for the decision. Stu was deeply hurt because he wasn't good looking in the genre of the day. I don't think he felt anything except hurt. Stu was very honest, he was painfully shy, but he always said what he thought.

Adapted from the following sources:
Bill Wyman, Stone Alone, Penguine Books, 1990.
Andrew Loog Oldham, Stoned, Vintage, 2001.

1 comment:

  1. Stu was very honest, he was painfully shy, but he always said what he thought. Here's what he said about Andrew Oldham in a 1981 interview with Bill German.

    I honestly don't like Andrew Oldham as a person. I just don't like his attitude. He's a brilliant guy, actually. And if it were not for him, I don't think the Stones would've gotten to where they are now. They would have made it no matter what. I mean, there would've been a group exactly like the Rolling Stones and they would've been as good as the Rolling Stones, whether Brian and I existed on the face of this earth or not.

    But they would've probably, if not for the careful handling of the group by Andrew, burned themselves out in two years by playing too much. Andrew was very careful about the exposure and image of the group. He only slipped up when he tried to become a record producer. He knows nothing about music whatsoever. I mean, you can still be a record producer and not know anything about music.

    But when Andrew started this producing bit, he was more interested in the image of Phil Spector, running around in big cars, with bodyguards, collecting money, and buying clothes. That's how he thought producers should act.

    adapted from the following source: beggarsbanquetonline.com

    Here's the entire interview: http://www.beggarsbanquetonline.com/decades.htm

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