Q: Do you think The Rolling Stones treated Mick Taylor fairly when he was in their band, especially after they went on tour with him as a solo act after his departure from them?
RICH S replies ...
He chose to leave. He did not tour with them as a solo act. He guested on a few dates for their 50th anniversary. I saw him with them at Hyde Park doing Midnight Rambler. He was great. There was clearly no animosity on either side. Jagger loved it too.
He probably should have had a few writing credits but if he had stayed he would be as rich as Ronnie now ($200 million apparently). Brilliant guitar player but not really a writer. I have his solo records and I love his playing but there are not really any particularly notable Taylor compositions on them. Apart from the 5 or 6 Stones songs he plays, almost as if to make a point.
Ronnie took a different approach and reaped the rewards. There are clearly Stones songs, starting with It’s Only Rock n Roll, where he should have had a credit but he served, a very long, apprenticeship and now gets a fair deal. It doesn’t make Mick and Keith look great but it happens all the time. Taylor could have had a solo career alongside the Stones to satisfy his need for creativity as Ronnie did.
Taylor fanatics on here give him credit for all the songs on Let It Bleed he didn’t play on. Wasn’t he great on Gimme Shelter? No that was all Keith. I don’t understand the desire to denigrate Mick and Keith and claim Taylor was the only good thing about the Stones . They were a great band before, during and after his tenure.
Love him though and wish he had stayed.
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MICHAEL W writes ...
Mick Taylor was a easy going somewhat introvert young guy and a huge talent guitarist. It's pretty well known he wrote some stuff in The Stones in corporation with Jagger i suppose. 73/74 weren't really Stones years that Keith was around all the time. His smack use was an issue and Jagger was closer to Taylor at a certain moment. But Taylor was using heroine as well in the last years as a Stone, not in the same stadium Keith was, but he felt that this could be fatal if he hang around too long. Another thing was that Jagger promise him finaly some credits for Till the Next Goodbye and Time Waits for No One, 2 tunes from It's Only Rock ’n Roll, but it didn't happened. 3th thing: he was a bored and felt that he can do things on his own and Jack Bruce ( a virtiuoso as well) was intersting starting a band with him. It was in december 1974 on a party that Taylor told Jagger he leave the group and that was it really. Of course Taylor was not pressed to leave and Jagger and Richards were dissepointed, but i think they forgotten to gave him some more respect give him the credits he deserved. On the other hand, Taylor was and is not a natural songwriter, if he does, he surely let the world part of it. The corporation with Bruce fails quicly because of drugs again and in 1978 he release finaly his first soloalbum. A nice debut, but not a big seller. Following the years after he became a sort of sessionplayer and doing solo gigs, mostly based on blues standarts and a few Stones tracks he co wrote. Finaly The Stones invited him as a special guest when they started their 50th anniversary tour. Longer than expect ( Bill Wyman did one song and that was it), for a few years he did 3 of 4 tunes and i hope he gained good money for it. Taylor proved that he was still the guitar hero.
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ROBERT W writes ...
Absolutely not. They refused to give him writing credits for songs he either co-wrote or created a major part in making them sound the way they did. Mick is a hard nosed businessman, and never shared credit with anyone other than Keef, even though more than a few contributed to their song canon.
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