Throwing Stones X: Hear Me Knocking

(For Part IX, click Throwing Stones IX: Offstage Lines.)

In Part IX, Allen Klein renegotiated the Rolling Stones record deal. The band followed up an American TV misfire by refusing to wave to fans on an English broadcast, angering Manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

Manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s fears of an official backlash against the Rolling Stones proved prescient. It arrived on February 12, 1967, courtesy of the Chichester constabulary and the infamous British tabloid News of the World.

NOTW

News of the World had become the bestselling newspaper on the planet by focusing on grisly crimes and salacious celebrity scandals—the more lurid, the better. The paper operated a vast network of dirt diggers and secret informants that penetrated all levels of show business and law enforcement. As if that wasn’t enough, NOTW reporters routinely added extra spice to their stories by throwing in juicy details that were completely made up. Promoting outrage over accuracy was standard operating procedure.

Britain’s new rock royalty would provide a beggar’s banquet for the perpetually scandal-hungry rag. When headlines howling that long hair and loud guitars would be the ruin of the nation’s youth grew stale, News of the World grew hungry for fresh meat. England’s rockers served it up on a silver platter.

Puzzle 4As word got around that the new generation of stars was experimenting with an array of illegal substances, a News of the World mole cozied up to the perpetually drug-dazed Brian Jones. When Jones prattled on about his favorite chemicals, his words turned up in the tabloid in no time. Demonstrating its usual high regard for getting the facts straight, the paper attributed Brian’s bleary-eyed blather  to Mick Jagger.  Jagger hired an attorney and filed a lawsuit against Britain’s top gossip rag.

In addition to the publication’s spy network, News of the World staffers were illegally tapping stars’ phones and keeping watch on their homes. After they got wind of a weekend get-together at Keith Richards’ newly purchased Redlands estate in rural Sussex, they saw a way to nullify Jagger’s lawsuit and grab a scandalous scoop.

Puzzle 3

News of the World approached Scotland Yard, offering up a surefire celebrity drug bust. The London force turned the paper down flat, explaining that the raid would draw unwanted attention to the Yard’s anti-drug efforts, which included undercover operations targeting major suppliers. Besides, they had no interest in bolstering the Stones’ outlaw image or the scandal sheet’s circulation. And so, News of the World demanded that police in the sleepy Sussex cathedral town of Chichester take action. Though they had ignored the paper’s previous pleas, the local constabulary quickly threw a team together and knocked on Redlands’ door.

Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful were inside. So were Robert Fraser, a hip London art dealer, and the mysterious David Schneiderman. Schneiderman was a struggling Canadian actor, singer and sometime drug dealer who billed himself as “The Acid King.” The group initially dismissed the commotion outside as another intrusion from annoying fans, and ignored the knocking. They eventually opened the door and were served a search warrant.

Jagger Mug FrontJagger was arrested after admitting that four capsules found in a jacket pocket were his. Keith Richards had no drugs on him (Oh, the irony!) but was the owner of an ashtray that showed traces of marijuana resin. Robert Fraser was in possession of heroin and amphetamines. David Schneiderman, whose briefcase was likely full of drugs, told the police he was a photographer. He claimed the case contained exposed film that would be ruined if it were opened. The briefcase was not searched and he was not charged.  Jagger and Richards smelled a set-up. Schneiderman, who traveled under a variety of aliases and held several false passports, slipped out of the country in short order.

Marianne Faithfull, Jagger’s pop star girlfriend, was fresh from a bath and had improvised a robe by wrapping herself in a rug. She possessed neither drugs nor pockets to keep them in.

News of the World broke the story a day before the police officially announced the arrests. The counterculture cred the Stones had lost by caving into Ed Sullivan was recovered instantly. Because Marianne Faithfull was under twenty-one, the English press could only refer to her as Miss X. But News of the World was more than happy to leak her real name, and to sleaze up the story by claiming she and Jagger were engaged in bizarre sex acts when the coppers burst in. (They weren’t.)

The trial promised to be a media circus—one that would require both a strong legal defense and a spirited PR offense. It presented Andrew Loog Oldham with the perfect opportunity to work his way back into the band’s good graces. Sadly, exhaustion, addiction and depression left him unable to rise to the occasion. Oldham fled England, alternately seeking solace in substance abuse and psychiatric treatment.

Co-manager Allen Klein wasn’t about to let the moment pass him by. Throwing himself into the task with typical tenaciousness, Klein hired the best attorneys and told any reporter willing to listen that he was fighting furiously on behalf of his persecuted lads.

Jagger’s pills proved to be travel sickness drugs purchased legally in Italy during a tour. But they were a form of amphetamine and required a prescription in England. Jagger’s doctor testified that he had approved the use of the medication, but hadn’t bothered to write a script because Jagger had already purchased the drug abroad.

Wheel Full

In June,  Jagger and Richards were both convicted and given harsh sentences. Jagger got three months. Richards drew a full year in Wormwood Scrubs, one of the most notorious prisons in Britain.

The sentences prompted William Rees-Moog of the London Times to write a thoughtful editorial titled, “Who Breaks A Butterfly On A Wheel?” Rees-Moog calmly pointed out that, had Mick Jagger not been famous, he would have been sentenced to a brief probation at worst. More likely, a non-celebrity caught with a few pills purchased legally overseas would never have been charged at all. How could those who attacked the Rolling Stones for ignoring  traditional values do so by ignoring traditional values like basic fairness and equal justice under law?

In an incredible twist, the same establishment that had yearned to see The Rolling Stones get their comeuppance now rushed to their defense. The tide turned. An appeals court threw out the sentences. “Butterfly On A Wheel” eventually became one of the most famous editorials of the twentieth century.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were free. And they were more than ready to make Andrew Loog Oldham pay the price for abandoning them in a crisis.

(This concludes Part X of Throwing Stones. Click here to read Part XI: Out of Time.)

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