‘New and interesting art comes from conflict’
In Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life, he tells a story that captures something about the workplace culture of the Rolling Stones. It’s 1984 and the Stones are in Amsterdam for a meeting (yes, even Richards attends meetings). In the evening, Richards and Mick Jagger go out for a drink and return to their hotel in the early hours, by which time Jagger is somewhat the worse for wear. “Give Mick a couple of glasses, he’s gone,” notes Richards, scornfully.
Jagger decides that he would like to see Charlie Watts, who is in bed. He picks up the phone, calls Watts’ room, and says, “Where’s my drummer?” No answer comes. Jagger and Richards have a few more drinks.
Twenty minutes later, there is a knock at the door. It is Watts, impeccably attired in one of his Savile Row suits, freshly shaved and cologned. He seizes Jagger by the jacket lapels, shouts, “Never call me your drummer again,” and delivers a sharp right hook to the singer’s chin, which sends Jagger crashing on to a table of champagne and smoked salmon and almost out of a window into the canal below.
It’s the kind of incident that would have ended many friendships. But the Stones have kept
