If Dennis Wilson is considered a bad guy, then I think Brian Jones would probably qualify too. How messed up do you have to be to have a band with Keith Richards in it tell you that they don’t want to be around you anymore?
This is what I meant in my OP. I have heard this before, but what about him? I know I can look it up, and I am digging into a few of the folks already mentioned here, but I’d like to know what’s commonly known (or thought) about specific folks.
Robbie Robertson.
mmm
Jones was more of a timid rock star wannabe. Jagger and Richards were relentless in their mocking of him, especially whenever he tried to write a song for them (he had no talent for it). They appreciated his musicianship and ability to play anything, but never respected him and basically drove him out with their constant hostility.
In this case, Jagger and Richards were the bad guys, bullying Jones relentlessly. They didn’t aim this at Watts or Wyman, probably because they stood up to it, while Jones just got hurt.
Doug Hopkins- Gin Blossoms. A drunk, depressed dick, but largely responsible for any success they had in the beginning. Killed himself after they kicked him out. Trashed his Gold record a few days before. A tragic guy, actually.
Axl Rose. Prima Donna behaviour, refusal to go on stage, etc.
Robbie Robertson was notorious for being arrogant and refusing to credit other members of the band for songs they collaborated on. He seemed to see The Band as more, “Robbie Robertson and some side players.”
Warren Zevon was never really in a band, but he managed to kick himself out of his own solo act. Had he actually joined a band in the 70’s, the train wreck woild have been spectacular.
Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple.
I would be interested in hearing more about this.
From memory, I think it’s the same story as John Fogerty: controlling asshole, “my way or the highway” mentality, holds grudges forever like a 13-year-old. Googling “Ritchie Blackmore asshole” and reading a couple of the hits seems to confirm this.
Blackmore has a well established reputation for being hard to work with, moody and generally being a dick. He made a lot of selfish decisions that negatively affected his band mates over the years. In the “Hell Or High Water” video of a Deep Purple show in Birmingham, the tension and bad vibes are on full display.
Now I don’t want to be an apologist for Ritchie, but I’ve always seen him as a a taciturn, massively stubborn introvert (it that’s a thing) with a *very *strong sense of what he wants out of himself and his music…and if he gets pissed off, stay out of his way. Those character traits don’t lend themselves to being in a rock band where communication and harmonious personal interaction is needed.
Having said that, my feelings about the dour man in black changed almost 180 degrees when I saw a Blackmore’s Night show in 2005. There was Ritchie, alongside his beautiful partner, actually smiling! And not only that, he was handing out beers to the people in the front row! He seemed to be enjoying the show, a marked change from the Purple shows I had seen. Obviously Candice had cast some sort of magical spell over him.
During the pandemic, Ritchie and Candice have done a few streaming shows from their home at Minstrel Hall. While Ritchie isn’t a barrel of laughs, he’s certainly a lot more affable than in the old days.
The Graham Bond Organization. Ginger claims he fired Jack. Jack says he chose to leave as Ginger wasn’t officially in charge of the band. In the weird Gonks Go Beat, after The Graham Bond Organization plays Harmonica, the professor tells Ginger and Jack to play louder. Hilarious because that was Ginger’s #1 gripe about Jack, that he played too loud!
I found the complete movie somewhere, but have no idea of where anymore.
Honestly? John Lennon. The man was an unstable asshole.
Hard to say. John could be a jerk, but so could Paul, musically speaking. More and more on their later records, Paul would play everybody else’s parts, which finally reached fruition on the McCartney album. To this day I swear to God that’s Paul playing the lead guitar solo on Let It Be after Harrison’s lacklustre attempts (on the single and in the film). The tone is exactly like the solo from Maybe I’m Amazed on the McCartney album released around the same time. Even the little vibratos are the same.
It’s probably a miracle that Keith Moon never got kicked out of the Who considering how toxic he was. He was abusive to his wife, constantly drunk or high to the point of having multiple overdoses before the one that did him in, refused to take direction and had to be heavily produced and muted on studio recordings, and had a destructive temper to the point that Pete’s guitar-smashing was tame in comparison.
Harmonicafrom* Gonks Go Beat*
Edit: Corrected to version with the Professor talking the band.
Even gentleman Charlie Watts (who along with Bill reportedly felt sorry for Brian) said “Brian was an extremely difficult person to like.” Apparently he was an asshole to everybody from day one. Which doesn’t undermine any of what said, which I agree with.
Not a miracle in my book- He was a mentally ill human trainwreck, but he was by far the most talented and interesting musician in the band. In my OPINION.
He also put a bomb in his drum kit without telling anyone and the explosion permanently damaged Pete Townsends hearing. Kind of a dick move to me.
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In a Howard Stern interview Fogerty said that he wrote and sang all their hits but as time went on other members of the band insisted on the band playing some their songs with them singing, and Fogerty responded that frankly their singing and songs just weren’t good, why not keep a good thing going? IIRC he said CCRs manager ripped them off and the reason they couldn’t get the band together was because the other members insisted on using him as manager and he refused.
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I won’t deny that his sound was an integral part of the band, but calling him a “musician” is pushing it. 
Interesting. I just can’t believe it, though, if for no other reason than his solo career after CCR. His songs were awful. The lyrics were shit, and most of the stuff didn’t sound anything on par with what he did with CCR. It sounded like the world’s worst John Fogerty impressionist wormed his way into the studio and a recording contract.
Heh . . . what do you call the dude who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.