“He had little patience with authority, convention and tradition. In this he was typical of many of his generation who have come to see in the Stones an expression of their whole attitude to life. Much that this ancient church has stood for in 900 years seems totally irrelevant to them.”
Even at his funeral Brian Jones was not immune to barbs from his detractors. Canon Hugh Evan Hopkins spared no niceties as he spoke above the young rock musician in the solid bronze casket, as if venting on the deceased the sins and excesses of his generation. It was at this point that it became clear how much vile enmity was felt toward the Baby Boom generation and the Brian Jones was the lightening rod.
Brian was buried on a beautiful July day in 1969 in his hometown of Cheltenham, 80 miles northwest of London. Flower arrangements from adoring fans came form flower shop all over London and the surrounding area. The cap was a floral grave marker in the shape of a guitar that came from his sister and parents. His former group - the band that he founded -the Rolling Stones, sent an enormous eight-foot floral arrangement composed of hundreds of red and yellow roses. The words, “The Gates of Heaven,” was spelled out in flowers.
Cheltenham was clogged with tearful fans, reporters and curious onlookers. Even local school children were let out of class to see the spectacle. Press photographers were everywhere, aggressively snapping pictures at family and friends without regard for the feelings of the family. The funeral procession, composed of 14 cars, progressed slowly to the cemetery frequently blocked by the mourners and interlopers alike. As Brian’s casket was lowered into the hole in the ground the crowd shoved and grabbed their way to the grave to throw their flowers onto Brian Jones’ remains.
The official line was that Jones, the Rolling Stones former lead guitarist, had died on the night of July 2, drowned in the pool at his home near Hartfield in Sussex, 50 miles southeast of London.
On the night of his death Brian Jones had supposedly been drinking wine and taking downers. According to the coroner’s report, Jones was the victim of “death by misadventure,” an accidental drowning precipitated by drug and alcohol abuse. But there have differing reports from his girlfriend, Anna Wollenburg who still claims he was drowned in a fight in the pool with some workmen who were repairing his home.
Although he had been thrown out of the Rolling Stones a few months earlier his girlfriend and other musicians said that Jones was getting over it and was involved in a few musical projects on his own including sessions with John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix. But inconsistencies in the accounts of that evening were gradually uncovered and even a deathbed confession by the “alleged killer” was buried with him.
An what about the Stones? Drummer and Brian’s good friend, Charlie Watts, was visibly shaken as he stood by the grave and he and Billy Wyman were upset that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Anita Pallenburg, Brian’s former girlfriend, were absent.
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