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How the Rolling Stones became rocks ultimate bad boys
Bob Spitz, author of “The Rolling Stones: The Biography,” recounts how the iconic band embraced a rebellious image that separated them from the Beatles and fueled their fame
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It’s only rock ‘n’ roll… until someone starts counting
From the moment they burst onto the music scene, the Rolling Stones embraced a reputation as rock ‘n’ roll’s ultimate bad boys, cultivating an aura of rebellion and danger that captivated fans and shocked critics. Their music pushed boundaries — and so did their love lives
In “The Rolling Stones: The Biography,” Bob Spitz chronicles the band’s decades-long career, arguing that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and their bandmates became as famous for their offstage excesses as for their sold-out arenas and chart-topping hits
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The Rolling Stones pose for a portrait in 1964. From left: Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.(Michael Ochs Archives)
“The Stones have always been known for their offstage behavior,” Spitz told Fox News Digital. “They got together at one point — when they were older men — Bill Wyman, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger — to decide how many women they had slept with over the years. A shocking number.”
“The Rolling Stones: The Biography” by Bob Spitz is available now.(Penguin Press)
“Bill stopped counting at about 1,800,” Spitz claimed. “He had kept a journal with the name of every woman he had spent the night with. Mick thought his total was in the hundreds. Keith counted four on his fingers. So, when you look at them as a promiscuous band, you have to put things into perspective. Keith, who was the baddest of bad boys, turned out to be the most romantic of the Stones.”
The tally challenged one of rock’s longest-running assumptions: that the band’s most notorious outlaw was also its biggest womanizer
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Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for the Rolling Stones for comment
Richards has never publicly put a number on his sexual partners. In interviews and in his memoir “Life,” he has instead focused primarily on the women who had the greatest impact on his life, particularly Anita Pallenberg and his wife, Patti Hansen. Richards has often said that drugs and music dominated his life far more than chasing women
The Rolling Stones in London on Feb. 1, 1965, from left, drummer Charlie Watts, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Brian Jones.(George Wilkes/Hulton Archive/
If Richards challenged the stereotype, Wyman reinforced it. He was described as the group’s “unrivaled p—-hound,” Spitz wrote
Bassist Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones performs at the Cotton Bowl on July 4, 1975, in Dallas.(Nicolas Russell/
“Bill Wyman had a saying in the band that he couldn’t go to sleep alone,” Spitz told Fox News Digital. “Every night, he scouted the most beautiful young women standing closest to the stage. He would point out one or two, and one of the roadies would invite them backstage.”
The Rolling Stones perform live in Wembley, London, on Dec. 11, 1968.(Mark Hayward Archive/Redferns)
“Bill was the oldest Rolling Stone,” Spitz said. “He was, at the beginning, the only married Rolling Stone. Yet, when he joined the band, he let loose. He was, without a doubt, the most promiscuous of all the Stones.”
But Wyman’s personal life would eventually spark controversy far beyond the band’s usual indulgences
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Bill Wyman, bassist for the Rolling Stones, on holiday with his wife on May 27, 1966.(Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/
Wyman married his first wife, Diane Cory, in 1959. They welcomed their son, Stephen, in 1962, and divorced in 1969. In 1989, he married his second wife, Mandy Smith, when he was 52 and she was 18. According to multiple reports, they met when she was 13 and he was 48
Bill Wyman and Mandy Smith seen on May 9, 1989.(Brendan Monks/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/
Spitz wrote that the relationship “revolted” Jagger, whose daughters, Karis and Jade, were older than Smith. The rest of the group read Wyman “the riot act.” Wyman has since expressed regret over the marriage, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune
“Rock ‘n’ rollers have always gotten a pass,” Spitz said. “As a biographer, I can’t give them a pass. I’m sorry. I have a responsibility when I examine these things.”
Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and Mandy Smith after their wedding at St. John’s Church in London on June 5, 1989.(Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/
By the late ’60s, romantic boundaries inside the Stones’ circle had become almost impossible to separate.
As The Times of London later summed it up, the band’s romantic entanglements often overlapped: Richards slept with Pallenberg, and Pallenberg slept with Jagger. Marianne Faithfull slept with Brian Jones, Richards and Jagger, who also slept with Pat Andrews, Jones’ girlfriend.Â
Jagger proposed to Faithfull in 1968, but she turned him down
The Rolling Stones perform on July 5, 1969, in London’s Hyde Park. The free outdoor concert was a tribute to recently deceased band member Brian Jones.(Reg Burkett/Express/
Spitz wrote that it was no secret to Faithfull and “most of London” that Jagger was “two-timing her in a torrid affair” with Marsha Hunt
American singer and actress Marsha Hunt with her baby Karis Jagger on March 23, 1971.(Jack Kay/Daily Express/
“Marianne Faithfull said that Keith was the most romantic man,” Spitz said. “The one night she spent with Keith was the most romantic night of her life.”
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Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull, arrive at Magistrate’s Court early May 29 to face charges of possessing marijuana.(Bettmann Archive)
Spitz argues that Jones set the tone for the band’s reckless reputation long before it became part of Rolling Stones mythology
“Brian, by the time he was 21, had fathered five children,” Spitz said. “He was repopulating post-war Britain by himself. It didn’t really affect the band’s stability. It affected its pocketbook because every time there was a paternity suit, the Stones decided to pay off those harmed by Brian’s behavior. But it increased, believe it or not, the band’s reputation a bit.”
Anita Pallenberg is seen here with Brian Jones in this undated photo.(J Wilds/
“They had in the very early ’60s decided that they were going to be the anti-Beatles,” Spitz continued
The Rolling Stones, clockwise from left, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones.(Michael Ochs Archives)
“That was going to be their image. They weren’t going to bow at the end of every song. They weren’t going to wear suits onstage. Politeness was out the window. They were going to behave the way teenagers and young men in their early 20s behaved. That meant going their own way, being a little insolent and being arrogant. They dressed in their street clothes. They smoked onstage. They were the bad boys, and they liked being the bad boys.”
Jones died by drowning in 1969. He was 27. The coroner recorded his death as “death by misadventure.”
Brian Jones (1942-1969) of the Rolling Stones on the set of the TV show “Ready Steady Go!” in 1964.(Val Wilmer/Redferns/
In his book, Spitz detailed how sex at times complicated the band’s relationships. He described how Jagger and Pallenberg played a couple in 1970’s “Performance” and had sex on film
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Anita Pallenberg and Mick Jagger in a scene from “Performance,” co-directed by Nicolas Roeg, circa 1970.(Andrew Maclear/Hulton Archive/
“There was a lot of very explicit video taken by Anita on her handheld movie camera showing Mick and Anita really screwing — steamy, lusty stuff that was edited into a separate X-rated short feature,” Spitz wrote, quoting a Rolling Stones employee
Pallenberg, who died in 2017 at age 75, confirmed the story in her private journals, which were quoted in the 2024 documentary “Catching Fire,”
In this undated photo, Anita Pallenberg is seen here backstage with Keith Richards.(Graham Wiltshire/Redferns)
Spitz wrote that “things grew itchy” between Pallenberg and Richards. They were renting a home where “a pressure cooker of tension and frustration polluted the once-carefree atmosphere.”
Rolling Stone Keith Richards and his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg on Dec. 9, 1969.(McCarthy/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/
“Even the customarily fearless Keith couldn’t handle this one,” Faithfull recalled, as quoted in the book
After decades of affairs, marriages, breakups and betrayals, the band’s longest-lasting love story was never a romance at all
From left: Ronnie Wood, Steve Jordan, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform onstage at SoFi Stadium on July 13, 2024, in Inglewood, California.(Kevin Winter/
“The Stones have some magic that’s held them together through thick and thin, and there’s been a lot of thin,” Spitz told Fox News Digital
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood pose backstage during the exclusive launch event of The Rolling Stones’ new album “Foreign Tongues” at Weylin on May 5, 2026, in Brooklyn, New York City.(Kevin Mazur/ for UMG)
“Over the years, there were times when Mick and Keith weren’t talking to each other. There were times when they weren’t making the music of the moment. But for some reason, they’ve connected with audiences time and time again.”
“Everything in the band depends on Mick and Keith’s relationship,” Spitz said. “Their rapport is so crucial to the Rolling Stones’ longevity. There was a time when things got pretty tense, especially in the ’90s. But these guys — it’s a love story.”
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on the set of music program “Ready Steady Go!” in London, circa 1964.(TV Times/Future Publishing
“The two of them have enormous respect for each other. When Keith married Patti Hansen, whom did he choose as his best man? The guy he wasn’t speaking to, Mick Jagger. So that tells you all about them — how tight their bond is and how much they really care about and love each other.”
