The Rolling Stones’ drummer, Charlie Watts, says he had no idea of a “danger” that was brewing between two of his bandmates.
Watts says he does not recall much of the time spent working on Dirty Work, The Rolling Stones‘ ill-fated 1986 album, but reflected on what he called a worrying period for all involved in the band. Speaking in According to The Rolling Stones, the legendary drummer, who died in 2021, gave a summary of what he felt were the issues that the band had failed to tackle at the time. Ronnie Wood also suggested that the band were in dire straits during the mid-1980s, not least because Mick Jagger and Keith Richards‘ relationship had hit an all-time low. This, paired with Watts’ outrage at Jagger’s infamous drummer comment, painted a nasty picture of the band.
Watts said: “During this period, I was personally in a hell of a mess and as a result I wasn’t really aware of the problems between Mick and Keith and the danger these posed to the band’s existence. I was in pretty bad shape, taking drugs and drinking a lot. I don’t know what made me do it that late in life – well, to Keith, it wasn’t late enough! – although in retrospect I think I must have been going through some kind of mid-life crisis.
“I had never done any serious drugs when I was younger, but at this point in my life I went, ‘Sod it, I’ll do it now’ – and I was totally reckless. What scared me was that I became a completely different person by going down that path, a totally different person to the one everybody had known for over twenty years.
“Some people are able to function like that, but for me, it was very dangerous, because I am the kind of person who could become a casualty quite easily. I just don’t have the constitution. This phase lasted a couple of years, but it took a long time for me, and my family, to get over it.”
Bandmate Keith Richards called Watts “very strong physically” and recalled an incident in Amsterdam where he threw Jagger onto a table after the frontman asked: “Where’s my drummer?” Watts responded: “Never call me your drummer again.”
Further tensions in the band were clear, according to Wood, who noted that Dirty Work is far from the band’s best album. Wood said: “Dirty Work was the most troubled period of our entire voyage. You can tell that because I’ve got four songs on the record – which is a clear sign that Keith and Mick’s song-writing engine was not functioning properly. Things were getting increasingly worse between them, especially around the recording sessions for the album.
“It reached a head at that point – and it wasn’t until the Jagger/Richards set-up started operating properly again that I could rest assured that the ship was going to sail correctly once more. In the meantime, I was always ready to step in and help out if it was needed. I’ve got loads of songs round the back, as they say.”
