a middle-class boy from Cheltenham, with some nasty ways

epub or mobi, with thanks to the original sharer

In the early days, Phil May heard stories of Brian’s treatment by Oldham and the Stones, but if he raised the subject with Brian, ‘he would pooh-pooh it . . . He didn’t even want me to mention it.’ Brian found it easy to chat to May about all the subjects that interested him – French films, art openings – but essentially it all came back to music. The more friendly Brian became with the Pretty Things, though, the more guilty he felt about being disloyal to his own band. One night he vented his frustrations by melting a stack of Pretty Things records on the stove, hanging them on the wall and writing ‘Fuck Off Pretty Things’ in shaving foam on the mirrors. The Pretty Things had their own crazed inter-band relations – ‘I remember one time I had Brian [Pendleton] up against the wall there,’ says May, ‘trying to strangle him’ – but some of the Stones’ internecine rivalries went well beyond that.