The Bassist from the Stone is telling his side in

The Quiet One

by Kathia Woods

If you ask anyone what the best band in rock and roll is many would tell you without batting an eyelash the Rolling Stones. The Quiet One is a documentary that gives you an insight into the band but most importantly the former bassist Bill Wyman. It discusses not only his music career with the Stones but his life.

The first thing that comes to mind when viewing this documentary is the meticulous record keeping Wyman did over his life span. I want you to keep in mind that this was before the internet, cell phones, etc. Yes, we had portable movie cameras as well as still photography, but we didn’t know how well those items would preserve over a period.

Bill Wyman is several years older than the rest of the Stones. He grew up like many of his generations during WW2 and had to deal with the economic aftershock of those events. It may explain his more practical approach to life.

We also learned that he became a bass player by accident. It’s quite interesting that some of the best musical moments occur to happenstance.

I liked the insights that I learned about the other band members. It’s always better when you get the perspective of one of the people that helped shape the sound of a whole generation.

The one thing I wished we would have seen more is how he dealt with the commercialization of the band after all The Stones were the original anti-culture band. The bad boys of Rock and Roll, rejecting everything that their parent’s generation held near and dear. We get into the ’70s, ’80s, and the stones are a huge corporate machine. The infamous tongue is trademarked, and t-shirts, stickers, jackets are readily aware everywhere. Is this one of the reasons that he left the band? Money over music?

Also, what were his musical contributions to the classic Stones sound? Yes, we know that Mick and Keith wrote most of the songs, but we only get a glimpse of the other contributions. Mainly Brian Jones who would have kept the band more on a blues track versus rock.

The other exciting part was Bill sharing glimpses of his personal life. Wyman has been married three times. His marriage to Mandy Smith was quite controversial seeing that he was 34 years older than her. Their relationship also began well before her 18th birthday.

My favorite moments of the documentary are when we see Wyman sharing moment of his life outside of the Stone. His interest in art, love of Ray Charles and his love for his son are very touching. Who knew that the guy with the worst hair cut in the band was the most well rounded,

In the end, what comes across in the documentary is that music saved his life. It gave him purpose and a way out. His goal was never to become a rock star but to avoid the trappings of his father. He accomplished that and became a rock icon all at the same time.