Marianne Faithfull, the Rolling Stones House Party Arrest, and the Mars Bar Rumour

I once heard someone lament that we don’t make rockstars like we used to. The current generation of rock gods isn’t causing outrage and headlines like their forebears. That’s probably for the best, admittedly. It’s good that these people aren’t embroiled in an endless swirl of drugs, arrests, and statutory rape accusations. Isn’t it nice that so many of the original wild kids have got to age into nice grandparents?

Still, I do love a bit of retro rock and roll drama, and when I think of the band that made the most drastic and varied of provocative headlines, I think of the Rolling Stones. This band did it all, for better or worse. Often worse, let’s be honest. But at least we have precious memories like Keith Richards snorting his dad’s ashes, Charlie Watts punching out Mick Jagger, and the legendary Mars Bar arrest rumour, featuring the iconic Marianne Faithfull.

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was the teenage daughter of a British intelligence officer and descendant of the guy whose name spawned the term "masochism" when she began performing folk songs in local coffee shops. She married the artist John Dunbar and had her son, Nicholas, when she was 18. The marriage was short-lived, and soon Marianne had moved on to Mick Jagger.

Their romance was torrid and the stuff of many a tabloid headline. The Stones were British rock royalty, the embodiment of the loose and lascivious '60s, Swinging London, and the so-called disintegration of old-fashioned values. Jagger and Keith Richards wrote "As Tears Go By", Faithfull's first single, which became a big success and remained one of her signature songs for decades. Her career was on the up, making her one of the most desired and fascinating women of her era. Think of Jane Birkin in terms of It Girl allure, both lover and muse to a "great" man.

Drugs were everywhere in music. They still are. And the '60s was a time of proud experimentation. The British press, never one to avoid causing a moral panic, made a lot of hash (sorry) out of stories of marijuana use and LSD trips. They loved a sex scandal, and if psychedelic substances were involved, even better. Everyone knew that the Stones were into, well, whatever was available. In 1967, The News of the World ran a three-part feature entitled "Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You", which featured stories of LSD parties and hashish use. The Stones featured heavily in these exposés. Two days after the article was published, Jagger filed a writ for libel against the paper. He had a bad boy image, but he still needed to avoid hard charges lest his visa access to the USA be revoked.

Jagger had an alibi for the night when the supposed expose took place. The News of the World was terrified that it would have to make a big financial payout. Fortunately for them, an informant called in with a hot tip.