yes but if they had kicked him out, what's the bet Lennon, Harrison & Starr would've been too chicken sh*t to tell him themselves--just like they did to Best--they asked poor George Martin do their dirty work LOL (this is the ONLY incident that I didnt respect the Beatles for how they handled something...(IMO)--AT LEAST JAGGER & RICHARDS WENT OVER TO BRIAN'S HOUSE TO TELL HIM "YOU'RE OUT, MATE" (but then Brian--who I loved dearly--was a forlorn drug addict by then so how can Mick & Keith really be blamed ? ...(once again, IMO)
But, and this is the part I don't get, Brian Jones
formed the Rolling Stones. He
chose Richards (who was drinking a pint at the bar at the time), and he
chose Jagger, and he named the band, and he signed contracts and such. Of course, through 1963 to 1969, Jagger and Richards emerged as the leaders of the group because they wrote the songs. What's strange is that, on the album covers, Brian Jones is always the focal point - he's always in front, while the rest of the group is hiding in the back. Anyway, couldn't Jones have told them to continue under a different name, since he was committed to the group contractually? If Paul McCartney could, why couldn't Brian Jones?
Now. As I said before, I only used McCartney as an example. What about if the example was GEORGE HARRISON. I read in Geoff Emerick's book that George Harrison wasn't a very good lead guitarist, and that they really had to work with him to get it right. What if, in 1965/66, they decided to give Harrison the boot? The answer, I think, would be YES, because Harrison wasn't the main songwriter, and really had no "clout" to protect himself. Same can be said about Ringo.
But I guess that's all pretty obvious. The real question is about McCartney and John Lennon. Could either of those two been kicked out, if it was three against one.