Terence Dale “Buffin” Griffin (24 October 1948 – 17 January 2016) Buffin was a founder member of Mott The Hoople and also famed producer of bands on the John Peel show between 81 and 94. Most famously he produced sessions for Nirvana, Pulp and the smashing pumpkins and also in his own right he noticeably produced Hanoi Rocks album ‘Back To Mystery City’.

As a founder member of Mott The Hoople Dale managed to attend the Hammersmith reunion shows back in 2009 but had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers so only played on the encores of the shows which were extended from three to five after an incredible demand although he didn’t feature at all in the warm-up shows the band did near Rockfield studios prior to the London gigs. his place was taken by Martin Chambers. Diagnosed at 58 he sadly passed away in his sleep back in 2016 at the young age of 67.

Rest In Peace Buffin   24 October 1948 – 17 January 2016

On a brighter note on this day in history, The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included, ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’. It peaked at No.15 on the UK chart. Also by some coincidence, Happy Birthday today to Mick Taylor, Mick joined The Stones in 1969 (aged 20), replacing Brian and left the Stones in 1974. He has appeared on some of the Stones’ classic albums and widely regarded as their finest period of songwriting including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Taylor has also worked with Bob Dylan, Mike Oldfield, Jack Bruce and Ronnie Wood.

Richards gave Taylor this fine appraisal when recording Its Only Rock And Roll’  during the Munich sessions, Richards confronted him and said, “Oi! Taylor! You’re playing too fuckin’ loud. I mean, you’re really good live, man, but you’re fucking useless in the studio. Lay out, play later, whatever.” Richards erased some of the tapes where Taylor had recorded guitar parts too.

Taylor responded by saying “I was a bit peeved about not getting credit for a couple of songs, but that wasn’t the whole reason [I left the band]. I guess I just felt like I had enough” Yeah right so you just leave The Stones and that’s it? He later said of his time in the band – “We used to fight and argue all the time. And one of the things I got angry about was that Mick had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs – and he didn’t. I believed I’d contributed enough. Let’s put it this way – without my contribution, those songs would not have existed. There’s not many but enough, things like “Sway” and “Moonlight Mile” on Sticky Fingers and a couple of others” Oh well your contribution was recognised by the fans for sure and with the power of hindsight I doubt the band would have existed had Mick Taylor not joined the band.

They must have made their peace because Taylor has joined the band on stage many times since so Happy Birthday Mick aged 70 Today!