Why the Hells Angels Were Once So Mad at the Rolling Stones There Were Fears They’d Try to Kill Mick Jagger

The Rolling Stones were loaded with more beasts than just their high-energy set list when it came to their legendary 1972 tour.

While touring North America, playing 48 shows over two months, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Mick Taylor found themselves on the bad side of the Hells Angels after a concert ended in tragedy, sparking fears that the motorcycle club would asked for blood.

The tense rivalry between the two groups was well documented by journalist Robert Greenfield, at one time Rolling stone editor who got behind-the-scenes access to the tour. He translated his experiences into a book from 1974 STP: Touring America with the Rolling Stoneswhich is now being re-covered on the iHeartMedia podcast Stones Touring Party (streaming now), is hosted and written by former PEOPLE staffer Jordan Runtagh.

The podcast draws on more than 60 hours of Greenfield’s never-before-heard interviews with the band, recorded between 1972 and 1973 — and offers new insight into the security fears that dogged the Stones throughout the tour.

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Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform in San Francisco in June 1972.

Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

The British rockers had good intentions when they brought in the Hells Angels as hired security for their December 1969 free concert at Altamont Speedway in California. Legend has it that club members were paid $500 worth of beer, and in return they were expected to keep order.

This did not happen, and things took a chaotic turn as “security” quickly resorted to violence to contain the riotous crowd. At some point, an 18-year-old Black fan named Meredith Hunter got into a racially motivated fight with members of the club — and when he pulled out a gun in self-defense, he was fatally stabbed.

The Stones saw trouble, but didn’t realize Hunter had died. They continued to perform, fearing riots if they finished their set early.

The aftermath of the fateful concert was a confusion of blame-shifting; The Stones were upset at being blamed for the chaos, while the Hells Angels were angry that they felt the band had let them take responsibility for Hunter’s death.

Mick Jagger performs in New York in July 1972.

Robert R. McElroy/Getty

“I think it had a profound effect on all of us,” Taylor said on the Greenfield tapes. “We were upset that we were accused and held responsible for what happened. You can’t blame anyone for such mass hysteria.”

The fact that the band refused to cover the Hells Angels’ $50,000 in legal fees arising from the resulting murder trial further angered them – and soon rumors circulated that they would seek revenge, either by murdering or kidnapping Jagger.

“People would say, ‘Mick, aren’t you worried?'” Jagger said on the tapes. “It really hit me once after we decided to go on tour. We parked in the parking lot and these four girls came, young girls… They said: ‘But aren’t you afraid that they will shoot you?’ That really freaked me out. You know, they’re like 15-year-old girls. So I said, ‘Yes, I am.'”

Clinking, they played on. “Either I stopped touring or I didn’t. It was that simple…. Don’t say I wasn’t afraid — I was more or less afraid!” Jagger explained.

To ward off threats, the Stones have beefed up their security measures, bringing two armed bodyguards to the fold and making sure they travel in private jets and limousines. When they stayed in hotels, they blocked off entire floors, allowing access only to their entourage.

“Everybody was saying, ‘Don’t eat the food!'” Wyman recalled. “I said to the promoter, ‘Have you tried the food?’ And he said: ‘Yes, I’ve tasted everything. It is OK!’ It was half a joke, but also a caution.”

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Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on October 19, 2023.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Taylor, meanwhile, recalled the “rigorous” security measures in New York and said on tape that he was confined to his hotel and the venue they were playing in for fear of danger.

“All I ever saw was the inside of my hotel room and the concert hall,” he said on the tapes. “I was told I couldn’t even go shopping and I couldn’t order food from room service because someone might slip into the kitchen and put poison in my curry… When you’re told things like that, what can you do? ”

Rumors continued to swirl and at one point, Jagger and Richards were served with subpoenas in San Francisco regarding a club lawsuit against the band by a woman who posed as a fan and was met on their private jet (She and her paperwork were immediately thrown off the plane and left the city).

Of course, Jagger and co. he made it through the tour unscathed. Hells Angels member Alan Passaro was eventually found not guilty of first-degree murder in 1971, after testifying that he stabbed Hunter in self-defense, The New York Times reported.

Although Passaro died in 1985, the case remained open for years as investigators investigated rumors that Hunter had actually been stabbed by another person. The case was officially closed in 2005, according to NBC News.

For more on the Rolling Stones, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere now.

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