The World According to… The Rolling Stones’ Mick JaggerAnne Erickson | 12.15.2011
Mick Jagger has done it all, from fronting the most celebrated rock band on the planet, The Rolling Stones, to forming a “SuperHeavy” rock supergroup. When it comes to the archetypical frontman, Jagger is certainly it. Charisma, commanding vocals, magnetism – it’s all there. In the following choice quotes, Sir Jagger talks about SuperHeavy, getting knighted by Prince Charles and loving Facebook.
On the release of the deluxe edition of The Rolling Stones’ 1978 album Some Girls, as told to Spinner in 2011:“It wasn’t an anniversary, nor was Exile on Main St. I think people like the album. I didn’t know if there were any outtakes for it, anything worth looking, and then I found there were a few things. I’ve always liked the album. It’s very different from Exile because it’s so focused. It’s 10 tracks and it doesn’t have tons of horn parts or backing vocalists or anything like that. It’s sort of a very group-focused piece and stripped down and to the point.”
On the future of The Rolling Stones, as told to the BBC in 2007:“I’m sure The Rolling Stones will do more things and more records and more tours. We’ve got no plans to stop any of that really. As far as I’m concerned I’m sure we’ll continue.”
On forming a supergroup, SuperHeavy, with Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian Marley, as told to Rolling Stone in 2011:“We wanted a convergence of different musical styles. We were always overlapping styles, but they were nevertheless separate… One of the beauties [of making the album] is that, just speaking as a vocalist, I did other things. I played guitar and harmonica, but there’s four vocalists on the album. Not everything was reliant on me.”
On the uniqueness of SuperHeavy, as told to the Arizona Central in 2011:“It doesn’t fit a particular genre, even individual songs, never mind the whole album. It wasn’t our goal to surprise people. We did this to have fun and be creative. When I think about it, it is rather surprising, and in music, that’s a good thing. Much as we love buying an album of rap tunes with this guest and that guest, we know it’s all rap. This record goes in other areas.”
On getting knighted by Prince Charles, as reported to the BBC in 2003:“I’ve met [Prince Charles] quite a few times and we’ve had some nice chats. I don’t get nervous, it’s more exhilaration. It's very nice to have honors given to you as long as you don’t take it all too seriously.”
On Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards’ comments that Jagger’s decision to accept a “paltry honor” was “ludicrous,” as reported to the BBC in 2003:“I think he would probably like to get the same honor himself. It’s like being given an ice cream – one gets one and they all want one. It's nothing new. Keith likes to make a fuss.”
On which Rolling Stones songs he’s sick of performing live, as told to the BBC:“I’m not sick of any of any of them. I love them all equally – just like my children, they are.”
On driving the girls wild, as told to Jann S. Wenner:“You realize that these girls are going, either quietly or loudly, sort of crazy. And you’re going, ‘Well, this is good. You know, this is something else.’ At that age you’re just so impressed, especially if you’ve been rather shy before. There’s two parts of all this, at least. There’s this great fascination for music and this love of playing blues – not only blues, just rock and roll generally. There’s this great love of that.
“But there’s this other thing that’s performing, which is something that children have or they haven’t got. In the slightly post-Edwardian, pre-television days, everybody had to do a turn at family gatherings. You might recite poetry, and Uncle Whatever would play the piano and sing, and you all had something to do. And I was just one of those kids [who loved it].”
On his computer addiction, as told to USA Today in 2011:“I spend way too much time on the computer and not enough time playing the guitar. There’s an underlying problem of this screen life taking over all of your life. It’s easy to keep in touch with people, some of whom I wish I’d never kept in touch with. But there they are on Facebook! You can spend a lot of time on that when you should be doing something else.”
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