Mick Jagger on the Inspiration for the ‘Some Girls’ Album (1978)

By Marcelo Sonaglioni on September 14, 2025

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**Rolling Stones Quotes: Mick Jagger on the inspiration for the Some Girls album (1978)**

SOME GIRLS: JAGGER’S NEW YORK GROOVE
When Mick Jagger landed in New York in the late ’70s, the city’s chaos lit the fuse for Some Girls. Punk, disco, Latin grooves—it was all swirling around, and Mick soaked it up. He didn’t want a disco record, though. Aside from Miss You, it was raw, fast, brass-edged rock—tracks like Respectable and Lies dripping with punk attitude. Some Girls wasn’t polished, it was street-tough Stones, firing on all cylinders.

“I’d moved to New York at that point. The inspiration for the Some Girls album was really based in New York and the ways of the town. I think that gave it an extra spur and hardness. And then, of course, there was the punk thing that had started in 1976. Punk and disco were going on at the same time, so it was quite an interesting period. New York and London, too. Paris – there was punk there. Lots of dance music. Paris and New York had all this Latin dance music, which was really quite wonderful. Much more interesting than the stuff that came afterward…

…I didn’t want to make a disco album. I wanted to make more of a rock album. I just had one song that had a dance groove: Miss You. But I didn’t want to make a disco album. I wrote all these songs – like Respectable, Lies,When the Whip Comes Down… It was a really great record. I seem to like records that have one overriding mood with lots of little offshoots. Even though there’s a lot of bases covered, there’s lots of straight-ahead rock and roll. It’s very brass-edged. It’s very Rolling Stones, not a lot of frills. Respectable is the kind of edgy punk ethos. Yeah, the groove of it – and on all those songs, the whole thing was to play it all fast, fast, fast. I had a lot of problems with Keith about it, but that was the deal at the time.”

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rolling stones mick jagger quote inspiration some girls 1978

Fast, Loud, and City-Born: The Roots of Some Girls

When Mick Jagger talks about Some Girls (1978), it’s clear the album didn’t come out of nowhere—it came straight from the sidewalks of New York. Having just moved to the city, Jagger soaked up its raw energy, chaos, and constant pulse. That vibe—edgy, restless, urban—gave the record a sharpness, a kind of asphalt toughness. But it wasn’t just New York. London and Paris were buzzing, too. Punk was erupting. Disco was dominating. Latin dance music pulsed from every block. That mix of grit, rhythm, and rebellion shaped the album’s atmosphere. It was wild, kinetic, and totally of its time.

Punk Edge, Disco Pulse, and Pure Stones Swagger

Jagger didn’t set out to make a disco record—Miss You just happened to ride a dance groove. The real goal was a rock album, fast and unapologetic. Tracks like Respectable, Lies, and When the Whip Comes Down were intentionally quick, hard-hitting, and full of punk bite. “Fast, fast, fast,” he said—that was the mood. He admits he clashed with Keith Richards on that tempo-driven vision, but he stuck to it. What emerged was a no-frills, brass-edged, street-smart album that still felt deeply like the Stones. Jagger’s love for cohesive records with an underlying mood shines through here. Some Girls didn’t just follow trends—it chewed them up and spat them out in true Rolling Stones fashion.

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