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The Rolling Stones in the press: “Mick Jagger – You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (by Little Robert Smith, 1977)
Michael Philip Jagger can be a shade difficult. The boldly stance and casual attitude. The world-weary look at yet another reporter who’s going to ask him about Bianca. Some questions treated with offhand indifference.
We started off alright while he played a cross between little boy and polite gentleman, warmly pumping hands and agreeing to pose for photographs. Horrors, he still did it although he didn’t know about a photographer coming — “I’d have brushed my hair.” The sun shone, Mick smiled awhile and everything came up roses. (Ref. The Rolling Stones Jagger 1977)
“Must have listened to about 100 hours of tape for the live album,” he says. “Me and Keith took batches of tapes and it took about two months to get through them all. We wanted to do one back in ’70 on the Stevie Wonder tour but due to contractual problems it didn’t come out.”
“I liked a lot of Love You Live. In Paris we had such a great time and atmosphere as well so we recorded in Toronto. Yeah, I’d like to do some more live stuff. You can’t please all the people all the time.”
Outrage
“We do big gigs like Earl’s Court because the maximum number of people see us. If we did a club set we’d have hundreds of complaints because people not being able to get in — it’s either one of those things or nothing.”
“No, we’re not neglecting Britain by doing fewer gigs here. We’ve done a lot of touring around the country; past and Europe and the States. We’ll be back here though.”
“Britain’s in a bad way at the moment and there’s a terrible attitude,” he continues. “The left is more Marxist — even the left liberal minded are becoming like little Maos and it’s bad for the working people. Capitalists don’t run the country, big unions do.”
The Stones are planning a new album. A line of covers along the wall. “They all look the same, don’t they, even Linda Ronstadt. God bless her.”
“Elton’s been turning out nice safe music since time. The Stones have refused to do likewise.”
Talking of respectability mums and dads like The Stones — back then they used to be revolted. Nowadays they seem really mellow. (Ref. The Rolling Stones Jagger 1977)
“I don’t really look back that much,” he says. “Except when I do interviews and have to say the outrageous. I move onstage to get rid of it. I’m not changing the script. I stand there and try to be sort of a mirror for hours lying on the floor.”
“Right, you’re next. Do the girls get fed up of me? Perhaps you’re right. I’d like to do some more films again. I’ve always fancied doing Shakespeare. You know I’ve got this idea for ‘Macbeth.’”
He laughs and leans forward: “But I’m not such a ‘hi, everybody’ character.” “Yes, I am a sex symbol,” he shrugs, “and I don’t feel embarrassed because it’s a laugh — and it’s only in this country. People don’t care in New York but they’ve closed my favourite club which was run by an Italian.”
Marriage
“I haven’t got a real home at the moment. I don’t commute between London, Los Angeles and New York — it’s not real. Sometimes when I come back to London I’m not really here and I don’t know why. I think I need some kind of realness.”
He’s off, half walking and half by mind’s cab. “I’ll walk and half by real cab,” he says, heading toward Soho and people will say “Hello Mick!”
…we’re going in the studios at the end of this week and the album will be out in April. It’ll be a single but I don’t know how it’s going to turn out.
“Nah, I don’t know what the title’s going to be. We want to be on the road in the new year, starting with Australia and New Zealand. After all these years the live buzz still hasn’t gone. The fact you can get people excited sustains you.”
“I’ll be keeping it up until my body starts to fall apart and that’s a long time off. The Stones might not last forever but we’ll be going until someone tells us we’re done.”
Now this is it at all bad, keep it up.
The Sunday papers had a lot of fun with the Stones’ film. Naturally they weren’t shocked but appalled and then shocked again to be so appalled but not appalled enough to stop running it.
Mick grins, “As they all say, ‘Saw it three times. It was disgusting!’”
Time for a double dose. He wanders over, picks up a banana from the window and peers through the blind.
What about new wave? Some might call Jagger a boring old fart.
He doesn’t respond to that old fart part but says: “I don’t think new wave’s going to last. I’ve been watching it closely in the States. The bands aren’t getting widespread popularity there and after the initial reaction in Britain I reckon it’s going to fade. No British new wave people are getting into the charts over there — even Marc Bolan managed that.”
“Yeah, it was a shame about Marc, he meant a lot to me. The last time we did Earl’s Court, he showed up and tried to grab me. He made it to number one again — you’ve got to remember that.”
“It was sad about Elvis too, it’s pathetic the way he was living, a showman right to the end. It was funny, all the others say they were there, but I was there. He was great.”
“The Stones is the best. You don’t appreciate it until you get away. I go to the States or somewhere and I miss the band. There’s no band like the Stones, the others are more laid back, they don’t have the same intensity. We’re good because we’re mean. Look at the Beatles — great but soft. Look at The Who — a good band.” (Ref. The Rolling Stones Jagger 1977)
Little Robin Smith makes the Rooster see Red.
“I haven’t got a real home at the moment. I don’t commute between London, Los Angeles and New York but I’ll hang out there for a week or two to see what’s been happening in the music world.”
“I don’t spend a lot of money. I got here today half by walking and half by minicab. I can walk through Soho and people will say ‘Hello Mick!’ and offer me fruit.”
What about the future of the Stones? Are you worried that Keith Richards could be locked away for drug offences?
“I don’t think about it or go around worrying. What’s the point of making plans until something’s actually happened? I’ve put myself in a frame of mind that says he won’t get done. I’ve never missed drugs myself or been into them, really. It’s amazing what the press have written.”
“With every interview over the past five years everybody has asked me why I have this fear of being shot or because they’ve made up this story in the first place.”
“Let me say: I’ve never had a fear of being shot. That story is complete myth. The only person who’s been shot at is Charlie — that was back in 1969 in Cardiff when somebody fired an air rifle at him.”
“We’ve done all right so far. A paper goes round the room and the journalists look so bored.”
“The Stones? We’re not all lovely everything you wanted to know and we’re kind and we love each other — but it’s just real life.”
“Sometimes I say it’s like about the end of the world. It’s true about me not wanting to live near other people. But what do you expect, Mick Jagger in suburbia?”
What about marriage Mick, it must be hard to handle?
“I have no views on it. I don’t want to be relevant. I have no views. I don’t read the news. I don’t feel informed at the moment.”
Does that mean you’ll marry Bianca again?
“I’m not saying. I don’t want to talk about it. When I walk around the Stones get fed up and people say ‘Hi Mick’ and I’m in the papers. I’ve seen so much of the world and lived so many different lives and people still don’t know who I am.” (Ref. The Rolling Stones Jagger 1977)
The little red rooster ruffled his feathers and disappeared into the night. Time to say goodbye.
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