Mick Jagger punking it up whilst performing on set during the making
of the video for 'Respectable' (dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1978)
Some readers may recall the post dated 2 Sept 2018 in which I argued that, at heart, Mick Jagger is clearly a bit of a punk rocker: click here.
Mostly I based this on the fact that the Stones' 1966 single 'Paint It Black' [1] is one of the great nihilistic pop anthems and that whilst on tour of the US in the summer of 1978 Jagger (somewhat ironically and provocatively) wore a Seditionaries Destroy shirt on stage.
Anyway, I'm pleased to say that I'm confirmed in my view thanks to a recent interview with Keith Richards, in which he describes his bandmate of sixty-odd years as a punk (and occasionally an asshole).
Speaking to a journalist from The Sun, Richards says (somewhat disapprovingly): "The punk side of Jagger has always been there and we'll never get rid of it." [2]
It's there, for sure, in 'Paint It Black', and it's also there, for example, in the 1978 single 'Respectable' [3] and in the expletive-laden new track 'Bite My Head Off' [4].
Whilst it still slightly pains me to admit it, I think Joe Taysom is right to say of the Rolling Stones that "few bands have embodied the spirit of punk more" [5] and that Jagger is, at eighty, a far better - certainly far fitter - frontman than sixty-seven year old Johnny Rotten.
Indeed, it might even be the case that the former has always been the more interesting figure ...
Notes
[1] I have written about this song in a post published on 29 Oct 2017: click here.
[2] Keith Richards speaking to Simon Cosyns in an interview in The Sun (13 Oct 2023): click here.
[3] 'Respectable', by the Rolling Stones, is a single release from the album Some Girls (Rolling Stones Records, 1978): click here.
Jagger would later admit that the fast and aggressive nature of the track was due to the influence of punk on the band at that time, describing the loud three-chord rock song as punk meets Chuck Berry. See note [5] below for more about the influence of punk on the Rolling Stones.
[4] 'Bite My Head Off', by the Rolling Stones (feat. Paul McCartney), is a track on the album Hackney Diamonds (Polydor, 2023): click here.
Jagger explained of the song: "'I was kind of surprised Paul wanted to
play on that track, actually. I wrote so many punk songs for the Stones,
and I could never get away with them, but Paul is a very open-minded
person - musically speaking.'" Quoted by Joe Taysom; see note [5] below.
[5] Joe Taysom, 'The Rolling Stones song Mick Jagger called "punk"', Far Out Magazine, (28 October 2023): click here. In this interesting article, Taysom goes on to write:
"When the punk phenomena took off in the late 1970s, Jagger was
intrigued by the prospect, even if The Rolling Stones weren't involved
in the scene. While the group have never made a fully-throttle punk
record, they did introduce elements of the genre into their sound on the 1978 album Some Girls. Jagger told Rolling Stone that the album's main inspiration was New York City, which injected the LP with 'an extra spur and hardness'. [...] However, despite Some Girls taking influence from New York, Jagger
preferred the British version of punk to the American incarnation."
