There are countless controversial moments when it comes to Mick Jagger. Countless lists online point out his most outrageous actions and quips. But what stopped him from falling too hard into the depths of excess?
When you think of the outrageous stories of some of our most well-celebrated musicians, it’s usually associated with names like Ozzy Osbourne, who single-handedly carried enough bizarre energy to stretch across probably about five people. But Jagger was also up there, not only as part of one of the most notorious bands in history but as someone who genuinely seemed to poke and prod just for the fun of it.
While Osbourne once self-professed to being “the conductor of mayhem”, Jagger also seemed to hold about six personalities in one, enough for even Keith Richards to once bestow upon him the one line that perhaps explains him better than any other: “He’s a nice bunch of guys”. Funnily enough, when you apply an artistic lens, this also rings true, considering he’s also been the purveyor of things that make little sense for those existing in conventional spaces where things like androgyny feel entirely scandalous.
But there was also an element of sensual intrigue between those lines, especially whenever he was on stage, the kind that even the most esteemed of names regarded as something they’ll never truly know or have themselves. Which was also the one thing that made most of them label Jagger as the quintessential rock star, not just with the way he contorted his body on stage, but with the way even his most standoffish remarks came across with the coolness of someone you could never truly stay mad at.
Even after being arrested in 1967 for drugs, Jagger celebrated with a fancy cocktail and a button that read, “Mick is Sex”, later quipping about the fact that being detained wasn’t too dissimilar to any other day as one of the most nonchalant, unbothered rock stars in a band that won’t quit. As he said, “There’s not much difference between a cell and a hotel room in Minnesota. And I do my best thinking in places without distractions.”
But where does it all end? And why did it never get too far, considering the dire nature of some of his most on-record mishaps? Well, according to the man himself, there’s only one reason why excess never pulled him down to the depths of whatever exists down there, and that’s his parents. As he explained to The Talks: “We all did excessive things and I had a lot of unstable moments as I’m sure everyone does in their life. Maybe it helped me that I had a very centred upbringing.”
When elaborating on the presence of his parents, he continued, “When you are young and you have a sort of close family life and stuff, it helps you to be centred for later. If you don’t have a centred upbringing, I think it is much more difficult. […] Excess was the order of the day. But that was just a period. You know you get excessive people nowadays as well. Today people are excessive consuming things, like consumer goods.”
To his credit, he did also reflect on how times have changed, saying that it “wasn’t very funny” at the time, despite how much it became one of the most celebrated facets not only of his personality but of the Stones’ legacy. But this wasn’t necessarily only because of the underlying indignity at the root of it, but because it left little time for anything other than fighting the law.
“You had to spend all your time trying to deal with all the police and you didn’t have time to do anything else,” he said.
Perhaps at the centre of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll and the one thing that ultimately made him a more authentic rock star than his peers wasn’t that he was actually trying to be a rebellious lost cause, but that he didn’t even mean to achieve that reputation in the first place. For a long while, it was fodder for the perfect, unsuspecting observer who wanted to escape by watching some self-destructive rock maestro. But for Jagger, the reality was just that that’s all there was to the time period they emerged from.