Keith Richards Couldn’t Understand Why Mick Jagger Wanted to Be Like David Bowie: ‘Mick Could Deliver 10 Times More’
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger have been working together in The Rolling Stones since the early 1960s. In this time, they’ve become like family to one another. They’ve also gotten into disagreements, and sometimes very public ones. Despite this, Richards thinks highly of Jagger as a musician. He once expressed his confusion about why his longtime bandmate would want to be like David Bowie.
Keith Richards found it baffling that Mick Jagger wanted to emulate David Bowie
By the 1980s, The Rolling Stones had been together for two decades. Richards said that Jagger had always been confident, but he was beginning to doubt himself.
“Somewhere, though, he got unnatural,” Richards wrote in his book, Life. “He forgot how good he was in that small spot. He forgot his natural rhythm. I know he disagrees with me. What somebody else was doing was far more interesting to him than what he was doing. He even began to act as if he wanted to be someone else.”
One of the people Jagger most wanted to emulate was Bowie.
“He watched what David Bowie was doing and wanted to do it,” Richards wrote. “Bowie was a major, major attraction. Somebody had taken Mick on in the costume and bizarreness department.”
Richards couldn’t understand this. He thought Jagger was far too talented to want to perform like someone else.
“But the fact is, Mick could deliver ten times more than Bowie in just a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, singing ‘I’m a Man.’ Why would you want to be anything else if you’re Mick Jagger?” Richards wrote. “Is being the greatest entertainer in show business not enough? He forgot that it was he who was new, who created and set the trends in the first place, for years. It’s fascinating. I can’t figure it out. It’s almost as if Mick was aspiring to be Mick Jagger, chasing his own phantom.”
This was a rare compliment Keith Richards gave Mick Jagger in his memoir
After the release of Richards’ memoir, Life, many readers took note of how harsh he was toward Jagger. He wrote about his bandmate’s vanity, his “lead vocalist syndrome,” and his controlling nature. His comment about Jagger being the greatest entertainer in show business was a rare compliment, even if it did have some sharpness to it.
Through this, Richards proved that even when he was most frustrated with Jagger, he couldn’t let go of the respect he had for him as a musician. This is potentially why The Rolling Stones have remained together for decades. Even when they fight, they still consider one another strong artists.
Keith Richards insulted David Bowie
Despite Richards’ appreciation for Jagger’s musicianship, there was another reason he found his desire to be like Bowie confusing. While Jagger saw Bowie as a bright new talent, Richards didn’t think he was all that impressive.
“It’s all pose. It’s all f***ing posing,” Richards said, per Uncut, adding, “It’s nothing to do with music. He knows it too. I can’t think of anything else he’s done that would make my hair stand up.”
