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TL;DR:

  • Mick Jagger said one of The Rolling Stones’ songs drew inspiration from punk rock.
  • He said the song is performed at a “fast, fast, fast” tempo.
  • The track performed differently in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger with a finger in his mouth
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger | David Redfern / Staff

The Rolling Stones‘ songs span many genres, but the Stones aren’t generally considered a punk rock band. Despite this, Mick Jagger said one of their songs has a punk edge. He said the track came from a time when punk and disco were taking over the world.

Mick Jagger said New York City inspired the ‘hardness’ of The Rolling Stones album ‘Some Girls’

During a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger discussed the origin of The Rolling Stones’ 1978 album Some Girls. “The inspiration for the record was really based in New York and the ways of the town,” he said. “I think that gave it an extra spur and hardness.”

Jagger explained how musical trends influenced Some Girls. “And then, of course, there was the punk thing that had started in 1976,” he recalled. “Punk and disco were going on at the same time, so it was quite an interesting period.” He said the music of the time was superior to what came afterward.

Mick Jagger wrote several of The Rolling Stones’ songs from ‘Some Girls’

Jagger was asked if he wanted Some Girls to be a disco album. “Not at all,” he replied. “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.'”

Jagger was asked about “Respectable.” “Yeah, this is the kind of edgy punk ethos,” he opined. “Yeah, the groove of it — and on all of those songs, the whole thing was to play it all fast, fast, fast. I had a lot of problems with Keith [Richards] about it, but that was the deal at the time.”

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How The Rolling Stones’ ‘Respectable’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Respectable” was not a single in the United States, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The song’s parent album, Some Girls, became far more popular. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for two weeks, remaining on the chart for 88 weeks.

“Respectable” became a single in the United Kingdom. The Official Charts Company reports the tune reached No. 23 in the U.K., lasting nine weeks on the chart. There, Some Girls reached No. 2 and stayed on the chart for 25 weeks.

“Respectable” wasn’t one of The Rolling Stones’ biggest hits — but it proved they could take on punk rock.

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