“Who’s the biggest c**t?”: The frontman Keith Richards comically compared to Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger is the archetypal rock and roll frontman, having spent six decades darting around stages with pouted lips and sporadic clapping. The Rolling Stones paved the way for so many British rock bands from their formation in 1962, so it is easy to see why rock frontmen are so often compared to Jagger, although very few have ever managed to match his otherworldly reputation. To Keith Richards, however, Jagger is just a bloke he has had to share the stage with for 60 years.
From the very beginning of The Rolling Stones, Richards has had immense respect and love for Jagger. After all, it was their songwriting partnership which elevated the band from young blues devotees to a global rock phenomenon, and that lasting partnership has seen the Stones continue their rock reign over multiple decades. Nevertheless, Mick Jagger’s ethereal nature is somewhat lost on Richards, given that the pair has shared dressing rooms and sweaty tour buses for the majority of their lives together.
Still, Richards has always maintained that Jagger stands atop the rock and roll scene, regularly disparaging up-and-coming young bands who might challenge the throne of the Stones. In 2008, the particularly grumpy guitarist told Uncut, “I don’t listen to what’s going on. I don’t like CDs, quite honestly. They sound tinny to me. I didn’t like Oasis. I didn’t like the Sex Pistols. I don’t like any of those English rock and roll bands. They’re all crap.”
While Richards’ take on new music has consistently been dismissive over the past few decades, he seems to harbour a particular hatred for Mancunian Britpop heroes Oasis. Back in 1997, he again called them “crap”, adding, “These guys are just obnoxious. Grow up and then come back and see if you can hang.” In fairness, this take on Oasis was not wholly out of the ordinary. Even the famously friendly Paul McCartney, who was worshipped by the Gallagher brothers, wasn’t initially keen on their output.
Despite this initial dismissal of Oasis’ unique brand of optimistic and rebellious rock and roll music, Richards could at least draw some parallels between Liam Gallagher and Mick Jagger. On the face of it, the two singers boast very disparate styles. The Oasis singer is more likely to stand with his hands behind his back than dart around the stage clapping like an overenthusiastic drama teacher. However, Richards once compared the two while drinking with Noel Gallagher.
As the songwriter once recalled to BBC Radio 2, “I spent New Year’s Eve once with Keith Richards. He said one of the funniest things to me.”
Setting the scene, Gallagher continued, “Keith’s at the bar dressed like a pirate – he’s got like three belts on, and a sword, big parrot on his shoulder – and he turned around like ‘Oh, you’re still around, are ya?’” This is a particularly ironic choice of words for a guitarist who has been recording and performing for well over six decades.
Uniting Liam Gallagher and Mick Jagger, the guitarist reportedly continued, “He said, ‘One question I’ve always wanted to ask you. Who’s the biggest cunt, your singer or mine?’ I was like, ‘Well, as your singer wrote some of the greatest lyrics of all time, I’ve got to say mine’. And he said, ‘I thought as much’.”
So, while Mick Jagger might be untouchable as a frontman, there are certainly some qualities that compare him to Britpop’s anarchic son, Liam Gallagher, at least in the eyes of Keith Richards and Noel Gallagher.
