Mick Jagger reflects on backlash to The Rolling Stones in the 1960s: “We were like freaks to them”
The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has reflected on how the band were first perceived in the 1960s.
While they were rightly celebrated by the younger generation, helping them become one of the biggest bands in the world, the media wasn’t quite as kind to them.
In the UK, they were vilified by the tabloid press and singled out as the poster boys for everything wrong with society. Meanwhile, in the US, the general reaction was also less than welcoming by the traditional media and elements of the populace.
Speaking to Conan O’Brien on the latest episode of the Conan Needs A Friend podcast, Jagger recalled how The Stones were viewed as “bad”, “dirty”, “scary”, and “shouldn’t be allowed”, which he said “was just kind of press stuff.”
He added, “People were really welcoming in most places. But there was a group that were really not welcoming. But maybe they didn’t know who you were, but they would just shout names at you.”
“So it was very polarised in a kind of modern way,” Jagger added, before explaining of their image, “Just the look of you, which, when you look at the pictures, it’s pretty normal.”
Although Jagger says their look was “very tame” by today’s standards, he noted that “in those days it wasn’t.” He continued, “Especially in the US, when we first went there, I’d say 64, outside of New York and LA, we were like freaks for them.”
The Rolling Stones frontman then highlighted Ed Sullivan as an exception to the rule, as well as Mike Wallace, who Jagger said “were willing to have serious conversations with you. They respected you a bit more. There were others that did not, and you didn’t do their shows.”
Reflecting further on the initial reaction to The Stones, Jagger added, “It was a hostile environment, particularly in America, but not only in America. I’m not blaming America for being the only (hostile place), they were hostile in England, there was a lot of hostility, but America was not ready for this stuff. Really, they weren’t.”
However, soon enough, the landscape was different, and Jagger believed that by 1966 it “had changed a lot”, which saw The Stones become more accepted.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with the New York Times, Jagger discussed his lyrical approach to The Rolling Stones’ new album Foreign Tongues, released on July 10th, admitting, “I wouldn’t have written any of these songs when I was 30, honestly. And I’ve also gotten into this habit of doing songs that are about personal relationships and then I throw a verse about politics in there.”
He then added in regards to the sprinkling of politics into the songs, “That’s a trick that I’ve learned from other songwriters, because nobody wants to hear a whole song about politics or social comment.”
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