Mick Jagger’s bitter disappointment with Chuck Berry: “Always rude to everyone”
The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has been in the music industry for most of his adult life, which means he’s crossed paths with just about everyone in showbusiness. But the novelty of meeting the person behind the music quickly wore off for him. It didn’t take long for Jagger to realise that great artists can be complicated people — and they’re not always interested in small talk.
Making great art and being a perfect person rarely go hand in hand. As much as meeting one’s heroes can often be a dream encounter that spirals into a meaningful friendship, there’s a reason why the phrase ‘Never meet your heroes’ is imprinted in the public lexicon. The idea of a person responsible for creating cherished albums can place them on an undeserved pedestal, but that illusion has a habit of shattering upon coming face-to-face.
For The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry was an otherworldly godlike figure who helped mould their sound during their formative years. As a result of their success, they had the opportunity to meet their hero on multiple occasions. While this should have been a privilege, Jagger was disappointed by Berry, who he found rude and uncourteous.
Despite the impoliteness he showed to the group, Keith Richards still worshipped the ground Berry walked on. On one occasion, he even left the guitarist with a black eye after Richards played Berry’s guitar backstage after a show in New York without permission. For most people, this would alter their perspective on a person, but instead, Richards apologised, stating, “I realised I was in the wrong. If I walked into my dressing room and saw somebody fiddling with my axe, it would be perfectly all right to sock ’em.”
On the contrary, Jagger was less forgiving, and a set of incidents tarnished his opinion of the musician, even though he still appreciated Berry’s talent. Jagger opened up about his childhood musical heroes to MOJO in 2001 and spoke about his complex relationship with the two figures he once most admired. “There was Elvis, I suppose, though he was so ghastly in other ways and you somehow knew it,” he commented.
He added: “Plus, he didn’t write, and the other people who were influential, say Chuck Berry, were all writers, who would inspire you to be a writer and influence your style.”
“For me, it was Chuck the lyric writer first, and the stage performer next, and then the guitar player.”
Mick Jagger
However, his opinion of Berry, the person rather than the musician, is less than complimentary. Jagger explained, “I think your heroes always disappoint you in the end. It’s best never to meet them. I met him loads of times and always got on well. But I think Keith always thought of him as more of a hero than I did, and therefore was more disappointed with him when he was rather rude and overbearing.”
Sticking the boot in further, Jagger added: “He was an oddly cheap character in some ways, very quirky. He never had a good band, he was always rude to everyone, he became too much of a parody of himself. He never even tried to write anything after a certain time.”
Although Berry didn’t commit crimes that landed him in prison during his later years, his treatment of others – and how he handled his own career – left a sour taste in Jagger’s mouth. The disappointing encounters taught Jagger a lasting lesson about fame. Some might accuse The Rolling Stones of becoming a parody of themselves in recent decades and find Jagger’s remarks ironic, but they’re still making new music, winning Grammys, and writing new chapters in their 80s—something no other band has done.
