The only frontman Charlie Watts said was better than Mick Jagger: “Actually working an audience”
A lot is made of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ significance; after all, they are the figureheads of The Rolling Stones, one of the most influential bands of all time, great songwriters, and the definitive stereotypical rockstars. However, due to their long list of storied exploits, including hightailing it to France as tax exiles and Richards snorting his father’s ashes, their characters overshadow the many band members that propped them up over the years, including the late drummer Charlie Watts.
The Rolling Stones could never have reached their towering heights without Watts behind the drums. In stark contrast to the flamboyant, outlandish personas of the ‘Glimmer Twins’, Watts brought a jazz-infused sophistication to his playing, providing an intellectually nuanced counterbalance to the band’s raw rock ‘n’ roll energy. His quiet, reserved demeanour was perfectly suited to the man behind the kit—the steady musical anchor every band needs. Eschewing the excesses of his bandmates’ hedonistic lifestyles, the understated rhythmic genius remained a breath of fresh, ice-cool air throughout the band’s storied career.
Watts was an original until the very end and was never one to be pulled in directions he didn’t want to. Although he attributed his brief dalliance with drugs and alcoholism in the 1980s to a mid-life crisis, it’s absolutely symbolic of his character that he stayed faithful to his wife Shirley when on the road. Brilliantly, when the group visited Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion during their 1972 US tour and presumably got up to all kinds of filth, he removed himself from danger and instead took advantage of the sprawling games room.
I’d argue that Watts was possibly a touch eccentric – as implied by sketching every tour bed he slept on since 1967 – which probably allowed him to be in the group for so long despite not being one for bouts of hedonistic mania like most of his bandmates. This is why you could often see him smirking from behind the kit when they were in their heyday; he was likely laughing at what was unfolding and how ridiculous others in the band looked.
Just as Watts was the quietest member of his band and the coolest head, he was also the one best placed to comment on the nature of the other Rolling Stones. Due to his position as the drummer and his naturally reserved character, he was a perennial observer during his time with them. He knew things about them that they didn’t even comprehend. In 1994, he gave an enlightening interview with 60 Minutes, giving his honest opinion on each man’s role in The Rolling Stones.
His comments on Mick Jagger were particularly interesting. Despite once punching the frontman for calling him “my drummer”, Watts was in no doubt about what was supreme about Jagger’s revered onstage presence and named the only man who he thought topped him. Although he knew Jagger was “the best”, Watts believed James Brown outdid him when he was in his pomp, with his electric, acrobatic moves going a step further than Jagger’s.
Watts said: “Mick is just the best frontman in the world. I mean that in the nicest possible way. I think he’s the best thing on stage in the world, apart from probably James Brown when he was younger. I mean actually working an audience, 50, 60,000 people, just standing in front of three guitar players or two guitar players and the bass player and singing. Mick is the best thing in the world I think I’ve ever seen.”
It’s a big call, but Watts was right. Jagger took a lot from Brown when forming his famous approach in the early days of The Rolling Stones. His spirited, relentless movement across the stage and expressive delivery were precursors to that of the Englishman. He simply wouldn’t be the same without the influence of the ‘Get Up’ singer.
