“Inspired me from the beginning”: The performer Mick Jagger studied every detail of
Rock and roll frontmen don’t come any more iconic than The Rolling Stones’ pouting vocalist Mick Jagger. From the earliest days of the blues devotees, Jagger’s enigmatic stagecraft has stunned audiences and reflected the inescapable energy at the heart of the Stones’ sound.
However, the frontman did not come out of the womb strutting and spontaneously clapping; his live persona arose from years of rock and roll obsession. Jagger would study and worship the iconic frontmen of blues, rock, and soul music, taking on their influences and crafting his own unique style in the process.
Jagger always took the bulk of his inspiration from the world of American blues music and the Black artists who pioneered that style. In fact, it was a mutual love of blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf and the rock and roll stylings of Chuck Berry that first brought Jagger together with his guitarist and long-term comrade Keith Richards back in the 1960s. Together, the pair launched The Rolling Stones into the global consciousness, ushering in a bold new age for British rock and inspiring countless other artists in the process.
For all their revolutionary power, however, The Rolling Stones consistently drew from old-school blues and R&B artists within their work. Particularly during their early years, the band’s setlists were largely composed of cover songs, paying homage to the likes of Howlin’ Wolf or Muddy Waters. As a result of this, Jagger tended to emulate the stage presence of Black American artists in an effort to suit the music he was singing.
It doesn’t take a dedicated music historian to realise that the enigmatic energy of funk and soul titan James Brown heavily influenced Jagger’s stagecraft. Virtually every aspect of the singer’s attitude, down to the spontaneous shouts and constant movement, was lifted from Brown’s playbook, and it is easy to see why. After all, the musical world had never seen another figure like James Brown before; the progenitor of American funk captivated audiences around the world and redefined expectations of live performance in the process.
Brown was around far before Brian Jones ever formed The Rolling Stones, emerging as a gospel singer during the early 1950s before establishing himself on the R&B scene as the frontman of The Famous Flames. Even during those early years, it was clear that Brown was destined for stardom, exuding an unparalleled sense of energy and defiance that both excited and enraptured audiences, including Mick Jagger.
By the time The Rolling Stones made it into the musical mainstream, Brown was already a colossal star of funk, soul, and R&B music. Jagger has often admitted to the fact that all of his moves were “stolen” from Brown, but the funk singer’s influence over The Rolling Stones frontman was much more profound than that.
In 2022, in the early stages of producing the documentary series Say It Loud, which focused on Brown, his career, and his lasting legacy within popular music, Jagger recalled, “He was a brilliant performer who inspired me from the beginning and was deeply committed to the Civil Rights movement. I have always admired James and learned so much from him.”
So, not only did Brown provide Jagger with a textbook on how to personify an energetic frontman, but he also showed the Stones’ singer the power of defiance and marching to the beat of your own drum. These attitudes would become key to the rebellious spirit of The Rolling Stones early on in their career, but, seemingly, it was all thanks to the pioneering spirit of James Brown.
