Sammy Hagar explains the one key difference between Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger
The true test of any good rock band is how well they can translate their music onstage. It’s one thing to become a master craftsman in the studio and make something that people will sing on their way to work every day, but engaging with a crowd rather than just sitting and playing the songs takes much more energy to pull off. Although Sammy Hagar is more than happy to relate to the audience as just another one of the guys half the time, he admitted that he was never that satisfied with Paul McCartney as a performer.
Before Hagar had started with Van Halen or even his old band Montrose, we need to go back in time a second. When the British invasion first got started, McCartney was the leading force behind The Beatles’ live show. Whereas every band member may have stood fairly still, McCartney knew the power that came from having that tiny bass in his hands, flashing his eyes to any girl in the audience who thought he was singing to her personally.
The performance aspect of a show always comes down to how many miles you put on it, though, and Hagar has never seen a time where he wasn’t on the road or in the studio. Van Halen was not a band keen on taking breaks all that often, and the fact that they refused to take some time off after the recording of Balance was partly the reason why Hagar needed to step out of the fold.
By the time Hagar struck out on his own again, he was ready to dominate the stage just like he did in the old days. When asked about the idols that he looked up to as a frontman, Hagar said that he would pick Mick Jagger over Paul McCartney any day of the week.
Although Hagar still had the utmost respect for McCartney as a writer, he thought that he wasn’t really on the same level of performance as someone like Jagger, telling Eddie Trunk, “He’s got a few years on me, and he’s amazing…McCartney, he doesn’t run around. He pushes his voice, but he doesn’t perform, you know what I mean? He just goes out and kills some songs, you know? But Mick, he’s performing, dude. And that’s a performer”.
It’s not like Hagar doesn’t have somewhat of a point. Compared to McCartney, sitting back and playing some of the greatest tunes of all time, Jagger spends every minute of his time onstage sweating his ass off, whether that’s strutting his stuff across the stage or holding the audience in his hand when performing the band’s ballads.
Granted, it seems McCartney has earned the right not to deliver it to the public like he did at the dawn of The Beatles. He might have a more muted version of what he had done back in the day, but his performances these days are less about the spectacle and more about spending time with one of the greatest performers in the world.
Whenever he sings a Beatles deep cut or pays tribute to one of his old mates, his way of telling his story to the crowd feels like you’re listening to a wise musical sage deliver myths to the next generation. No, he might not deliver on Jagger’s level, but it’s sometimes more important to relate to the audience rather than be the dancing puppet put on for their amusement.
