The legendary singer Keith Richards said Mick Jagger was “10 times” better than
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have a relatively complicated relationship. The two of them are part of one of the biggest bands in the world, which people were drawn to because of their big personalities and openness. The fact of the matter is, when you have such a high profile based on eccentricity, arguments and disagreements will come naturally, but at the heart of The Rolling Stones is a mutual respect and love for one another that has seen the band continue to make music and sell out arenas to this day.
The two have had arguments in the past. Richards has always been quick to hurl an insult Mick Jaggers way if he thinks he deserves it (or not). In the past, he has said Mick had a small penis, criticised his solo work and, most scathingly, left Jagger out of his list of top 20 singers. This was likely an oversight. If Richards hadn’t thought Jagger had a good voice, the band probably wouldn’t have survived as long as it has, and his singing is one of the only actual complements Richards gives the frontman in his memoir, Life.
That compliment comes when Richards discusses a period when Jagger seemed to lose himself and, in turn, started comparing himself to other singers. “Somewhere, though, he got unnatural,” he writes, “He forgot how good he was in that small spot. He forgot his natural rhythm… What somebody else was doing was far more interesting to him than what he was doing. He even began to act as if he wanted to be someone else.”
The fact is, Jagger and the Rolling Stones were musical pioneers, not only in the kind of sound they managed to achieve but also in how they performed on stage. As such, they gave way to a new wave of acts with rock and showmanship at their heart. It’s only natural that Jagger was going to start comparing himself, and there is one singer in particular he took a shine to, something that never entirely made sense to Richards.
“He watched what David Bowie was doing and wanted to do it,” wrote Richards, “Bowie was a major, major attraction. Somebody had taken Mick on in the costume and bizarreness department.”
Though Bowie was a lot more experimental and leaned into conceptual creativity when making his music, the way he and Jagger performed and the rock star aura that surrounded the two were definitely comparable. Jagger obviously felt threatened, which is why he tried to take on Bowie slightly, but Richards was never keen on this idea, as he always thought Jagger was the better singer without any doubt.
“The fact is, Mick could deliver ten times more than Bowie in just a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, singing ‘I’m a Man’. Why would you want to be anything else if you’re Mick Jagger?” He said, “Is being the greatest entertainer in show business not enough?”
There will naturally be moments in any musician’s career when they question how good they are, especially if they usher in a movement and have someone come along they think can do it better. This is why Bowie slightly threatened Jagger, but he had always had the support of his fellow Stones, as evidenced by Keith Richards.