Magazine of the Week #50

For our Magazine of the Week #50, we have the December 1983 issue of MUSICIAN, featuring (separate) interviews with MICK JAGGER and KEITH RICHARDS by VIC GARBARINI.

As usual with Musician Magazine interviews, there's some great stuff here.



Mick talks about the new LP, "Undercover", and Garbarini asks about BRIAN JONES going "over the top". Mick says this:

"He couldn't really hold things together, that's certainly true. (long pause) I wonder what he would have thought of this record? (smiles thoughtfully) It's funny, I thought about that the other day while we were mixing, whether he'd like it or not. Brian was.....enthusuastic, insightful, intelligent, and a good musician with a very nice side to him. But I don't think he was really cut out to be famous. He hated to be misquoted in the papers, for instance, and all those things you have to get used to if you want to be famous, which he did. When he became famous, he realized he didn't like it, but by then it was really too late."


















Asked about the "Their Satanic Majesties Request" LP, Mick responds:

".....A COMEDY RECORD!!! (cackles loudly) It's not heavy at all, its really just lightweight comedy. Somebody put it on the other day, and I thought it was hilarious. Didn't do well, though."

".....What surprised me was the comedic feeling and all the jokes and things we'd never dream of doing now. There were comedic links and French speaking pieces that I took off the new album."

The interview with Keith is a bit longer and more substantial. Garbarini gets him talking about MICK TAYLOR:

".....he never really wrote things, in spite of what he said. It's basically imagination. We all know by now that Mick hasn't done anything since he left The Stones that he couldn't have done in his spare time with the band. He just said he wanted to do his own thing. Mick Taylor is an admirable gentleman and a beautiful guitar player, but I don't really think he knew what he was good at and what he wasn't."

".....he was very reluctant to take any direction.....from the production end of it. JIMMY MILLER used to go through reams of frustration, saying, "Tell the guy not to play there!" Meanwhile Mick is over there and he's just going to do what he's going to do. And so he did it."

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Garbarini also gets Keith to listen to some current popular songs. Here's what Keith had to say about THE POLICE's "Wrapped Around Your Finger":

"Take it off.....elevator music. I know its The Police, but its a blind spot for me. Sounds like CHRISTOPHER CROSS. I like The Police but that track sounds like what they play in my dentist's office."

Elsewhere in the issue is an interview with ROBERT PLANT, and articles on TOM WAITS, GODLEY & CREME, and more.

Record Reviews include DYLAN's "Infidels" ("Get ready. He's back."), LAURIE ANDERSON's "Mister Heartbreak", and LINDA RONSTADT's "What's New".

Click on images to enlarge.