No one in The Rolling Stones had the reputation of being the most diplomatic artists on the face of the Earth.
Although most of us can assume that Keith Richards and Mick Jagger have the potential to be extremely charming people when they have the chance, most articles from their early days would have sworn that they were some of the most notorious musical punks the world had ever seen. But whereas Jagger did have more of a way with words, there were bound to be a few moments where he thought bands weren’t his cup of tea.
Then again, The Stones weren’t ever snobs when it came to their music, most of the time. Their first “hits” came from Jagger and Richards writing songs like ‘As Tears Go By’, so it’s not like they were completely against making a softer tune. Even records like Between the Buttons went in some weird directions, but the real proof of the band’s worth was always going to be seeing them live.
Even if not every gig was an absolute scorcher from beginning to end, the beauty of it was not knowing what would happen every time they went onstage. Jagger was the archetype of a blues frontman whenever he played, and while a lot of their lessons came from them watching people like Muddy Waters and BB King, there was at least room for them to make the occasional pop hit now and again.
‘We Love You’ was a decent enough track with The Beatles sitting in on the session, and even their ballads like ‘Wild Horses’ are absolutely beautiful for what they are, but that kind of sentimental tune came in many different forms when the 1970s started. The age of the singer-songwriter had come, but there was also an influx of pure pop groups that were taking over the world.
And while the American market had to sit through artists like The Captain and Tenille, ABBA at least gave people substance to grab onto. Sure, their songs were produced to high heaven by most rock and roll standards, but there’s a certain infectious energy that comes from listening to their records that’s impossible to recreate anywhere else, whether that’s the fantastic groove of ‘Dancing Queen’ or the strange time signature changes in ‘SOS’.
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy what Jagger wanted to hear out of his favourite bands. When asked about ABBA, Jagger couldn’t even pretend to be interested in what they were doing, saying, “What can I say? I don’t want to be mean to the biggest Swedish group. I don’t think they’re very representative of rock and roll. It’s a sort of pop group. Synthetic. I’m sure they’re very nice.”
At the same time, were ABBA ever trying to be a rock and roll act at all? Sure, a few of their songs had roaring guitars that people could get behind, but aside from their more ambitious tracks taking a few cues from prog music, it’s not like people were sitting down circa 1979 listening to ‘Take A Chance On Me’ and wondering when the drums were going to start pounding and when the guitars would come screaming in.
Their music was meant to make people smile, and even if Jagger didn’t see the same appeal as everyone else, it’s not like that dulls anything that they have done. They didn’t stand out as a standard rock and roll group, but even if people use the term “pop” as an insult to this day, there’s a good chance that anyone who doesn’t get into a good mood after hearing one of their songs could be legally dead.
