Mick 66

Today Mick Jagger turns 66 years old. Let's take a minute now to talk about the O.G. MJ and just what it is that makes this guy who he is.

Lot's of people won't admit to liking Mick. Some genuinely don't. I've heard a few people say that they didn't even like the Rolling Stones because of Mick. Which makes me think; Does anyone out there like the Rolling Stones BECAUSE of Mick? Aside from teenage girls in 1965 I'm not sure that the appeal of the Rolling Stones is due to old MJ. The coolness of the Stones -to me- has always laid in Keith who's riff-making and general disposition has spawned about 5 million imitators to date. There's Charlie and Bill too who, together, might as well both be seen next to the word "square" in the dictionary. Brian Jones certainly had an appeal but if you look at any footage of him with the Stones he always sorta looks like he wishes he were somewhere else. If a statue could play guitar you'd have Mick Taylor. And then along came Ron Wood who finally injected some needed liveliness and personality into that second guitar job.

And so we have Mick. I won't get into how these guys are old as dirt and still rocking because I'm mostly indifferent about that topic. It should be said now that his songwriting and singing are outstanding. He could make "row row row your boat" controversial if he wanted to. But he's also about the fruitiest loop to ever prance around in front of a band. Making it hard for all men out there to not wince when watching the stones live sometimes. But then again he seemed to be doing it just for the ladies anyhow (or was he?). Of course he also had imitators. Not sure what the New York Dolls would have done without him. What Mick does for me is make me laugh. His posturing, his turns of certain phrases (Angie, pronounced: Aiyngehh), and last but not least, his outfits. he truly is an anomaly. A guy could go on about how he seriously HATES Mick Jagger and everything about him but yet in the same breath say that the Rolling Stones are his favorite band. Now that's no easy feat is it?

Here are some of my favorite Mick moments in no particular order, followed by a video that just about says everything I have here and more.
1. His vocal in "Monkey Man"
2. All of his singing on "Beggars Banquet" he turned much more soulful and embraced a sort of country-ish style around this point
3. A moment in the 40 licks documentary when either Mick or Keith is describing how their live show had changed from the early days and that they had to do more performance-wise to entertain the crowd. The shot goes from Mick just kind of standing there doing a little James Brown dancing in the sixties, to him in a football jersey and tights in a full on sprint across a massive stage in the 80's.
4. The video for "Angie"
5. Any video from the 70's or 80's

And of course there's much more that makes me love and laugh about this man. His band changed my life after all and I'm thankful everyday for The Rolling Stones.

Happy Birthday Mick!