Mick’s reaction to Keith’s recent autobiography is surprisingly lucid and makes you stop to consider the other side of the Stones’ story.
Particularly interesting, I think, is Jagger’s brutally honest (and accurate) assessment of the Stones’ creative decline. He also does a good job of explaining why he played the bad guy, the one who tried to focus on the business side of the band.
To quote Mick:
Does Keith really sigh for the good old days on tour? Shabby theaters, shitty sound? Wound-up kids standing for hours in the hot summer sun in dreadful mid-American cities waiting for a chance to race recklessly for general-admission seats? Us enduring a day of hassle and travel to take home perhaps $3,500 each? I remember Keith asleep or not showing up until hours after the scheduled start time. Our feral fans running, fighting, throwing rocks at police. Today, the shows start promptly, there are video screens for the folks in the back, and we offer $1,000-a-seat ducats for the fat cats.
The response appears on Slate via strange circumstances. It will be interesting to see if it turns out to be a fraud, but it reads very much like what I’d expect Jagger’s response to be.