For many music lovers, The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards are the ultimate musical duo, offering a bold, hyper-sexual and more vibrant alternative to the sounds of their peers. Yet, for all the brilliance that the pair achieved together, musically and personally, things haven’t always been plain sailing. Things got so bad, in fact, that Jagger nearly walked away for good.
After The Rolling Stones completed the 1983 album Undercover, Jagger began to compose material for his debut solo album. With the help of a collection of friends from the music world, he started recording in May 1984. The album became She’s the Boss, featuring Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock, and others, as well as co-production from Nile Rodgers and Bill Laswell.
Yet, Keith Richards, Jagger’s musical partner for over 20 years in The Rolling Stones, was incensed that his old friend was moonlighting, maintaining that the band was the priority. As the pair’s relationship was already deteriorating after such a long time together and oscillating history, Richards became more upset as he felt Jagger had piggy-backed a three-album solo deal with Columbia on the multi-million Rolling Stones’ one. Allegedly, he hadn’t even informed his bandmates.
Complicating the situation, Richards had kicked his long-time heroin addiction and was more prominent in the band’s decision-making. It is suggested that Jagger was also uncomfortable with his authority being challenged by the now-sober guitarist. Proceedings eventually developed into the feud referred to as “World War III”, with growing outside concern that Jagger performing without the group would eventually signal their end.
According to Richards’ autobiography Life, he and Jagger’s relationship was at rock bottom while recording the 1986 Rolling Stones album Dirty Work. This led to Jagger refusing to tour with the band to support it. Whilst Richards would criticise him for this, Jagger would maintain: “I think that one ought to be allowed to have one’s artistic side apart from just being in the Rolling Stones. I love the Rolling Stones—I think it’s wonderful, I think it’s done a lot of wonderful things for music. But, you know, it cannot be, at my age and after spending all these years, the only thing in my life.”
Then, in 1987, Jagger released his second solo effort, Primitive Cool. Whilst it failed to follow up the success of his debut, the record was still a hit with the critics. Sensing a sea change coming, Richards released his first solo album, Talk is Cheap, with many fans and onlookers thinking the end of The Rolling Stones was imminent.
This feeling of unease wasn’t helped by Mick Jagger’s comments when speaking to Q Magazine in 1987. There, he expressed what seemed to be a genuine disregard for the future of The Rolling Stones whilst also refusing to comment on what had gone down between him and the band. “I could not deal with them anymore,” he said, inferring that he had already left.
“I can’t be specific,” he said. “I can’t. I don’t think I have to, really. It’s just that friction builds up over the years. It’s like a marriage, but I don’t want to talk about the what, why and wherefore of my and Keith’s marriage and sort of say, Oh, it was awful, he used to leave his dirty knickers all over the living room floor, that kind of thing. It’s just that friction builds up, and I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. It became impossible to run the band the state they were worked up into.”
Jagger continued: “I didn’t really know why they were so worked up, but I think a lot of it was just having too much of a good thing. It was all a bit knackered, and I was the one who had to hold it all together, and I just lost patience with everybody, it’s as simple as that. I just could not deal with them anymore. It was like: don’t expect me to pick up the pieces again and put everyone together again and make it whole because I can’t be bothered anymore. You have to read between the lines a bit, I’m afraid, but it does come down to two people flying off the handle.”
Later in the discussion, he commented: “It’s very funny. No one while you’re around and in no danger of extinction, everyone’s ready to kick you and say, ‘Well, why don’t you break up? Your band is really pointless, just doing the same thing over and over and over, so why don’t you just f*ck off and die?’ And then, when you are in danger of extinction, they all go, ‘What’s the matter, man? You should reform, man. I mean, it’s the Rolling Stones, maaan.’ They don’t give a shit about what you feel and what you have to go through to preserve this monstrous image intact.”
The frontman added: “It’s ridiculous. No one should care if the Rolling Stones have broken up, should they? I mean, when the Beatles broke up, I couldn’t give a shit. I thought it was a very good idea. […] But with me, people seem to demand that I keep their youthful memories intact in a glass case specifically preserved for them and damn the sacrifices I have to make. […] Why should I live in the past just for their petty satisfaction.”
Luckily, not long after Jagger heavily suggested that The Rolling Stones were over, things would look up. In 1989, the group were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and this, in addition to their floundering solo careers, influenced a detente in relations. Later that year, they recorded Steel Wheels, a return to form that reached number two in the UK and three in the US.
