The notorious journalist, anarchist and musician (The Deviants), Mick Farren was found on Facebook and I exchanged a few emails with him before doing this telephone interview (I think my friendship and collaboration with the late Brendan Mullen vouched for me). In one of the emails Farren warned me that he thought Jagger was the "Fredo Corleone" of the Stones so I broke the ice asking him to elaborate as those are the kind of fighting words that I was trying to explore and counter with my thesis. Here Farren gives a rambling by hilarious answer... involving Michael Jackson and Altamont.

Marc Spitz Interviews Notorious Journalist Mick Farren

I had to stay up until 4am to ring Neil Innes in England. If I sound a little punchy here, that's why. He was making a cup of tea and probably hadn't expected to be grilled on the perils of nostalgia, but I pushed him to go there. This was done for the chapter on Mick's appearance in the classic satire <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3DThe%2520Pretty%2520Things%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps%23%3Furl%3Dsearch-alias%3Daps&tag=c0985-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957" target="_blank">The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash</a>, which touches on Mick's underrated comic timing and examines how the comedy of Python and SNL, not the tragedy of Manson and Altamont truly ended the 60s... in the late 70s. Comedy=tragedy+time, after all.


Marc Spitz Interviews Neil Innes from The Rutles

Nick Kent, the legendary, former N.M.E. journalist discusses the Stones revisiting their vaults to create new material for the 2010 re-issue of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L5BRXK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=c0985-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B003L5BRXK" target="_blank">Exile on Main Street</a>, as well as what an older artist with a towering legacy has to do to stay relevant and, for good measure, a word on what's wrong with rock and roll at the moment (hint, a lack of "good, fucking songs"). An outtake from an extensive interview for Vanity Fair's website, VF Daily around the time of the release of Kent's great memoir <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306819155/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=c0985-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0306819155" target="_blank">Apathy for the Devil</a>. It's always strange to interview a true hero, and I've interviewed a few, but this one will always stand out as a high point.


Marc Spitz Interviews Legendary N.M.E. Journalist Nick Kent

Paul Size was a teenage blue guitar prodigy from Texas (of course) who suddenly found himself in one of the hottest bar bands in Hollywood, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3DThe%2520Deviants%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps%23%3Furl%3Dsearch-alias%3Daps&tag=c0985-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957" target="_blank">The Red Devils</a> and for a painfully brief period, as part of super producer Rick Rubin's inner circle, backing Mick Jagger on a series of blues covers. The album Mick made with the ill-fated band remains unreleased but it's punky, raw blues energy is both a precursor to the White Stripes and The Black Keys as well as the albums Rubin would next make with another legend, Johnny Cash. Here, Paul talks about a near-deadly trip to London to play Mick's birthday party and the legacy of Mick's lost album.



Marc Spitz Interviews Blues Guitar Prodigy Paul Size

Peter Asher was one half of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3DThe%2520Deviants%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps%23%3Furl%3Dsearch-alias%3Daps&tag=c0985-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957" target="_blank">Peter and Gordon</a>, the British invasion duo who hit with the McCartney-penned "A World Without Love." I met Peter in a Starbucks on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on a rainy Spring day. Over coffee and breakfast sandwiches, we traveled back to the London of the early 60s. Here Peter discusses going to see the very early, pre-fame Stones. Later in the book, he will discuss the party where Mick, Keith and Andrew Loog-Oldham first met Marianne Faithfull; an encounter that would lead to the first, great Jagger-Richards composition "As Tears Go By." Asher went on to be an important music industry figure and it was a thrill to discuss rock n' roll history with someone who has lived it. Note: if you listen closely you can hear Jackie Wilson in the background. Well, maybe you don't need to listen too closely.


Marc Spitz Interviews Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon

All I remember about this interview was the band's legendary early to mid 70s management team member, is the terrible cold I had. It was a great, long interview and truly one of the most valuable in terms of taking the book to another level but I was dead on my feet. Like Robert Greenfield, Rudge was there for the jump from 60s players to 70s myth and here, he discusses the seductive power of the Stones inner circle; how those who traveled with the band essentially "became" Rolling Stones themselves. This is what disgusted their would be tour-profiler Truman Capote but it's also what clearly contributed to the band's power. We all want to be Rolling Stones after all.


Marc Spitz Interviews Rolling Stones Manager Peter Rudge

Steve Binder was the Director of the legendary <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030ATZIA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=c0985-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0030ATZIA" target="_blank">T.A.M.I. Show</a> filmed at the Santa Monica Civic Center in the fall of 1964, where the Rolling Stones were given the headlining slot over the great James Brown and had to yet again address issues of race and privilege, handling it all with a grace beyond their years. Here Binder discusses the concept for the event, the two milestone performances (among many wonderful others by The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry and Gerry and the Pacemakers). After being unavailable for many years, the T.A.M.I. Show is now available on DVD and is a must-see for any rock and roll fan.

Marc Spitz Interviews Steve Binder, Director of T.A.M.I. Show

Here is a snippet of an interview I did in person with noted activist Tariq Ali. In-person interviews are always a little more revealing and valuable than phoners but they can be a little halting as well (note my poor facility with terms like "Marxism". And I found it funny, given his legacy as one of the 50s great radical leaders, that Mr. Ali was staying at the Trump SoHo (we did our Q&A in the lobby), but this was one of the best conversation about Mick I had during the research period. Elsewhere in the book, Mr. Ali and I discuss "Street Fighting Man," which Mick wrote after attending an anti-war rally in London in the Spring of '68. Here he discusses how the leaders of the anti-war movement felt about both The Beatles and the Stones.


Marc Spitz Interviews Activist Tariq Ali

I did this interview in an Indian restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens (hence the ambient noise). Vivien Goldman, a veteran British music journalist, and I discuss the relationship between white British music fans of the Stones generation and the subsequent punk generation, and their long relationship with Jamaican music and Rude Boy culture: all of which informed the Stones music, rebel stance. In the late 70s, their relationship with the Toughest of the tough, Mr. Peter Tosh (who Goldman has written about extensively) helped them weather punk rock.

Marc Spitz Interviews British Music Journalist Vivien Goldman

Marc Spitz, author of Jagger: Rebel, Rock Star, Rambler, Rogue, talks about why he wrote the book and some new takes on the legendary feud between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Marc Spitz Discusses JAGGER: Rebel, Rock Star, Rambler, Rogue

A biography and cultural examination of Mick Jagger's spectacular life and the cultural revolution he led.

As the Rolling Stones' legendary front man Mick Jagger remains an enigma. He hasn't given an in-depth interview for a decade and a half and never commented on his friend and partner, Keith Richard's often critical biography. Drawing on firsthand recollections from rockers, filmmakers, writers, radicals, and other artists who have been transformed by Mick Jagger's work, acclaimed music journalist Marc Spitz has created a unique examination of the Jagger legacy, debunking long held myths and restoring his status as a complicated artist. Combining biography with cultural history, Jagger unfolds like a captivating documentary, a series of episodes tracing the icon's rise from his childhood in middle-class postwar London to his status as a jet-setting knight.

A culturally astute, often funny, and painstakingly researched read, Jagger offers a far richer portrait than biographies published previously. The book reveals much about his relationships (with Marianne Faithfull and ex-wives Bianca Jagger and Jerry Hall); his complex, creative partnership with Keith Richards; his friends like John Lennon and David Bowie; and enemies like Hells Angels leader Sonny Barger. Spitz goes even deeper, exploring Jagger's many roles: an authentic soul man; powerful social commentator; sexual liberator; would-be movie star; and yes, sometimes, a shrewd businessman with an enthusiasm for much younger women. The myth of Mick is examined and rebooted for the twenty-first century.

jaggerbiography

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