Mick Jagger Responds To The Harry Styles Comparisons, Says That Harry Is A “Superficial Resemblance” Of His Younger Self
Ever since Harry Styles went solo and his team has been doing him up in looks straight from the 70s Glam Rock Starter Kit, he has been called the Muppet Babies version of Mick Jagger, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and David Bowie. We can’t ask for Bowie’s and Freddie’s thoughts on being one of Harry Styles’ impersonations since they’re busy giving the angels the tingles by crotch-thrusting in the afterworld. Elton John seems to be okay with the comparison since he’s praised Harry before. And the topic of Harry Styles was brought up during a recent interview between The Rolling Stones and The Times of London, and Mick likes Harry but said he was way more androgynous back in the day, that Harry is a “superficial resemblance” to his younger self, and that Harry doesn’t “move on stage” like him. Okay, I was with Mick Jagger until Mick just had to go ahead and terrorize my mind by making me think of Adam Levine yodeling out the horribly false claim that he’s got the moves like Jagger. Damn you, Mick!
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood all talked to The Times of London to promote their Sixty Tour, which opens in Madrid next month and marks the 60th anniversary of the birth of the Rolling Stones. Mick talked about losing and missing Charlie Watts who died last year. The band also got into how performing has changed for them now that they’re pepaw-age. 78-year-old Mick needs six weeks of working out and dancing to get his pepaw bones ready to jump and shimmy on tour.
“Rock’n’roll, or any kind of pop music honestly, isn’t supposed to be done when you’re in your seventies,” Jagger says. “It wasn’t designed for that. Doing anything high-energy at this age is really pushing it. But that makes it even more challenging. So it’s, like, ‘OK, we’ve got to fucking do this right,’ but it’s got to be as full-on as possible. Of course you could do another type of music — we’ve got lots of ballads. I could sit on a chair.”
And shit has changed for Keef too, because he’s mostly sober now and so his usual pre-gig ritual of booze-drinking has changed. That sound you hear is from the entire global booze industry collapsing.
Even Richards’s pre-gig ritual is more sedate than it used to be. “I may or may not have a stiff drink, but usually I don’t. You know, you grow out of everything. I’ve spent all my life giving up things, so that’s about it now.”
Then the Harry Styles comparisons came up, and obviously, we’re only talking about Harry’s moves and look. I mean, 28-year-old Harry isn’t TOTALLY like Mick, because if he was, he’d be with a 17-year-old girl instead of 38-year-old Olivia Wilde. But Mick thinks that Harry is only like him on a surface level.
He considers the idea that he inspired Harry Styles, who channels Jagger’s early-Seventies look. “I like Harry — we have an easy relationship,” Jagger says. “I mean, I used to wear a lot more eye make-up than him. Come on, I was much more androgynous. And he doesn’t have a voice like mine or move on stage like me; he just has a superficial resemblance to my younger self, which is fine — he can’t help that.”
Some may take Mick’s quote as him saying “Little cosplaying bitch ain’t got it like me!” while others don’t think that Mick was being shady and was only saying that they’re two different performers. But some Harry fans took it as the former and slapped Mick down for being “jealous” of Harry. Who knew that Gen Z Harry Styles fans are the future of comedy?! But if Mick really wanted to be shady when asked about Harry, he’d borrow a quote from the Master of Shade herself, Aretha Franklin, by saying, “Okay. Great jumpsuits. Beautiful jumpsuits… well except for that ugly ass bumble bee and poop strip one he wore on the Today show.” See: above.
Pics: INSTARImages, Getty