Legendary Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger told Swedish radio station P4 that he and the band have no plans to retire anytime soon. The band’s drummer, Charlie Watts, passed away in 2021. “I am not planning it to be the last tour,” he said. “I love being on tour. I don’t think I would do it if I did not enjoy it. I enjoy going out there onstage and doing my stuff. That is what I do. I want everyone to enjoy themselves and forget the troubles in their lives for a couple of hours and just chill out and have a great afternoon and evening.” Jagger also talked about newer artists that are bringing “life” to rock music, and he specifically cited Machine Gun Kelly and Yungblud as examples. “In rock music you need energy and there have not been a lot of new rock singers around. Now there are a few. You have Yungblud and Machine Gun Kelly. That kid of post-punk vibe makes me think there is still a bit of life in rock ‘n’ roll.”
Machine Gun Kelly told Billboard earlier this year that his “Tickets To My Downfall” album “opened the lane back up for people to make money. It opened up these festivals. [Rock] needed a defibrillator. Who cares who gives it, just as long as that motherf*cker doesn’t die? I know it kills certain bands in that community that I got the success that I got. But I earned that shit. Dude, I was fucking loading up the van with our drums and amps in 2010, driving to Indiana and Chicago, playing Warped Tour. I can tell you the fucking Wi-Fi codes to venues in Blackfoot, Idaho. Can you say that sh*t as a band?”
Last year, Jagger and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told fans that they won’t be playing “Brown Sugar” on tour any longer. Concerns had been raised about the 50-year-old song’s reference to controversial topics. “The early days were the days of shock and awe, things can’t stay like that forever,” Jagger said. “When you start out, I mean popular music is always in need of shaking up. We were quite good at that. We had our own style and our own way of approaching things and we had a different way of behaving. And it provoked a lot of people. I thought a lot of it was super over-reaction but it became a bit of a cliché. It served us well in some ways… we got noticed.” The Rolling Stones continue to celebrate their 60th anniversary and have European tour dates planned through the end of July.
