Jethro Tull’s frontman Ian Anderson recently shared some critical views on Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger’s vocal abilities during an interview with the Now Spinning Magazine podcast.
While talking about the challenges of performing at an older age, Anderson explained how difficult it is to sing and play the flute at the same time. He compared his own efforts with those of other aging rock stars.
“It depends what you do. You can be physically animated, but there’s a degree to which you can only do so much if you’re playing a flute,” Anderson said.
He said that being physically active on stage is one thing, but that his role requires more precision because of the flute. Then, he brought up Mick Jagger as an example.
Anderson claimed that Jagger didn’t set a high standard for vocal skills from the start, describing his singing as more of a loud, energetic style rather than technically impressive. According to Anderson, Jagger doesn’t need to worry as much about hitting the right notes, intonation, or phrasing.
“If you are Mick Jagger and you’re just running around with sort of shout-out vocals, then yeah – no disrespect, but Mick Jagger didn’t set the bar very high in terms of vocal skills right from the very beginning,” Anderson continued. “He’s a shouter, and he doesn’t have to really hit the notes or necessarily be terribly great on intonation or phrasing or anything. He runs around in a very animated way, and that’s great for someone who’s — whatever — a couple of years older than me, or three years older than me. That’s fine.”
He did acknowledge Jagger’s energy and movement on stage, saying it’s impressive for someone a few years older than him. But he also stated that playing the flute while singing is more demanding than just running around the stage.
In short, Anderson respects Jagger’s energy but believes his own musical role requires more technical skill.
“But it’s not that easy if you’re trying to play a flute … there is a limit to what you can do. And it tends to be that if I’m not playing the flute, I’m singing,” he said.
