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Jagger

Rebel, Rock Star, Rambler, Rogue

ebook
1 of 2 copies available
1 of 2 copies available
A biography and cultural examination of the Rolling Stones' frontman 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.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 19, 2011
      As Spitz (Bowie: A Biography) writes: "When we think of the Rolling Stones, we think of the heart and we think of the groin. We don't dwell on the brain." In this biography, Spitz shows how Jagger's shifting personas influenced public perception, while keeping the band culturally relevant. Spitz discusses the band's appearance on the T.A.M.I. Show (when they were forced to follow James Brown), Jagger's relationships with Marianne Faithfull, Bianca Jagger, and Jerry Hall, and the tragic Altamont, but examines these moments from a cultural rather than a historical context, illustrating how these public spectacles affected his reputation and personality. The gifted and insightful Spitz wisely chooses to eschew a linear, year-by-year chronicle of minutiae, instead assuming deep reader familiarity with Jagger, the Stones, and the band's key albums. This shorthand enables him to cover tremendous ground, while re-examining Jagger as a musician and a person. However, Jagger doesn't emerge as a particularly sympathetic character. In a choice between Mick and Keith, most readers would still rather be Keith.

    • Library Journal

      April 15, 2011

      Move over, Keith; it's Mick's turn. But the famously reticent Jagger won't tell his own story. Instead, Vanity Fair's music blogger, who's already assayed David Bowie, talks to Jagger's friends and enemies to get the full picture. Perhaps not as big as Richards's Life, but there will be interest.

      Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      September 15, 2011
      Despite money and adulation, apparently it's not easy being Mick Jagger. As Spitz confirms at a time when Jagger's longtime collaborator and fellow Glimmer Twin Keith Richards has written an autobiography that rehashes old grudges and even disparages Jagger's penis size, Mick's solo career seems stalled, and his band's recent studio recordings are generating neither sustained sales nor enthusiasm. Jagger's fans may be avid for replies to Richards' scathing comments about Jagger, but they won't find them here. Mick wasn't a participant in this career retrospective and literary stroking. Indeed, Jagger hasn't given more than a 20-minute, by-the-numbers interview since his in-depth chat with Jann Wenner in 1995, and he shows no sign of changing that strategy. So what we have here is an able assembling of the views of otherssome intimates, some notabout Jagger and his uneasy slide into the golden years. Competently enough written, this is a pleasant read that nicely puts all the old stories in some order, referencing discarded lovers, dalliances, and other time-honored themes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

    • Library Journal

      August 1, 2011

      Riding the wave of interest in the Rolling Stones after the well-deserved success of Keith Richards's Life, this biography focuses on the more flamboyant of the two Glimmer Twins. Spitz (Bowie; We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk) skips many biographical details and skims over long periods of Mick Jagger's 50 years in the public eye to explore a few key events in his career, including the then-young rocker's 1967 drug arrest, the 1969 Altamont concert killing, and his 1985 venture into solo recording. Spitz ties together these sporadic episodes by repeatedly turning to the long-standing artistic and personal tension between the trend-hopping Jagger and the staunchly traditionalist Richards. Spitz relies mainly on previous research and old interviews, adding fresh insight from Jagger colleagues and confidants such as Stones cofounder Dick Taylor. VERDICT This minor work succeeds as a superficial but entertaining exploration of certain aspects of Jagger's life and career and will have to suffice until a definitive biography or, better yet, an autobiography is published. Readers may get a little closer to understanding the notoriously reticent Jagger, but he remains a mystery. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]--Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

      Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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