mick jagger's worst vocal performances

Life imitating Stella Street.

The Correct Answer:

His horribly mannered faux bloozeman crap on You Gotta Move (or "You gotta mow-mooww-moowooo--ow-ve!")

that said, when mick dismisses that great tina turner performance in gimme shelter by saying, real derisively, "yeah... its nice to have a chick sometimes..." is possibly my favorite moment in that movie.

"Emotional Rescue": The Curtis Mayfield impression at the start of the song is quite silly; but the Eric Burdon parody at the end is kinda amusing. Assuming it IS a parody. Isn't it?

"Ruby Tuesday" is okay except for the word "from" in the very first line. A laughably failed attempt to hit a really low note. But at least Richard Meltzer got some use out of it, citing it as a prime example of what he called an "unknown tongue" in his comedy triumph The Aesthetics Of Rock.

really? i don't hear it that way...sounds like a bad, somewhat condescending attempt at "authentic blues"

Great Jagger Hamming it up: "Miss You" esp. the talking rap gibberish in the middle....

but the distance--measured in different subtle ways-- between the stones and their blues idols was practically the subject of their records of that era. no, he's definitely "hamming it up" (exaggerating certain aspects of the country blues style) but not in a parodic way, and only lightly ironic. listen to the way the slide guitar follows the vocal (or vice-versa).

- "State of Shock" w/ the Jacksons

Myself, I like "I Got to Move" a lot, I think it's a great performance. I mean isn't there a good bit of self-parody already in that Beale Street blues stuff? I think blues needs more of this kind of vocal.

xpost

What's his best vocal performance?

What's his best vocal performance?

"Jigsaw Puzzle"

He consistently sounds like he is vomiting while singing.

"Almost Hear You Sigh"

I've been spending a fair amt of drive time lately with the Singles Collection/London Years and coming to the opinion that he's much more about bravado/bluffing/selling the performance than about actual vocal skill. Am I wrong? Is that a "no shit sherlock" opinion to finally reach? Is "what is his best vocal performance" even a worthwhile question?

Angie.

angie
let's spend the night together
under my thumb

i think he's at his best when he does the hollering thing (rip this joint, let's spend the night together). so many of my favorite stones vocal moments are when mick and keith sing together, though.

is any of mick's solo work worthwhile?

I love "Throwaway."

He wrote and sang several good songs on Wandering Spirit.

he's much more about bravado/bluffing/selling the performance than about actual vocal skill.

This definitely seems to be the case in live performance. While the studio "Rip This Joint" is one of his great performances, he did little more than lazily shout roughly in the vicinity of the key when singing it live (and they played it in a lower key live; presumably, he didn't want to/couldn't sing at the top of his range every night).

Yes, it's the no shit sherlock opinion. Mick is basically the best ever. Miss You, Brown Sugar, Moonlight Mile, Let's Spend the Night Together, Under My Thumb, Play With Fire, Heart of Stone, Out of Time...

Yes, he makes fun and respects no one or anything. It's the voice of irreverence and it was glorious for like ten years straight at least.

Anything where he says the word "Hot."

i love the end of "all down the line" where he's yelping away as if to physically drag the song back up from the fade.

I love Jagger but he's clearly a very average (not to say bad) singer. but a great, exciting and fun performer !
this reminds me of a story from the sessions when MJ and... MJ recorded "state of shock" together.
if I remember correctly, Jackson was shocked (!) to see how limited a singer Jagger was in the studio and wondering "how did this guy become such a famous singer !" (not sure of the exact quote !)

That's a very different sort of understanding of a good singer. Jackson is a freak who can't emote to save his life. This in itself is sometimes powerful but it's certainly not due to his "range" or something like that. I mean, every reality show contestant these days has a "better voice" than Jagger. Doesn't make any of them better singers. The whole premise of this thread only makes sense if you acknowledge that Jagger is an all time great. His "worst" vocal performances are notable for a reason (they are the exceptions).

oh I totally agree that Jagger is a great frontman with a very personal(and great) way of singing (but I disagree about Jackson not being able to emote...).

Jackson can emote, but it is "from a book" (see "She's out of my life')

Jagger's singing on "State of Shock" is pretty bad, straining for the notes, etc.

Would not like to hear Michael Jackson singing "Memo from Turner" (Oh, OK, maybe just once)

Would not like to hear Michael Jackson singing "Memo from Turner" (Oh, OK, maybe just once)

as for "from a book", what do you mean ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5035TY5RSpg

I do too but it's broader than "Dead Flowers."

I love everything about "Dead Flowers" except the vocal. I can't stand the golly gee whiz gulping frog accent Jagger tries to pull in the open lines. he's more affecting on the chorus, but the verses remain ghastly.

jagger reminds me of nigel tufnel there

"Jackson is a freak who can't emote to save his life."

what about human nature? liberian girl? people always wheel out shes out of my life in these discussions. MJ might not be able to emote like marvin gaye but hes not some broadway ham.

I love "Dead Flowers" and "Dear Doctor," so I enjoy Mick's fake country voice sometimes, but the vocal on "Far Away Eyes" feels too self-consciously parodic while also seeming lazy ... it's the spoken lines that ruin it for me; it's like he can't be bothered to maintain a consistent fake country accent for the duration of the song

now that I think about it, I hate the fake reggae vocal on "Cherry Oh Baby" even more

I love 'the way you make me feel' by Jackson. Opening lines are about him working a job 9 to 5 as if he ever had a normal day job in his life.

why are we talking about fucking Michael Jackson on this thread

uh no one here is attracted to him.

Because Jackson said Jagger was a limited singer.

I'm assuming Jagger had a relatively normal childhood, he learned how to be emphatic to others, he has bandmates, he's social, so social he fucked half the people he met in his twenties. He acts emotion on his performances either through experience or emphaty.

Jackson didn't have too much experience with the real world, he never left the spotlight. The only way he knew how to connect to people was thru performance, there's no genuine experience or emphaty on what he sings but he does get emotional when performing.

That's true. xxxp Human Nature is a beautiful song but not because of Michael. He seems to be baffled by this human nature. Guys like D'Angelo and Hayden Thorpe can pull of the sort of threatening falsetto that would make those "apple, let me take a bite" lines land way better. Michael doesn't have it in him.

i wouldnt really use their backgrounds/backstories to justify an opinion on their apparent deficiencies as emoters. but im happy to leave it there as this is about the great vocalist that is sir mick.

I love 'the way you make me feel' by Jackson. Opening lines are about him working a job 9 to 5 as if he ever had a normal day job in his life.

i believe we had this same conversation about "raspberry beret"

pop music is all about making the inauthentic feel/sound authentic

projection will get you everywhere

I don't remember having that conversation, Brad, but it's also my favorite Prince song. Prince feels more tongue in cheek with the theme though

StillAdvance it won't if it doesn't. Michael can't act like a sexual being and Mick can't be a good ol' boy. The best actors are those that have a certain range of roles they are comfortable in. Fuck that method actor versatility imo.

I don't mind Jagger's fake country voice, at the very least I find it laugh-out-loud hilarious, particularly on 'Far Away Eyes' and 'Let It Bleed' ("we awl need... somewown... we can llllean own!") - it's usually his falsetto that really rubs me up the wrong way, particularly on 'Emotional Rescue' (although I don't mind it on 'Heaven')

I'm not a fan of Emotional Rescue but his falsetto is brilliant on Miss You and I Just Want To See His Face and I'm sure I'm forgetting something major.

I love "Heaven.

"fool to cry" -- i kinda like that one, even though it is a little embarrassing

I love "Heaven.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, February 8, 2016 10:03 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's one of the most underrated Stones tracks ever, IMO.

and it's barely a Stones track: Wyman on synth and bass, Charlie, Jagger on guitar.

Yeah. Although there's shitloads of Stones tracks that have different combinations of personnel or someone playing an instrument in place of the "usual" band member (Keith playing bass on some tracks, Jimmy Miller playing drums etc.) - the Stones never really were a group where all members were present at all times on every track in the studio.

'Play With Fire', for example... Phil Spector plays bass on it!

"Too Much Blood" is Jagger w/Sly & Robbie and Jim Barber, Keef's guitar tech who was instructed to "play like Andy Summers...".

'orrible wasn't it

"...burying the bones..."

Let's Work

"Far Away Eyes" currently playing on the radio made me seek out this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cohCR3rUh0

i like him on "faraway eyes" — though I do wonder if there are outtakes where mick plays it more straight? He obviously did not think he could really do C&W style vocals without making it a joke.

It's mimicry, it is, it's parody...

- Mick Jagger, 1978

Mick feels the need to get into these caricatures. He's slightly vaudeville in his approach. Far Away Eyes is like that. He did it great every time except for the final take. It's good when he does it straight 'cause it's funny enough without doing a pantomime. It's the SOUND version of what he was doing wrong VISUALLY. When he sings it as a caricature it sounds like it would be great for a show. You expect Mick to walk out in his cowboy duds on an 18-wheeler set (laughs). Or sing it into his CB as part of his skit.

- Keith Richards, 1979

the other day i listened through the entirety of "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll" for the first time. i think "Luxury" is probably the worst Stones song I've ever heard and definitely a candidate for worst Jagger vocal performance. makes you cringe to the core

9 years later it's still Let's Work for me. That song and Mick's vocal stink to high heaven.

I encourage you to listen to "Ruthless People" again.

You're all such lovely people
Dancing gaily round the floor
But if you have to fight
Please take your trouble out the door
For now I say with sorrow
Until this time tomorrow
We'll bid you all a fond adieu
On with the show good health to you!

The way he sings "Tomorrow" to rhyme with "Adieu" - if he just left it it would have been fine, but "tomorrow-oooooooo" ?

whole "love you live" album

whole "dirty work" album

"Winning Ugly" and "Hold Back" are two of his best vocals.

"Fight" is a terrible vocal, but it's made worse by Jagger deciding "the less time I spend on a Stones lyric the better it is, I'll save my inspiration for Primitive Cool".

That's not one of the album's good songs. The rest of the album, particularly the two I mentioned, have some of his most incisive lyrics -- he rarely tried so hard again.

I'm an Undercover fan, but something happened between the two albums that what they had at their fingertips wasn't there anymore/

Mine, to quote the Empress Jadis, is a high and lonely destiny.

You'll always have Xgau with you

Just listened to "Cherry Oh Baby" for the first time bcs of this thread and it's...not as bad as I was expecting, tbh. It could almost fit into Black Market Clash.

i think "Luxury" is probably the worst Stones song I've ever heard and definitely a candidate for worst Jagger vocal performance. makes you cringe to the core

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 22 April 2025 21:08 (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Jagger's vocal is more irritating here than Cherry Oh Baby (which I really enjoy). Lux-ya-REEEH. Thankfully at some point he stopped trying to do a 'reggae voice' for reggae songs.

Left that to Sting.

Hah, I love "Luxury," mostly for the song though - a cheeky song about exploitation which seems appropriate.

So what is up with his hyper articulated vocal affectation on "Mother's Little Helper"? The song itself is kind of a riff on the Kinks.