The Rolling Stones 'were a blues band' says Mick Jagger

The Rolling Stones were initially billed as a blues band but Mick Jagger says they were always really a rock band.

In a lead-up to the Australian tour next March, Triple M's Lee Simon spoke with The Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger in a rare, in-depth interview where Mick actually gets to talk about the music.

In the early days, by calling themselves a blues band they earned gigs. "Musically though we had to bill ourselves as a blues band (and we were a blues band) we always played rock music," Jagger says. "We didn't really try and categorise it too much. We used to play everything. We played Buddy Holly, we played Chuck Berry, we played everybody. In those days we had to say we were a blues band because we were performing in these jazz clubs. That's what they were looking for. They didn't want a rock band. So it wasn't like we were a blues band that suddenly played rock. We always played rock. What we really did branch out to in a funny way and writing songs was going into what is pure pop. That is what we had never done.



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