As two of rock’s biggest frontmen, John Lennon and Mick Jagger shared a unique mix of similarities and contrasts. Both were legendary songwriters, performers, and personalities, shaping the music of their generation. Yet, despite their parallel paths, Lennon and Jagger often held differing perspectives, which, in Lennon’s view, was part of what made their relationship meaningful.
In his final 1980 interview with Rolling Stone, Lennon spoke candidly about his frustrations with music critics, highlighting the way they often “attacked” him. He cited examples spanning his career, from his work with The Beatles to his solo endeavors with the Plastic Ono Band. One critic’s dismissal of the Beatles’ 1963 hit, “From Me to You,” as “below-par” particularly bothered him.
Lennon felt he wasn’t the only one facing harsh criticism and pointed to Mick Jagger as a prime example of another artist often at the mercy of reviewers.
“It’s not just me,” Lennon emphasized. “Take Mick, for instance. Mick’s put out consistently good work for 20 years, and will they give him a break? Will they ever say, ‘Look at him, he’s No. 1, he’s 37, and he has a beautiful song, ‘Emotional Rescue’? I enjoyed it, a lot of people enjoyed it.”
While Lennon admired “Emotional Rescue,” critics weren’t as kind. Rolling Stone critic Ariel Swartley, for instance, commented that Jagger’s “voice sounds as estranged and bewildered as the echoing horn” on the title track. Curiously, despite Lennon’s praise, Jagger himself wasn’t entirely fond of the song either, according to a 1980 interview with Rolling Stone.
Discussing the “falsetto stuff” he used on “Emotional Rescue,” Jagger revealed it came about spontaneously in the studio rather than as part of a carefully crafted plan.
He explained, “I wrote that on an electric piano in the studio, then Charlie [Watts] and Woody [Ronnie Wood] and I cut it immediately, live. It was all done very quickly. I think the vocals could’ve been better. It’s just one of those recording-studio things.
You would never really write a song like that in real life. It comes out in the studio because it’s all ad-libbed, the end part. It was never planned like that.”
Despite his reservations, Jagger found humor in the track’s “speech” segment. “Yeah, it’s all a joke, really,” he noted, adding, “There’s a lot of pastiche all over the album. It’s all our piss-taking, in other words. Pastiche is just a big word for it.”
In the end, both Lennon and Jagger wrestled with criticism in their own ways, yet Lennon’s appreciation of Jagger’s work shows the mutual respect and shared challenges they faced in a world that sometimes failed to understand their artistry.
