Credit: Far Out / Alamy
Wed 27 May 2026 15:30, UK
Mick Jagger didn’t like the idea of spending the rest of his life wasting away in a studio whenever he made music with The Rolling Stones.
He wanted a chance to give the people what they wanted whenever he played a show, and even in his old age, there’s never been a show that he’s performed where he doesn’t seem like the one person with the most energy. But when looking at some of the biggest names from the new school, Jagger did think that some of the biggest names of the 1980s needed a solid kick in the ass if they wanted to be considered one of the greatest of their time.
Then again, The Stones were never the kind of band that seemed best equipped for the 1980s. They did have their fair share of great moments during that decade, but whereas a song like ‘Start Me Up’ has gone down in rock and roll legend at this point, there are more than a few times where you can see them trying and failing to catch up with the times on records like Dirty Work.
But it’s not like they didn’t have their finger on the pulse of what was going on. Being one of the first bands to introduce Prince to the world is enough to put them down in musical history, even if it meant having to deal with degenerates who decided to call ‘The Purple One’ racial slurs throughout his performance. On the other hand, the other starlets of MTV did have a few lessons to learn in Jagger’s mind.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood was already one of his least favourite bands when he first heard them, and a lot of that came from the way that these artists performed onstage. But even if Frankie did have a lot of energy behind a tune like ‘Relax’ whenever they performed, the same couldn’t really be said of Spandau Ballet whenever they hit the stage. This was a waste of time, and Jagger knew that in the first few seconds of hearing them.
When talking about the more interesting groups that were coming out of that decade, Jagger felt that Spandau Ballet were so lifeless that they weren’t even worth watching, saying, “For me, compared to groups like Spandau Ballet, there’s no comparison, [in terms of] musical talent as well as onstage. Mind you, I say that, but I’ve never seen them onstage. I’ve only seen them on their videos.”
At the same time, videos are an art form unto itself most of the time, and not everything translates as well onstage. Michael Jackson and Madonna were the ones who could turn every one of their videos into an event, but even if a band made a video that was beautiful as something like ‘Take on Me’, was anyone really expecting a-ha to create those same style of visuals onstage every single time they performed? Absolutely not.
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And if we’re being completely fair here, it’s not like Jagger nailed the video idea right off the bat, either. He and David Bowie dancing around on a dirt road singing ‘Dancing in the Street’ is still one of the most hilarious things to come out of that decade, even if Jagger seemed to be giving his all and mugging for the camera at every single opportunity.
So while Spandau Ballet had their own sophisti-pop lane that didn’t really have that much to offer to rock and roll, it’s not like they didn’t deserve to exist by any stretch. There was still a massive number of people who would have wanted to see something like that, and even if it was a bit too soft for Jagger’s taste, that didn’t mean that it couldn’t still touch people’s hearts who maybe needed something a little less edgy.
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