Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson recently made critical comments about Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger’s vocal abilities during an interview on the Now Spinning Magazine podcast.
Anderson’s remarks came while discussing the physical challenges of performing at his age, particularly when combining singing with playing the flute. He drew a comparison between his own performance requirements and those of other aging rock stars.
“It depends what you do. You can be physically animated, but there’s a degree to which you can only do so much if you’re playing a flute,” Anderson said.
He then turned his attention specifically to Jagger’s vocal style and stage presence.
“If you are Mick Jagger and you’re just running around with sort of shout-out vocals, then yeah – no disrespect, but Mick Jagger didn’t set the bar very high in terms of vocal skills right from the very beginning,” Anderson continued. “He’s a shouter, and he doesn’t have to really hit the notes or necessarily be terribly great on intonation or phrasing or anything. He runs around in a very animated way, and that’s great for someone who’s — whatever — a couple of years older than me, or three years older than me. That’s fine.”
Anderson concluded by contrasting Jagger’s performance style with his own technical requirements as a flutist and vocalist.
“But it’s not that easy if you’re trying to play a flute … there is a limit to what you can do. And it tends to be that if I’m not playing the flute, I’m singing,” he said.
