![\"Mick](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Mick-Jagger-Singer-The-Rolling-Stones-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Press)<\/p>\n
Tue 16 December 2025 11:56, UK <\/p>\n
By the time grunge hit the mainstream in the early 1990s, The Rolling Stones<\/a> were already rock \u2018n\u2019 roll veterans.\u00a0<\/p>\n As one of the most renowned British Invasion bands of the 1960s, they\u2019d seen cultural empires rise and fall and had absorbed much of the music that came out of America at that time. Their ambition had risen from being a \u201ccool blues band\u201d to the best in London, and then, as their sonic palette developed, simply the best band in the world.<\/p>\n Indeed, their entire career had been founded on reinventing the music of early American bluesmen such as Robert Johnson and B.B. King. But the scope beyond this solid backbone changed. Over the years, they embraced R&B, soul, funk, disco, and everything in between. However, they were a little more opposed to the nihilistic punk infusions of grunge. And who could blame them? <\/p>\n In their own country, the punk bands that so many of these American grungesters looked up to had made The Rolling Stones a laughing stock. I mean, even Johnny Rotten once announced<\/a> that he\u2019d like to kill Mick Jagger and release the video footage, a statement he has since retracted.<\/p>\n It was clear that even Jagger was cracking under the weight of growing competition. In a bid to join the pointed side of this cultural protrusion, he regrettably addressed criticism of Some Girls by saying, \u201cThe next one is going to be more racist and more sexist. It\u2019s going to be a whole bunch better.\u201d It\u2019s a comment he has since retracted, but it clearly showed he was feeling the heat.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all that surprising, then, that when Jagger was asked to give his opinion on grunge in 1995, The Rolling Stones frontman confessed that he wasn\u2019t much of a Nirvana fan but that he did like Pearl Jam. \u201cI\u2019m not in love with things at the moment. I was never crazy about Nirvana \u2013 too angst-ridden for me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Continuing, \u201cBut I like Pearl Jam. I prefer them to a lot of other bands. There\u2019s a lot of angst in a lot of it. Which is one of the great things to tap into. But I\u2019m not a fan of moroseness.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Jagger was quick to note that, despite the differences in the two genres\u2019 sounds and lyrical content, grunge still owed a lot to \u201960s rock. During that same interview with Rolling Stone<\/a>, Jagger said that if \u201cthere\u2019s four people playing guitars and so on, there\u2019s a lot of \u201960s influence. It may appear that they\u2019re playing the same thing or look the same on MTV. Or there\u2019s certain haircuts you\u2019ve seen on the Byrds.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut the grooves are different,\u201d Jagger continued, \u201cIt\u2019s all influenced by dance music. In 30 years you don\u2019t keep playing the same beat. Which is good. I don\u2019t think any of these bands would claim to be daringly different.\u201d <\/p>\n Adding, \u201cBut it\u2019s heartening to return to live music. Heartening for people like me in a band. It\u2019s a very traditional thing to return to. It re-validates the original form that we fell in love with.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Mick](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765899506_458_Mick-Jagger-Keith-Richards-Charlie-Watts-1994-The-Rolling-Stones-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Mick Jagger on stage with The Roling Stones. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n