Mick Jagger Joked This Star Might’ve Ruined His Friendship With The Rolling Stones at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
A 1960s/1970s rock star inducted The Rolling Stones into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In his memoir, that star characterized his induction speech as the work of a sincere fan. On the other hand, Mick Jagger joked the speech might cause a rift in the friendship between the musician who gave it and The Rolling Stones.
This star revealed his feelings about The Rolling Stones at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Artists started entering the Hall of Fame in 1986. The Rolling Stones got inducted in 1989. Their early entry shows how much they mattered to the genre. According to Billboard, someone on the Hall of Fame’s nominating committee said giving Jagger and company that honor was a no-brainer.
In his book Who I Am: A Memoir, Townshend discussed inducting The Rolling Stones into the Hall of Fame. “I began my Stones induction speech by saying: ‘Keith Richards once told me that I think too much. The truth is, I talk too much, but I don’t think first … The Rolling Stones are the only group I have felt unashamed about idolizing. Each one of them has given me something as an artist, as a person, and as a fan. It would be crazy to suggest here that all the things they gave me were wholesome, practical and useful,” Townshend wrote.
Pete Townshend made some jabs at Mick Jagger and his bandmates
Townshend said his speech was a love letter to The Rolling Stones. “I carried on in a similar, deeply affectionate vein, and meant every word of it,” he wrote. Despite this, he still made some jabs at the band.
Townshend joked The Rolling Stones hadn’t sold many records in recent years. He said Charlie Watts had an even more dramatic drug problem than he did while also poking fun at Keith Richards’ drug problem. “Mick gave me something too — a bad case of VD,” Townshend said. VD means “venereal disease.” “No, I mean a CD with a bad case,” Townshend said.
How Mick Jagger reacted to these jabs in his acceptance speech
When Townshend finished, Jagger gave an acceptance speech. He noted Townshend said he was friends with the members of The Rolling Stones. He joked that might not be the case anymore because of what he said in the speech.
Jagger’s acceptance speech was otherwise very cordial. He said the other members of The Rolling Stones were amazing musicians. He poked fun at the fact that the Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, a city with no real connection to the history of rock ‘n’ roll. The Who would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990. While Jagger may not have been a huge fan of Townshend’s speech, both stars received one of rock ‘n’ roll’s highest honors.
