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Mick Jagger (2012)

by Philip Norman(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0061944858 (ISBN13: 9780061944857)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Ecco

review 1: Philip Norman has done what's probably going to be the best account of Jagger's life we're going to see, since the subject himself still has no interest in setting the record straight. The author, who also did the landmark account of John Lennon, has presented a well-researched, balanced, based-in-fact biography with numerous interviews of those who should know whom they speak about. It debunks myths and tries to give an accurate picture. It's worth it for the chapter on Altamont alone, which corrects a lot of warped rumours which have circulated for years. One of the best I've seen on the subject. - BH.
review 2: Norman is a fine stylist with an appropriate bitchy streak, which makes this unauthorized biography fun to read: He gives Jagger his due, but (as a... mores longtime writer about the Beatles, Stones, et al) is rather less than starstruck. He's also clearly done a good deal of legwork. There's evidence of many interviews and other reporting in here, not just rehashed anecdotes and warmed-over press clippings. (Norman was present for a lot of this history too, both via earlier writing about the Stones and just on the British music scene in general.) He's especially good at exploring the paradox of how Jagger, in a world where most superstars come from miserable childhoods, reached the peak of celebrity and influence despite an extremely ordinary middle-class upbringing (his dad was a gym teacher). Norman attributes much of Jagger's worst behavior over the year to what he calls "the Tyranny of Cool," or Jagger's need to appear indifferent and above it all (though Norman relishes painting scenes of the future Sir Mick's desperation when some girlfriend whom he'd cheated on or ignored threatened to leave him). Meanwhile, Norman paints an intriguing revisionist history of Altamont, in which Jagger comes out looking singularly heroic (he kept the Stones performing when other bands fled the stage, and did his best to calm the mounting atmosphere of rage). He also portrays Jagger as, believe it or not, a model father (with one notable exception that was eventually patched up). Also of note: a quite full accounting of the infamous Redlands drug bust, with Norman revealing the identity of the police informant. (Though perhaps someone else had revealed this elsewhere? Dunno.) And a side note: readers who enjoyed Keith Richards' autobio "Life," as I did, will find no support from Norman's corner -- though he doesn't seem to have much animosity toward Keef personally, he repeatedly trashes that book as unreliable, self-serving, etc. less

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