Mick Jagger [Paperback]

Christopher Sandford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999

Here is the most comprehensive biography available of the premier Rolling Stone.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A sloppily rendered bio of the Rolling Stones' lead singer offers glimpses of a more human Mick Jagger than previously seen, but gets mired in contradictions and the details of the group's long decline. In what's at best undistinguished prose, Sandford struggles to fathom Jagger's contradictions--the performer's angry, unconventional public poses and his equally obvious longing for respectability. Much of the worst writing comes early on (Jagger's mother's lips grow ``pendulous'' as she waits in a bread line) as the book sets out to describe the Stones' early years. Sandford does show what the fuss was about--and what a nerve the Stones' early exploits struck in British culture. We watch Jagger provoking fan hysteria (egged on by early manager Andrew Oldham) and honing his stage act with moves stolen from James Brown and makeup tips from Little Richard; and then there's the later Jagger, grown from a youthful reader of Marx into an admirer of Margaret Thatcher. Sandford departs from previous biographers in revealing Jagger to have been as much subject as architect of much of what happened to the group. Though he's hardly exonerated for events like Altamont- -the free Stones concert ending in violence and murder--we do get a Mick more realistically ambivalent than Mephistophelean. But some of the author's theorizing is harder to credit. We're told that Jagger's Englishness may be the key to his character; then that he is ``one of those people...rare in England, able to sustain conflicting ideas and still function''; and then that he possesses the ``traditional values of Britain'' insofar as these include a sense of irony. Long chapters chronicling the Stones' decline drag badly. Sandford may manage to inch closer to the real Jagger, but only die-hard fans will be caught up in his account. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 411 pages
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press; Updated Edition edition (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815410026
• ISBN-13: 978-0815410027
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,065,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Primitive cool" biography, July 6, 2000

By 

Irina Danilova - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mick Jagger (Paperback)

In the acknowledgements to his "Mick Jagger. Primitive cool" book Christopher Sanders mentioned that "it is not, in any sense, an 'authorized' biography". Nevertheless, this is Mick Jagger's biography, well written and with a lot of factual material (not to mention good chosen photos) in it. And, which I think is very important, it tries to be objective. It represents "outsider's" point of view. What I really like, is that this book is NOT like, say, Tony Sanches's "insider's" story, which, in my opinion, built mostly on exposing author's negative attitude towards everybody (except himself). Nothing of the kind. This is really good trial to synthesize and analyze existing material, to provide reader with the complex view of our rock-n-roll time in general and of Mick Jagger who still plays one of the leading roles in it (and "It's curiously tempting to bet on him lasting twenty (years) more"). Written with reall interest in subject and high respect to the Star and people around him this book defenitely should be read by every Rolling Stones's friend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lies, November 27, 2005

By 

I am "DAVE" (Oakland CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mick Jagger: Primitive Cool (Hardcover)

Never read such a pack of lies in my entire life. The Englishman gives new meaning to the word filth. The book wants you to believe that Mick Jagger is a closet gay and has many gay lovers. Sandford alludes to Royal indiscretions and large pay-offs to keep things under the covers. Do you really believe that Charles and Mick were an item in the 70's? Do you believe it?