As the Rolling Stones gear up to hit the road once again in Europe, Mick Jagger admitted that he's still mourning the loss of the band's late-drummer and musical bedrock, Charlie Watts. Watts died of cancer last August 24th at the age of 80.
Rolling Stone reported during Jagger's chat with The Times UK, he explained how Watts' passing has affected him: “I don’t really expect him to be there any more if I turn round during a show. But I do think about him. Not only during rehearsals or on stage, but in other ways too. I would have phoned him up and talked about last night’s Arsenal (soccer) game because he supported Tottenham and I’m Arsenal. I miss him as a player and as a friend.”
Jagger went on to say, “In the show, when we come to the front and bow at the end, there’s no Charlie. He’d always be the last one down. I’d go: 'Come on, what have you got to do?' He’d be fiddling with his sticks because he always had to have them in a row before he’d get off the seat.”
When pressed about current pop sensation Harry Styles — who bares more than a passing resemblance to rock's ultimate bad boy, Jagger said, “I like Harry — we have an easy relationship. I mean, I used to wear a lot more eye make-up than him. Come on, I was much more androgynous. And he doesn’t have a voice like mine or move on stage like me; he just has a superficial resemblance to my younger self, which is fine. He can’t help that.”
Mick Jagger has been dealing with the side effects of superstardom since he was 20-years-old. He admitted that it's a pretty heady experience when you figure that he and the Stones have affected the lives of millions of people that'll never get to meet: “I mean, it's fantastic that you can do that. People say to me, 'I lost my virginity when they played 'Beast Of Burden,' and I sometimes go out and think of that when we play the song, y'know? That is really. . . makes me feel really good.”