The Late Jeff Beck 'Couldn't Deal' with the 'Looseness' of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones

Mar. 15, 2025

Jeff Beck in 2016; Mick Jagger in 2024.Photo:Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty; Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty; Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Jeff Beckcouldn’t get no satisfaction as part of TheRolling Stones.

In a resurfaced interview the late musician gavein 2011 to Loudersound, Beck, whodied in 2023, said he wasn’t compatible with the work style of the iconic rock band.

Beck attempted to joinThe Rolling Stonesafter guitarist Mick Taylor left the band in 1974. “I told them I don’t do auditions. And I wouldn’t have fitted in. I never had any regrets.”

Jeff Beck performs in Texas in April 2015.Rick Kern/WireImage

Rick Kern/WireImage

Beck also said that their rehearsal process didn’t work for him, especially when it came to the frontman. “I couldn’t deal with their looseness,” he recalled. “I was rehearsing [with the Stones] and I hardly ever sawMick Jagger.”

“When he did arrive, someone else f—ed off. I’m there to work, and they’re going: ‘Shall we pop over to Las Vegas, or Barbados?’ No! I like to have bottled attention and discipline.”

“Get the damn thing done, and then you can mess around,” Beck continued, calling it “crazy.” Beck wound up recording his first solo album that year,Blow By Blow, and released it in 1975.

Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 2024.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

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In 2023,Keith Richardsspoke about the rumors surrounding Beck’s attempt to join the Stones. “We felt that Jeff had his own furrow to plow and that he was not a team man,” Richards, 80,toldGuitar Player.

“He was a soloist to the max. He was such an individualist. It wouldn’t have worked with the Stones at all. We’re all about teamwork,” he continued, emphasizing that despite Beck not matching with the Stones, he was talented nonetheless.

Jeff Beck and Mick Jagger in the Netherlands in December 1986.Rob Verhorst/Redferns

Rob Verhorst/Redferns

Jagger, 81,paid tributeto the late guitarist, who was featured on Jagger’s first solo albumShe’s the Bossin 1985, onX (formerly Twitter).

“With the death of Jeff Beck we have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world. We will all miss him so much.”

source: people.com