The adage to “never meet your heroes” gets a little more complicated when you find yourself in the same circles as them. Musicians have a lot of the same heroes as we do; the only difference is that they might have a chance of forging a connection with them. Mick Jagger has met many fellow famous musicians, but there is one hero that he never got to meet, thanks to some advice from John Lennon.
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Why John Lennon Told Mick Jagger to Never Meet His Heroes
The Beatles and Elvis Presley had an interesting relationship. While the Fab Four were certainly indebted to Presley’s era-defining sound, their relationship got rocky as Presley lost the plot. Much happened between them, but the final nail was likely Presley’s decision to ask the President if he should “spy” on the anti-American Beatles. There’s really no coming back from that.
According to Lennon, meeting Presley was a bit of a letdown. His main point of contention was the fact that he just seemed too “normal.”
“He just seemed normal to us, you know,” Lennon once said. “And we were asking him about just making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. And he seems to enjoy it, you know. I think he enjoys making movies so much. We couldn’t stand not doing personal appearances. We’d get bored. We get bored quickly.”
Because of his lackluster meeting with Presley, Lennon passed along some advice to his fellow Brit-rocker, Jagger.
Mick Jagger Regrets Not Meeting Elvis
Like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones were massive Presley fans. Unlike the Beatles members, Jagger never got to meet Presley. After Lennon told him not to bother, Jagger avoided his hero.
“I never met Elvis either, because John Lennon once told me he was a real disappointment,” Jagger once said. “So I said I’d take his advice because I’d already had it with Chuck Berry and I didn’t want it to happen again with Elvis.”
“Though now, of course,” Jagger continued, “I wish I had met Elvis, you know what I mean? You never think, ‘Oh, he’s gonna die soon, I’d better hurry up and meet him.’ Because in those days he wasn’t very old. If nothing else, you’d still be able to talk about it, wouldn’t you?”
Unfortunately, Presley passed away before Jagger could find out for himself what The King was like.
(Photo by Rose Hartman/Getty Images)
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