Episode overview

Mick Jagger (Full Episode) | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend · 13 July 2026 · 1h 6m · 4 Egleze moments

What happened in this episode?

Conan O'Brien interviews Mick Jagger in a small London podcast studio to discuss the Rolling Stones' new album Foreign Tongues and Jagger's remarkable six-decade career. The conversation reveals Jagger as a forward-looking artist deliberately avoiding nostalgia, having forbidden producer Andy Watt from making musical references to past Stones hits like Jumpin' Jack Flash. Jagger discusses his competitive friendship with David Bowie, whom he describes as intensely competitive and admits borrowed heavily from the Stones' style for songs like Jean Genie. He reveals that John Lennon personally advised him never to meet Elvis Presley after Lennon's own disappointing 1965 encounter left him disillusioned, advice Jagger took to preserve his idealized image of his hero. The interview covers the hostile media environment of the 1960s, including shocking details about police violently beating teenage girls with nightsticks at early Stones concerts. Jagger discusses his meticulous attention to detail as the band's de facto manager, his vocal techniques including studying Al Green's falsetto transitions, and his philosophy of living in the present moment. He describes the band's rapid recording process for Foreign Tongues, deliberately avoiding filler and setting a high bar for every track. Technical mishaps during the AI-enhanced video for In the Stars are revealed, including the software accidentally rendering Jeff Beck instead of Ronnie Wood. Throughout, Jagger emerges as deeply curious, well-read, competitive about his craft, and committed to creating contemporary music rather than trading on past glories.

What are the key points?

Mick Jagger rejected producer Andy Watt's suggestion to reference Jumpin' Jack Flash on new album Foreign Tongues, insisting on avoiding nostalgia and past callbacks
John Lennon personally advised Jagger never to meet Elvis Presley after the Beatles' disappointing 1965 encounter, advice Jagger followed to preserve his idealized hero
David Bowie was intensely competitive with Jagger and borrowed heavily from Rolling Stones style for songs like Jean Genie, creating friendly rivalry between the icons
Police violently beat 14-year-old girls with nightsticks at early Rolling Stones concerts in the 1960s due to lack of proper security infrastructure
AI technology mistakenly rendered Jeff Beck instead of Ronnie Wood in the In the Stars music video during production
Jagger studies Al Green's vocal technique to master switching between falsetto and regular voice, demonstrating continued artistic growth at 81
Rolling Stones recorded Foreign Tongues rapidly without writing songs in studio, moving quickly through tracks to avoid self-analysis and maintain creative momentum

Which topics are covered?

History Crime & Justice Entertainment

How is this page sourced?

Programme: Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend
Published: 13 July 2026
Duration: 1h 6m
Original episode: Open the original source ↗

Egleze verifies the speaker, source and timestamp for each linked moment. Unless a moment is explicitly marked independently verified, statements remain attributed claims by the named speaker rather than established facts.

Watch original episode More from Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

4 moments from this episode

Source-linked · editorially selected

History

Mick Jagger reveals police violently beat teenage girls at early Rolling Stones concerts

at 10:17 · Attributed speaker claim

we used to play in, like, the West Coast in little places, and the police would come out and there would be, like, 14-year-old girls, and they'd bang them on the heads with their nightsticks. That was their solution. I mean, it's like, huh, we took care of it. These could be your daughters. Maybe they are. And it was the same in Europe. I mean, they would just throw them out of the door bodily.

Mick Jagger describes the violent police response to early Rolling Stones concerts in the 1960s, when local police with no experience handling concert crowds would physically assault teenage girls with nightsticks or throw them bodily out of venues. This chaos occurred because there was minimal security infrastructure and police treated excited young fans as threats requiring violent suppression.

Read this moment → Check original at 10:17 ↗

Entertainment

Mick Jagger reveals producer wanted references to Jumpin' Jack Flash on new album

at 18:02 · Attributed speaker claim

there was one track, I think Mr. Charm. And at the end of it he said, well, it could be a bit more like Jumpin' Jack Flash at the end. I said, no, it's not like anything like that, and I don't want you to refer to it. And I mean, we didn't have an argument about it, so I said, just don't make it like that.

Mick Jagger describes how producer Andy Watt suggested making a song on Foreign Tongues sound more like the classic hit Jumpin' Jack Flash, but Jagger firmly rejected the idea. He explains his philosophy of avoiding musical references to past Rolling Stones work, insisting the new album stand entirely on its own merits without nostalgia or callbacks.

Read this moment → Check original at 18:02 ↗

Entertainment

Mick Jagger reveals AI mistakenly put Jeff Beck instead of Ronnie Wood in video

at 33:11 · Attributed speaker claim

I said, stop it at 3:18. I said, That's Jeff Beck. Ronnie, that's not your guy. So they might have gone back to this footage and said, I, I don't— please don't bother me about this. I know exactly who these people are. And he got Jeff, and it looked exactly like Jeff Beck. So we had Jeff Beck in the band for a minute there.

During the creation of the AI-enhanced video for In the Stars, which digitally aged down the band members, Mick Jagger caught a technical error where the AI confused Ronnie Wood with Jeff Beck. This happened because both guitarists played together in the Faces, and the AI pulled from that era's imagery. The mistake was corrected before the final video release.

Read this moment → Check original at 33:11 ↗

Entertainment

Jagger says David Bowie was extremely competitive and stole Rolling Stones style

at 53:09 · Attributed speaker claim

David was so competitive, much more competitive. I was made competitive by David. He was just so competitive that I had to be competitive back. He would come over and play me Gene Genie. I've got it, you want to listen? I said, God, he nicked all my things. I know, man, I know. But it's like a homage to you. It's homage. Yeah, sure.

Mick Jagger describes his friendship with David Bowie as intensely competitive, with Bowie being the aggressor who forced Jagger to compete back. Jagger specifically recalls Bowie playing him Jean Genie before its release, and Jagger recognizing that Bowie had borrowed heavily from the Rolling Stones' style. Despite the rivalry, they maintained a close friendship until Bowie's death.

Read this moment → Check original at 53:09 ↗