Ian Anderson on Mick Jagger’s vocals: ‘(He) didn’t set the bar very high’

Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson doesn’t seem all that impressed with Mick Jagger.

The 77-year-old rocker criticized the Rolling Stones frontman’s singing in an interview with Now Spinning Magazine as he was addressing what it physically takes to perform at his age.

Discussing the challenges faced by artists, Anderson, who sings and plays the flute onstage, said “it depends what you do.” He adds, “You can be physically animated, but there’s a degree to which you can only do so much if you’re playing a flute.”

He then compared it to what the now-82-year-old Jagger does onstage, suggesting it doesn’t take much to perform like him since he “didn’t set the bar very high in terms of vocal skills right from the very beginning.” Anderson did say he meant “no disrespect.”

“He’s a shouter, and he doesn’t have to really hit the notes or necessarily be terribly great on intonation or phrasing or anything,” Anderson said. “He runs around in a very animated way, and that’s great for someone who’s, you know, whatever, a couple of years older than me, or three years older than me. That’s fine.”

Anderson added that what he does is “not easy” and that “there is a limit to what you can do” when playing the flute.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.