Måneskin have responded to Mick Jagger’s comments about the state of rock’n’roll, disputing the idea that young artists are keeping the genre alive.
The Italian band were speaking to NME for the latest Big Read cover story ahead of a huge homecoming gig in Verona when they shared their thoughts on The Rolling Stones frontman’s views.
Last month, Jagger praised the likes of Yungblud and Machine Gun Kelly in an interview with a Swedish radio station, saying the artists made him “think there is still a bit of life in rock’n’roll”.
Asked about their perspective on those remarks, Måneskin singer Damiano David assessed the rock icon’s views as “a very old-fashioned way to see it”. “Nobody is ‘keeping rock’n’roll alive’,” he continued. “It’s just impossible to kill.
“In my head what we’re doing is very different to what MGK is doing, which is very far from what Yungblud is doing, which is very far from what Willow Smith is doing, but a lot of artists are bringing back that kind of sound and energy: distorted guitars and real drums, to fucking play with a band with real analogue sounds, stage-diving – all the rock’n’roll shit. Music is just developing. Everything is colliding and mixing in a good way.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the band also discussed taking pleasure in pissing off rock purists. “It’s my guilty pleasure,” David told NME. “For me, it just makes no sense to expect us to behave like the Stones or Queen. It already happened and peaked. They fucking created a legacy and nobody can touch it.
“It’s so stupid and pointless to expect a band of 20-year-olds to replicate what was happening in the ’70s and ’80s. We’re in fucking 2022, so we’re just trying to do something new that makes us feel satisfied and happy. I really enjoy seeing people say, ‘Oh, they’re not Led Zeppelin’. I know! We never will be. I’m not Robert Plant; I wish I was! I have to do my own shit.”
Check out the full Big Read cover interview with Måneskin here, where they also talk the aftermath of the Eurovision cocaine speculation, work on their new album, working with Baz Luhrman on a song for the upcoming biopic ELVIS, having breakfast with Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson, and fame in the US.
Måneskin recently shared their new single ‘Supermodel’, before performing it on The Tonight Show in the US with host Jimmy Fallon joining the band on bass. A video for ‘Supermodel’ is set to drop later today (Tuesday May 31).
The band play Reading & Leeds Festival 2022 in August before headlining The O2 Arena in London on May 8. Visit here for tickets and more information.