Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is a summary of the episode:
Bob Spitz has written a great history of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and now the Rolling Stones – but also, in a way, Ronald Reagan and Julia Child. In rock, his credentials were hard-won: he began jamming at the unknown Bruce Springsteen for six years, went on to manage Elton John’s American business, and spent long enough in the world to find himself chatting with Paul McCartney and chatting with Bob Dylan at a stop in the Village. The Reagan and Julia Child books are the hardest to define, and maybe that’s the point—Spitz seems to do his best work when he’s not in the business of writing a book.
Tyler and Bob discuss how the Stones became great so quickly, what they added to the blues, how their songs compare to the Beatles, whether Exile on Main Street deserves its canonical status, the most underrated songs, what Charlie Watts got from playing in a rock band, the rise and fall of Brian Jones, how the Stones went through the famous music training of Mick’s School, the London School. its cultural influence, what we should still be asking Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, whether the breakup of the Beatles was good for the world, whether the elderly Reagan was really a communist, how good a cook Julia Child was, her next book about Lennon’s second act, and much more.
Quote:
SPITZ: Mick, from a very young age, was a non-exerciser.
As we know from my research in the book, Mick’s father was Jack Lalanne from the United Kingdom. He had a television show, an exercise program like Richard Simmons, and he was always a great exercise showman, young Michael. He was saying, Mike, come down, show him 50 pushups. Mike, he did 100 chins, Mick jumped on it and did it. That man still has a 27 inch waist at the age of 83.
Keith, on the other hand, is a medical miracle.
And this:
COWEN: Mick once said that his favorite economist was Friedrich A. Hayek. Does anyone know more about that?
SPITZ: I don’t, actually. I think it’s surprising that Mick had economic preferences. We know that Mick was a scholarship student at the London School of Economics, and that for two and a half years, he attended and got excellent grades. You did really well. One thing that surprises me about Mick coming out of that London School of Economics is this. After 1967, when Andrew Loog Oldham stopped managing the Stones, they never had another manager. They had money managers, but as far as managers go, Mick Jagger was their manager.
Also:
COWEN: How beautiful was Julia Child? That’s one of your history books. Actually, how good was he?
SPITZ: He was beautiful. He was an amazing person, but here’s a little secret. Julia was a great cooking teacher, but not a very good cook. There were people who left his house—and John Updike told me this. He often visited with her. Corby Kummer, who was an amazing food writer, told me this too. They left Julia’s house. They would go to the little park around the corner, and they were physically sick. They would get sick. Julia used a lot of butter, a lot of cream. He really had no strings attached to him when it came to using such things.
Bob was great throughout, and I really enjoyed his new history of the Rolling Stones.
