{"id":5981,"date":"2026-07-14T15:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=5981"},"modified":"2026-07-14T15:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:00:29","slug":"the-rolling-stones-mick-jagger-says-he-regrets-taking-john-lennons-advice-not-to-meet-elvis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=5981","title":{"rendered":"The Rolling Stones&#8217; Mick Jagger says he regrets taking John Lennon&#8217;s advice not to meet Elvis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/mick-jagger\">Mick Jagger<\/a> has revealed that he regrets never meeting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/elvis-presley\">Elvis Presley<\/a> because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/john-lennon\">John Lennon<\/a> advised him against it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-rolling-stones\">The Rolling Stones<\/a> frontman shared the comments during a new interview on the <em>Conan O\u2019Brien Needs A Friend<\/em> podcast, and said that he never met the king of rock and roll because he followed the advice of John Lennon.<\/p>\n<p>Lennon and the rest of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-beatles\">Beatles<\/a> bandmates famously met Presley only once in 1965, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/film-features\/elvis-meets-the-beatles-how-it-happened-in-1965-3250427\">they visited his home in Los Angeles in a meeting set up by NME writer Chris Hutchins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, Lennon apparently came away from the meeting with it not having met his expectations, and would later go on to advise Jagger to hold back on meeting Presley and instead hold onto the image he had of the singer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember John telling me, \u2018You should never meet your heroes. I would never meet Elvis, Mick, if I were you,\u2019\u201d Jagger said during the Conan O\u2019Brien interview. \u201cAnd so I didn\u2019t. I took John\u2019s advice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really stupid of me, really. I\u2019d love to have met Elvis,\u201d he added, also sharing that Lennon gave him that same piece of advice on more than one occasion. \u201cMaybe my Elvis version would have been different\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mick Jagger (Full Episode) | Conan O&amp;apos;Brien Needs A Friend\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2HLGcRpw1hc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While Lennon seemingly came away from the meeting with his expectations not met, the same view is not shared by his bandmate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/paul-mccartney\">Paul McCartney<\/a> \u2013 who has shared multiple times what that moment meant to him.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/paul-mccartney-recalls-pinch-yourself-moment-he-met-elvis-presley-with-the-beatles-3947443\">Earlier this year, McCartney looked back at the interaction again<\/a> and said that he found Elvis to be \u201creally great\u201d and \u201ca very handsome guy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wasn\u2019t a disappointment at all,\u201d he said during an interview on BBC Radio 2\u2019s <em>Tracks Of My Years<\/em> in May.<\/p>\n<p>He also added that it was a \u201cgreat evening\u201d meeting the \u2018Jailhouse Rock\u2019 singer and shared that Presley \u201cplayed a bit of bass\u201d, saying: \u201cHe had a bass there and he was talking about the bass so we could talk, sort of, bass talk. He was great, very personable, very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCartney has previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-beatles-379-1344340\">declared Presley as one of the chief inspirations behind the band\u2019s classic album \u2018Sgt Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-beatles-164-1263462\">a previously-unreleased interview with The Beatles came to light too, which saw them reveal what they really thought about Elvis<\/a>. In the audio, which dates back to 1965, McCartney is heard saying: \u201cSince when I was 16, I\u2019ve loved his records. We used to do a lot of his songs until we started doing our own \u2026 but I don\u2019t like the new stuff half as much \u2013 we told him that last night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lennon was also heard discussing Presley\u2019s shift towards acting and said: \u201cWe were asking him about just making movies, and not making any [personal] appearances. I think he enjoys making movies so much \u2026 We couldn\u2019t stand not doing personal appearances \u2013 we get bored quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked if a joint Elvis and The Beatles record could ever happen, Lennon replied: \u201cNone of us have ever liked those albums where they put two people together. I\u2019d hate an album like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mick Jagger on &amp;apos;Foreign Tongues&amp;apos;, live plans and his fave new bands\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_GNNbCOp8p0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Jagger\u2019s latest interview comes on the heels of The Rolling Stones releasing their 25th album, \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-rolling-stones-announce-new-album-foreign-tongues-with-contributions-from-paul-mccartney-robert-smith-and-more-3944180\">Foreign Tongues<\/a>\u2018, last week \u2013 which featured collaborations with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/paul-mccartney\">Paul McCartney<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-cure\">The Cure<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/robert-smith\">Robert Smith<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/steve-winwood\">Steve Winwood <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/red-hot-chili-peppers\">Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/a> drummer Chad Smith, as well as further posthumous appearances from Charlie Watts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/the-rolling-stones-foreign-tongues-review-3955956\"><em>NME<\/em> gave the album three-and-a-half stars<\/a>, in a review which described it as \u201cfresh and refined\u201d and proving that \u201cthere\u2019s plenty more left in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <em>NME<\/em> as part of a recent In Conversation interview, Jagger opened up about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/mick-jagger-tells-us-it-was-very-easy-working-with-paul-mccartney-on-the-rolling-stones-foreign-tongues-3954324\">the \u201ceasy\u201d experience working with McCartney<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/the-cures-robert-smith-initially-turned-down-rolling-stones-collaboration-i-wasnt-really-prepared-for-it-3954279\">collab with Robert Smith<\/a>, his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/mick-jagger-tells-us-hes-had-my-sam-fender-moments-lately-and-hails-people-watching-as-excellent-3954455\">love of Sam Fender<\/a>, and whether or not they have more music planned. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/mick-jagger-rolling-stones-foreign-tongues-glastonbury-next-album-live-dates-3953989\">Read it in full here<\/a>, or watch it above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mick Jagger has revealed that he regrets never meeting Elvis Presley because John Lennon advised him against it. The Rolling Stones frontman shared the comments during a new interview on the Conan O\u2019Brien Needs A Friend podcast, and said that he never met the king of rock and roll because he followed the advice of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/elvis-mick-jagger-john-lennon@2000x1270.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}