With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

It's only rock'n'roll, not a history lesson, says Mick Jagger

Schools should teach proper history not pop music, Sir Mick Jagger has suggested, after discovering that the Rolling Stones are now a topic on the GCSE syllabus.

Still rolling at 64, the rock icon was responding to a Bristol teacher who asked how best to present the cultural importance of the Rolling Stones to a class of eager history students.

Despite being the subject of numerous academic works, Sir Mick said it's only rock'n'roll and the Stones's importance in the grand scheme of things may have been overstated.

In a BBC News website question and answer session, Alison McClean wrote: "I am currently teaching my year 11 students about the impact of the Rolling Stones in preparation for their GCSE history coursework on Britain in the 1960s. How does Mick feel about being part of the history curriculum and, if he was sitting the exam himself, how would he describe the Stones's impact on Britain?"

Jagger, who passed O-level history at Dartford Grammar School in 1959, was less than impressed. "I suppose pop music was very important in the 1960s, it became perhaps too important. It was one of the things in popular culture," he said.
Read entire article at Times (UK)