The murderous prank Mick Jagger pulled on Van Halen: “I’ll have you killed”

[James in New York]

The murderous prank Mick Jagger pulled on Van Halen: “I’ll have you killed”

Drew Wardle
Fri 22 November 2024

In the unpredictable world of rock ‘n’ roll, there are stories that straddle the line between comedy and catastrophe. This particular tale, brimming with uncertainty and mischief, features two towering icons: Mick Jagger and Van Halen.

The legendary Rolling Stones frontman orchestrated a prank on the hair rock star, weaving a narrative of murderous intent with an unexpectedly sugary conclusion.

The Rolling Stones are often at the centre of many of these crazy stories. Across the years, they have been alleged to have endured almost every known hedonistic tendency and then woken up the next day to do it all again.

Whether it was Keith Richards being electrocuted and snorting his father’s ashes — not in the same evening, or Jagger buying a huge mansion while allegedly high on LSD, the group are known for their wild antics.

When the band of bluesmen released their 1981 record, Tattoo You, the tour for the record saw the Stones hit a milestone: it was their largest and most successful tour to date, breaking ticket sales records.


Van Halen were no strangers to living on the edge, often matching their wild antics with their hair-raising music.

While they may not have reached the chaotic infamy of Mötley Crüe, Van Halen still held their own as one of the most daring bands on the circuit.

During their Fair Warning tour, as they prepared to wrap things up, The Rolling Stones extended an invitation for Van Halen to open for them on the tour’s final date in Orlando, Florida, on October 24th.

Although the pairing seemed unconventional at first glance, the concert proved to be a massive success, showcasing The Stones’ adaptability and their knack for connecting with audiences across different musical styles.

Typically, behind the scenes of any concert, there is usually at least one problem no matter the size of the issue — it is a rare miracle when a concert goes 100 per cent problem-free.

It might be that the sound check runs late, that a missing band member refuses to remove themselves from the nearest hotel bar or that there is at least one visible red M&M in the blue M&M vase.

The problem that arose during this massive production could have ended very poorly.

Van Halen’s bass player and Michael Anthony’s guitar tech, Kevin Dugan, retold the story to Ultimate Classic Rock. It started when Anthony broke a string on his bass guitar during Van Halen’s set.

Although it’s an issue that doesn’t happen all that often, as it was Anthony’s number one choice for guitar, Dugan had to change the strings in a flash.

“I see Bill Graham, the promoter, and he’s leaning on my workbox talking to some other guy,” Dugan began.

With a huge crowd waiting with bated breath for the next note, Dugan sprung into emergency action: “So, I yell, ‘Bill! Get out of the way!’

Bill jumps out of the way, and I grab the door of my workbox and throw it open.

The other guy he was talking to, the door hits him in the chest, and he flies back on his ass about five feet.

I yell sorry, grabbed the strings, ran back out, changed strings and got Michael his number one bass back.”

With the need for speed now evaporated, Dugan immediately ran back to Graham to apologise. When he was told that it wasn’t an issue, Dugan thought that was the end of it.

However, any spy novel enthusiasts reading this will already be too well aware that the mystery man clocked in the chest was of importance to the final moments of this story.

After Van Halen’s set, Michael Anthony found out fairly quickly that Mick Jagger was accidentally knocked back.

Years later, Dugan would receive a phone call from a fellow guitar tech, Jim Barber, who was invited to work with Jagger on his solo album.

Barber needed a place to stay while in LA, and Dugan offered to let him stay at his place.

“I went to LAX [airport] to pick him up, and there’s a limo and a couple vans for all the gear he flew in,” Dugan continued.

"So, I started helping go back and forth and grab gear and put it in the van, and every time I’m walking past this limo.”

Eventually, on one of his trips back to the van to pack Barber’s gear, a door to this mysterious limo opened up, blocking Dugan’s path.

An ominous scene if ever there was one, Dugan would have been well within his rights to assume some kind of mafia hit was about to go down: “They open the door to the limo, blocking my path, and they push me into the limo and slam the door shut,” he explained.

“Mick Jagger is sitting there by himself, and he looks at me and he goes, ‘I understand we’ve met before.’ … I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What the fuck?’”

Things seem normal, to begin with, and Jagger seems friendly at first, asking Dugan to convince Michael Anthony to contribute some bass parts to Jagger’s album.

While Dugan probably had little sway in doing such a thing, there was little reason to suspect anything else was untoward.

The Rolling Stones man proceeded to invite him out to dinner, and then that’s when Jagger’s facial expression changed as he got ready to strike to deliver the punchline.

“Then he says, ‘Oh, and one more thing I’ve got to mention,'” Dugan recalled.

"All of the sudden, his facial expression changed, and he lunged at me, grabbed me by my shirt, pulls me towards him and says, ‘If you ever knock me on my ass again, I’ll have you killed!’”

The silence between the two men was likely deafening, and the trepidation grew.

However, for Dugan, the tensions brewed into embarrassment, “I can’t keep a straight face.”

Thankfully, things worked out better than being murdered by the man who sang ‘Satisfaction’ as he explains: “Jagger rolls the window down, and there were ten people outside laughing and saying, ‘We got you!’

That was pretty funny. The fact that Jim got Mick to do that is something else.”

[Simon Ribeiro]

Some crazy stuff, man!!


It reminded me of this video:

[leroy]

Cool story - make sure you read it until the end, I was starting to wonder why Dugan didn't flatten the skinny little fucker.

[James in New York]

[Raldo]

Funny story!!

[Dutchie5150]

There is footage of Dugan actually telling this story somewhere on youtube...

He said that when he realized that he knocked Jagger over, he thought all hell would break loose, but Jagger was really cool about it, with Jagger saying the he was in his (Dugan's) way while he was working and Dugan did what he had to do (not verbatim, but close enough)...