The Mick Jagger interview. 1983.

On performing: "You've got to be 'up', it's your whole reputation, life, and it's what you're supposed to do best."

I interviewed Mick Jagger twice. The first was in 1976, when he was promoting the Black and Blue album. I got a call on a Friday afternoon about talking to him in New York on Monday. There had been miscommunication between his label publicist and personal team about how I was going to get a copy of the new album over the weekend. I had a big head about it anyway: Mick's people calling for me to interview him? I thought I was "Hot Stuff," as the opening track put it. I spent the weekend preparing for a deep Rolling Stones' look-back.

Monday morning, Mick was peeved I hadn't heard the record, so we chatted while Black and Blue played, and I drew questions from the air. "Bit of reggae influence on the first track, right?" Mick's mood was grim: he doodled, was inattentive, and when he sarcastically asked: "What's the next question in your [note] book," I said, "no more questions," slammed my notebook, and left. But the episode did teach me the first rule of celebrity interviewing: Always t…