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highplainsdem

(63,038 posts)
Fri May 15, 2026, 10:24 AM 13 hrs ago

Disappointing. The Rolling Stones turned a new single into a vanity project by using AI to de-age themselves.

We always knew Mick Jagger was vain, but I thought he was smarter than this. The video is otherwise real actors, dancers and musicians - a few guys from the young retro band Hot Property were used as body doubles for the Stones, before AI was used to make them look like Mick, Keith and Ronnie from the 1970s. The song itself isn't bad.

But Mick being willing to use AI even this much made me wonder how much he's using AI otherwise, including possibly for lyrics and music.

And with the video featuring 25-year-old actress Odessa A'zion - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/odessa-azion-interview-marty-surpreme-i-love-la-1236487185/ - licking Mick's face, I can't help thinking that 82-year-old Mick really wanted that scene, but not with her licking his 82-year-old face. And that was the main impetus for the AI de-aging.

A lot of Stones fans don't like it. See this Reddit thread from r/rollingstones:

https://www.reddit.com/r/rollingstones/comments/1tdfstv/this_new_ai_video_is_very_uncanny_valley_i_dont/

Lots of negative comments on YouTube as well.

I'd've rather seen a video with old footage of the Stones performing and partying than this. Or current video, for that matter. It's not as if we're not used to the Stones looking old.

I'm not a fan of AI being used to de-age actors, either. Or holograms of de-aged musicians being used for concert performances.

I'm curious about how DUers feel about it. Which is why I'm posting it here in GD.

27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Disappointing. The Rolling Stones turned a new single into a vanity project by using AI to de-age themselves. (Original Post) highplainsdem 13 hrs ago OP
They look like a group of Rolling Stone wannabees, trying hard to act the part and failing miserably. patphil 13 hrs ago #1
I believe it was Prince who said... Hugin 13 hrs ago #2
Came off to me as trying too hard, but I don't object to the use of AI TheProle 13 hrs ago #3
If they all had fun, then good on them luv2fly 12 hrs ago #4
Boo! ProfessorGAC 12 hrs ago #5
Keith and Mick are in their 80s and still making music so who cares about this video? I hope they had fun. Botany 12 hrs ago #6
I saw a meme not long ago... GiqueCee 10 hrs ago #13
Millions are too "busy" chatting on their capitalist phones all day to "really" care Justice matters. 10 hrs ago #14
That's funny! MorbidButterflyTat 9 hrs ago #18
I like it, but HAB911 12 hrs ago #7
As long as they don't use AI for their music, who gives a S#$T krawhitham 12 hrs ago #8
You know who doesn't need de-aging? Fiendish Thingy 12 hrs ago #9
Other young bands with a great rock or blues-rock sound: highplainsdem 11 hrs ago #11
The Stones have been performing... GiqueCee 10 hrs ago #15
They are a legendary band, no argument there Fiendish Thingy 9 hrs ago #16
Queen, 55+ years 😍 MorbidButterflyTat 9 hrs ago #19
Another great band! GiqueCee 8 hrs ago #20
The Dutch band Golden Earring had been together 60 years by the time they disbanded in 2021, and highplainsdem 6 hrs ago #22
My favorite band in high school! bedazzled 3 hrs ago #25
Excellent choices all Tracyjo 9 hrs ago #17
Did you see the 5 young bands in reply 11, too? highplainsdem 7 hrs ago #21
Acknowledging your age can be noble. harumph 12 hrs ago #10
Hated It DET 11 hrs ago #12
You would think the Stones themselves would feel weird about it karynnj 3 hrs ago #23
I'm not opposed to the use of ai in certain situations, like B.See 3 hrs ago #24
I liked it sammythecat 1 hr ago #26
I think it's their business. Drum 5 min ago #27

patphil

(9,214 posts)
1. They look like a group of Rolling Stone wannabees, trying hard to act the part and failing miserably.
Fri May 15, 2026, 10:39 AM
13 hrs ago

It doesn't even sound like Mick Jagger.
I wouldn't walk across the street to see these guys.

Hugin

(37,985 posts)
2. I believe it was Prince who said...
Fri May 15, 2026, 10:41 AM
13 hrs ago

The most difficult part of aging fame is the competition with your former self. It’s impossible to surmount legacy.

The video itself puts brand above band and violates the “always leave them wanting more”. Compared to what made the “Rolling Stones”, It’s meh.

luv2fly

(2,705 posts)
4. If they all had fun, then good on them
Fri May 15, 2026, 10:53 AM
12 hrs ago

I like the song and they look like they're having fun ... We need more fun in life these days. I have no problem with it 👍

ProfessorGAC

(77,237 posts)
5. Boo!
Fri May 15, 2026, 10:54 AM
12 hrs ago

Not that I'm a Stones fan, but this is just stupid.
Who doesn't know Mick & Keith are 80+ & look it?

Botany

(77,827 posts)
6. Keith and Mick are in their 80s and still making music so who cares about this video? I hope they had fun.
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:00 AM
12 hrs ago

The song is solid. And Keith Richard’s is still alive.

GiqueCee

(4,714 posts)
13. I saw a meme not long ago...
Fri May 15, 2026, 01:12 PM
10 hrs ago

... in which Willie Nelson wondered if young people were giving any thought to what kind of world they were going to leave for him an Keith Richards. LMAO!

Justice matters.

(10,047 posts)
14. Millions are too "busy" chatting on their capitalist phones all day to "really" care
Fri May 15, 2026, 01:27 PM
10 hrs ago

about what kind of a world they were going to leave. In fact, tens of millions don't care to register to vote, and how many millions can't find countries on a map of the entire world?

HAB911

(10,583 posts)
7. I like it, but
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:02 AM
12 hrs ago

I wish they had done it to "Time Is On My Side"

It would make such a statement on the new reality (like it or not)

krawhitham

(5,084 posts)
8. As long as they don't use AI for their music, who gives a S#$T
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:02 AM
12 hrs ago

They have been de-aging people for 20+ years now

Fiendish Thingy

(24,017 posts)
9. You know who doesn't need de-aging?
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:06 AM
12 hrs ago

Any of these bands, some of my fave new artists:

Mod Lang:

?si=C2tlm2r3i90YHu0_

Lemon Twigs:

?si=0zLWCSr_YRCRRT6W

Sharp Pins:

?si=xZk4Dpv0CVE1ElFD

I’m an old boomer, and the Stones haven’t been relevant for decades.

The bands above are the Saviours of Rock and Roll.

highplainsdem

(63,038 posts)
11. Other young bands with a great rock or blues-rock sound:
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:48 AM
11 hrs ago

Kaleo




Silveroller






The Sherlocks




Jayler




The Band Feel

GiqueCee

(4,714 posts)
15. The Stones have been performing...
Fri May 15, 2026, 01:42 PM
10 hrs ago

... steadily for 64+ years. That alone keeps them relevant. To the best of my knowledge, no other band can match that record.

I saw them live back in '69 or '70 in Boston Garden, just a few weeks after the cops had pulled Robert Plant off the stage by his hair at the stroke of midnight. B.B. King opened for them, and after his set, a Stones spokesman took to the stage and proclaimed, "IF THERE'S A COP IN THE HOUSE, THERE WON'T BE A CONCERT!"
A quick confab of cops and promoters resulted in all the cops filing out. My friend, Doug, my wife, Gail, and I were among the first to leave our nosebleed seats to stand in front of the stage. Gail couldn't see anything, so I hoisted her up on my shoulders.
After an instrumental, Mick took the stage. Gail was a huge Stones fan, and when Jagger scanned the crowd in front of the stage, the only face he could see was Gail's. She looked a lot like Jean Harlowe, and Jagger picked her out and serenaded her. Gail was so excited that she peed her pants. I had a wet back for the rest of the night.
I still love those guys. For me, their pinnacle of achievement was the Sticky Fingers album, with the cover designed by Andy Warhol and featuring a real zipper over the high-contrast B&W shot of Jagger's junk in tight Levis. Moonlight Mile still one of my favorite tunes of all time.

Fiendish Thingy

(24,017 posts)
16. They are a legendary band, no argument there
Fri May 15, 2026, 01:57 PM
9 hrs ago

But, as we have seen in politics, longevity doesn’t make anyone or anything relevant.

Relevance is determined by one’s current works, actions, art, etc.

highplainsdem

(63,038 posts)
22. The Dutch band Golden Earring had been together 60 years by the time they disbanded in 2021, and
Fri May 15, 2026, 04:52 PM
6 hrs ago

they disbanded ONLY because the band's founder and lead guitarist, George Kooymans, was stopped from playing by ALS. He passed away last summer. They'd last played a sold-out arena concert in November 2019, with plans for a spring 2020 tour postponed by the Covid shutdown. George was not only still with Golden Earring then, but was also recording and touring in a duo with American guitarist and songwriter Frank Carillo, and recording and touring in the supergroup trio Vreemde Kostgangers (Strange Boarders, a Dutch way of saying "It takes all kinds" ) with two other famous Dutch musicians, one a folksinger, the other from a ska band - and VK's last album, released after George fell ill, topped the Dutch charts.

Golden Earring would probably still be together and working if George hadn't had ALS. His old bandmates are still playing, but no longer together. It wouldn't have been Golden Earring without him. He was only 13 when he taught the 15-year-old neighbor who became his bass player to play guitar (later he married that neighbor's kid sister), and he wrote or cowrote almost all of Golden Earring's songs, wrote songs for the duo and trio he also belonged to, and wrote hits for other Dutch artists.

It would have been nice if he could have stayed healthy and young forever.



But he took good care of himself (well, after some early years of partying, including with Keith Moon, including a party after which George had to be carried onto the plane the next day), and he was still doing well before he had ALS. This is George in 2018, with the other two members of Vreemde Kostgangers, doing a song that was a huge hit for Golden Earring in the late 1960s (a song he'd written for his longtime girlfriend and future wife after she left him for a while, after he wrote hits for a beautiful young singer, starting her career). A 50-year-old hit the audience loved:


bedazzled

(1,890 posts)
25. My favorite band in high school!
Fri May 15, 2026, 08:43 PM
3 hrs ago

Love love LOVE that band!

Check out the youtube video for "something heavy going down" if you haven't. It's a riot! Sorry, I don't know how to post a link...

harumph

(3,408 posts)
10. Acknowledging your age can be noble.
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:11 AM
12 hrs ago

If acknowledgment means becoming more like yourself.

I find such use of AI off-putting, but that's just me.

DET

(2,599 posts)
12. Hated It
Fri May 15, 2026, 12:02 PM
11 hrs ago

The Rolling Stones have been my favorite band since I was a kid. These simulations don’t look like them. And the whole thing looks coarse and tacky. I don’t object to AI (even if I should), but it has to be well done. Plus I didn’t like the song.

karynnj

(61,086 posts)
23. You would think the Stones themselves would feel weird about it
Fri May 15, 2026, 08:09 PM
3 hrs ago

What does it say? That the current real Stones are not good enough for the video? This even though they wrote it and recorded it and are still touting.

I've seen AI used for things that never happened. They have never seemed "right" to me as the movements and especially the way the face changes expression seem different than memories of real video of the people.

B.See

(8,818 posts)
24. I'm not opposed to the use of ai in certain situations, like
Fri May 15, 2026, 08:29 PM
3 hrs ago

a movie scene to depict a younger character in a flashback. Or to depict a character in a continuing series when the actor has died (ex. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia). Or its use in special effects.

But this Rolling Stone stunt. Not a fan. Personally I think it cheapens their work. Almost like a cover band miming their music, their look. It isn't them.

Embrace your longevity, fellas. You've earned it.

sammythecat

(3,602 posts)
26. I liked it
Fri May 15, 2026, 10:16 PM
1 hr ago

I really don't care that AI was used to make them all 33. Music, while maybe not "playlist" for me, was good enough. My verdict is, it was entertaining and I liked it. We're not talking science or politics here. Just a music video. I really don't know why there's such a fuss about using AI to make it better.

Drum

(10,759 posts)
27. I think it's their business.
Fri May 15, 2026, 11:39 PM
5 min ago

No call to frown and scowl at The Rolling Stones for goodness sake. Take a day off, Internet Purity Police.

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