How the Glimmer Twins' Producer Role Shaped 'Some Girls' and 'Tattoo You'

After Jimmy Miller stepped away following Black and Blue (1976), Mick Jagger and Keith Richards formally took over as producers under the name “The Glimmer Twins.” They’d been co-producing in practice since Goats Head Soup, but the official credit change signaled a shift in method. Miller was a master of groove and studio discipline; the Glimmer Twins were looser, more combative, and willing to let the tape roll through chaos. The result was a leaner, more aggressive sound that matched the punk and new wave era without imitating it.

On Some Girls (1978), Jagger and Richards pushed for speed and spontaneity. They recorded at Pathé Marconi in Paris, often finishing songs in a few takes. The band’s rhythm section—Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman—locked into tighter, disco-inflected patterns (see “Miss You”), while Jagger’s vocals sat higher in the mix, sharp and sarcastic. Keith’s guitar got grittier, less polished. The album sold millions and felt like a reset.

By Tattoo You (1981), the Glimmer Twins were basically curating leftovers. They pulled unused tracks from sessions stretching back to 1972, overdubbed new parts, and assembled a cohesive set. That approach gave the record a split personality: side one punches with “Start Me Up” and “Hang Fire,” side two drifts into balladry. It wasn’t a live-band document like Some Girls—it was a producer’s collage. Jagger and Richards made the band sound like a hit machine even when the band wasn’t in the same room. The Glimmer Twins era proved the Stones could produce themselves, but the trade-off was a more fragmented, director-driven sound compared to Miller’s unified funk.