"Mixed Emotions" is a song by English rock band

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

from their 1989 album, ''

Steel Wheels ''Steel Wheels'' is the nineteenth U.K. and twenty-first U.S. studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 29 August 1989 in the US and on 11 September in the UK. It was the final album of new material that the band re ...

''. Written by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

while on vacation on

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

, "Mixed Emotions" was a collaborative effort between Jagger and Richards after a period of tension and estrangement. Richards brought his own music to the sessions along with most of the song's lyrics, the rest being filled in by Jagger in the studio. Released on 21 August 1989 in the United Kingdom, the song reached 1 in Canada and No. 5 in the United States while becoming a top-10 hit in Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.

Recording

The song is an upfront rocker, with Richards, Jagger and

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, and a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing lead guitar with several Brit ...

sharing guitar duties. Piano and organ were provided by

Chuck Leavell Charles Alfred Leavell (born April 28, 1952) is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the pri ...

, the Stones' touring keyboardist since the 1980s. Backing vocals are provided by Jagger, Richards,

Sarah Dash Sarah Dash (August 18, 1945 – September 20, 2021) was an American singer. She first appeared on the music scene as a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. Dash was later a member of Labelle, and worked as a singer, session musician, ...

Lisa Fischer Lisa Melonie Fischer (born December 1, 1958) is an American singer and songwriter. She found success with her 1991 debut album '' So Intense'', which produced the Grammy Award–winning hit single " How Can I Ease the Pain". She has been a back ...

, and

Bernard Fowler Bernard Fowler (born January 2, 1960) is an American musician. He is known for a long association with The Rolling Stones, providing backing vocals since 1989 and on their studio recordings and live tours. Fowler has been a featured guest vocali ...

, the latter two longtime touring vocalists for the Stones. Brass was provided by the Kick Horns while

Luis Jardim Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

provided percussion.

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who was the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a Graphic designer, graphic artist, Watts developed an interest i ...

handled drums while

Bill Wyman William George Wyman ( né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 ...

played bass.

Music video

To match the upbeat nature of the song, the music video featured the Stones, playful and smiling, performing the song as well as recording it. This stands in stark contrast to the band's previous video, 1986's " One Hit (To the Body)," filmed during a time when relations between Jagger and Richards were at an all-time low, and which featured uncomfortable physical sparring between the two.

Release

Released as the album's first single on 21 August 1989, "Mixed Emotions" made it into the top 10 in the US, going to number five, and was also a number-one hit on the

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" fo ...

chart for five weeks and in Canada for one week. The song was the Stones' last top-ten hit in the United States to date, although they would go on to have more chart hits on the Album Rock Tracks (now Mainstream Rock) chart. The single's B-side was "Fancy Man Blues", a non-album track recorded during the ''Steel Wheels'' sessions. The song was regularly performed during the 1989–1990

Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels Tour was a concert tour which was launched in North America in August 1989 to promote the band's album '' Steel Wheels''; it continued to Japan in February 1990, with ten shows at the Tokyo Dome. The European leg ...

and is included on the live albums ''

Live at The Tokyo Dome ''Live at the Tokyo Dome'' is a live album by the Rolling Stones, released in 2012. It was recorded at the Tokyo Dome in Japan in 1990. The album was released exclusively as a digital download through Google Music on 10 July 2012, and subseq ...

'' and '' Steel Wheels Live''. "Mixed Emotions" appears on all compilation albums, including ''

Jump Back ''Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones'' is the sixth official compilation album by the Rolling Stones. It was initially released worldwide, except in the US, in 1993. The American release came on 24 August 2004. It was the first Rolling St ...

'', ''

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'', ''

GRRR! ''GRRR!'' is a greatest hits album by the Rolling Stones. Released on 12 November 2012, it commemorates the band's 50th anniversary. The album features two new songs titled " Doom and Gloom" and " One More Shot", which were recorded in August ...

'', and '' Honk''. The 12-inch remix of "Mixed Emotions" by producer Chris Kimsey was rereleased on the ''

Rarities 1971–2003 ''Rarities 1971–2003'' is a compilation album by The Rolling Stones that was released in 2005 worldwide by Virgin Records – as well as by the coffee-chain Starbucks in North America – and features a selection of rare and obscure material ...

'' compilation, in 2005, along with "Fancy Man Blues."

Track listing

# "Mixed Emotions" (7-inch version) – 4:00 # "Mixed Emotions" (Chris Kimsey's 12-inch) – 6:10 # "Fancy Man Blues" – 4:54

Personnel

Adapted from ''Steel Wheels'' liner notes. The Rolling Stones *

– lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, shakers *

– guitar, backing vocals *

– guitar *

– bass guitar *

– drums Additional musicians *

–

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, piano *

– backing vocals *

Luís Jardim Luís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim (born 4 July 1950) is a Portuguese percussionist born on the island of Madeira. He is best known for his work with producer Trevor Horn. Family Jardim is a cousin of Alberto João Jardim (former presiden ...

– percussion *

The Kick Horns Kick Horns are a UK horn section based in London. They have worked prolifically as session musicians with a wide variety of performers, and have also recorded as an ensemble. The Kick Horns were established in the 1980s by Simon C. Clarke and Ti ...

–

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control The Rolling Stones songs 1989 songs 1989 singles CBS Records singles Rolling Stones Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Chris Kimsey Song recordings produced by Jagger–Richards Songs written by Jagger–Richards