“I’ll Have You Killed”: The Intense Prank Mick Jagger Once Pulled On Van Halen

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has never been one to do things halfway, whether in his music, stage presence, or the intense prank he pulled on Van Halen’s bass tech, Kevin “Dugie” Dugan. The instrument technician later said the joke was “horrifying” in the fleeting moments where he wasn’t sure if Jagger’s life-or-death comments were serious.

And honestly, we’d be pretty freaked out, too.

A Mid-Performance Misunderstanding

As is so often the case with practical jokes, Mick Jagger pulled his incredibly intense prank on Van Halen’s bass tech, Kevin Dugan, in the name of revenge. The back-and-forth started when Van Halen was opening for the Rolling Stones in 1981. Dugan was on standby, waiting to assist bassist Michael Anthony if the need arose.

Sure enough, it did, and Dugan rushed to his backstage toolbox to grab a set of replacement strings for Anthony. “I see Bill Graham, the promoter, and he’s leaning on my workbox talking to some other guy,” Dugan told Ultimate Guitar. “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 a** about five feet.”

“I yell sorry, grabbed the strings, ran back out, changed strings, and got Michael his number one bass back,” he continued. Dugan apologized to Graham again after Van Halen’s set was over. The promoter held no ill will, telling Dugan, “Don’t worry about it. We were in your way.” That’s when Dugan realized the other guy who ended up falling backward was Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

Mick Jagger’s Intense Prank on Van Halen’s Bass Tech

Years after the 1981 incident, Kevin Dugan met up with fellow guitar tech Jim Barber at LAX. Barber was in town working with Mick Jagger, and Dugan was letting Barber crash at his house while he was there. “I went to LAX to pick him up, and there’s a limo and a couple vans for all the gear he flew in,” Dugan recalled. “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.”

Suddenly, two men standing outside of the limo grabbed Dugan and pushed him into the unmarked car. “Mick Jagger is sitting there by himself, and he looks at me and goes, ‘I understand we’ve met before.’ I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What the f***?’” At first, Jagger and Dugan discussed innocuous topics like upcoming albums and dinner invitations. But before Dugan could realize what was happening, Jagger took a hard left turn.

“He says, ‘Oh, and one more thing I’ve got to mention.’ 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 a** again, I’ll have you killed!’” Dugan said. The bass tech said the exchange was horrifying for a few heart-pounding seconds until the Stones singer started to laugh. Jagger rolled down the window to reveal a group of about ten people laughing, too.

Still, we don’t doubt Dugan will forget the terror of those few moments after Mick Jagger’s intense death threat prank anytime soon.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns