Jagger, Scorsese visit '70s music biz in HBO's 'Vinyl'

PASADENA, Calif. – Get ready for a tour of the wild 1970s music scene with expert guides Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese.

The Rolling Stones frontman and Oscar-winning director are executive producers of HBO's Vinyl (Feb. 14, 9 p.m. ET/PT), a long-gestating project that follows a record label executive, Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale), in 1973 New York. The project reunites Scorsese and fellow Boardwalk Empire executive producer Terence Winter, who oversees day-to-day operation of the show.

HBO describes the 10-episode series as "a ride through the sex- and drug-addled music business at the dawn of punk, disco, and hip-hop." Speaking at a Television Critics Association panel Thursday, Cannavale said he sees Richie as "hanging on to the edge of a cliff with one hand."

Jagger, speaking via satellite, said he approached Scorsese with the concept years ago. It began as a movie idea, before eventually shifting to the smaller screen as TV "started to become interesting, respectable, moneymaking."

Jagger said he was immersed in the Stones' business affairs, so he knows the world Vinyl depicts.

"We got really screwed in the '60s, so I had to become involved," he said. He learned how record companies worked, "who was good, who was bad, who paid who, who screwed who, who ended up in money."

Vinyl is set in an intriguing time in music, with the series featuring rock, funk, punk and disco. It features existing songs and those created for the series.

Jagger acknowledged helping his son, James Jagger, with one song, but he credited James, who plays one of Vinyl's characters, for the work. "I didn't really write that much."

The Stones icon also likes the mix of fictional characters with those based on real performers, such as David Bowie and Led Zeppelin.

"By and large, people were very flattered to be included in the shows," Winter said. "We wanted to get descriptions right" of real people, many of whom are friends of Jagger or Scorsese.

Scorsese, who directed Vinyl's two-hour premiere, said he's already more involved with the new series than he was with Boardwalk. He would like to find time to direct more episodes.

Appearing via satellite, the acclaimed director said he has been involved "in all stages of production, selecting directors, working in tone meetings. I continue working with the music." He added that his connection with music in film goes back to that same era with his own Mean Streets in 1973. "It's close to my heart."

Ray Romano, who also stars in the series, grew up with the music featured in Vinyl. "The music connected me to a very important time in my life. I reached puberty, manhood, fell in love, fell out of love," he said.

Olivia Wilde, another star, marveled at the physical depiction of 1970s New York. "It was amazing. They re-created Max's Kansas City. It was fantasy, every day."

Having Scorsese as a director was special, Cannavale said. "It's great being led by Marty. Every place in New York you're shooting, he's got a story about it."