Keith Richards once said, “You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe – and you have the Rolling Stones!” And as far as he was concerned, everyone else could get in the sea. With the exception of a few of his blues heroes, Richards has never been one to wax lyrical about his peers, preferring to keep up the rock ‘n’ roll image of rebel belonging to a tribe of bandmates.
In the process, he’s landed blows on Prince, David Bowie, The Band, and called Elton John “an old bitch“ whose “writing is limited to songs about dead blondes”. And while he has copped the odd “monkey with arthritis“ response in retort, you’d be hard-pushed to say that he cares one bit about what others have said about him.
When it comes to specific records, however, Richards has been rather mute. His influences have largely remained in the roots and blues music that first prompted him to pick up a guitar. “What I love about reggae,” Richards explains in the recent Under the Influence documentary, “Is that it’s all so natural, there’s none of this forced stuff that I was getting tired of in rock music.”
He then goes on to clarify: “Rock ‘n’ roll I never get tired of, but ‘rock’ is a white man’s version, and they turn it into a march, that’s [the modern] version of rock. Excuse me,” he adds humorously, “I prefer the roll.”
This has left a lot of classic albums short of any admirable attention from Richards. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few classic records below that Richards has attempted to cut down to size.
Five rock albums hated by Keith Richards:
1.Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
2.Their Satanic Majesties Request – The Rolling Stones
3.She’s the Boss – Mick Jagger
4.Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols – The Sex Pistols
5.Willy and the Poor Boys – Credence Clearwater Revival
