In the eyes of Pete Townshend, there have only ever been two classic rock bands: his own and The Rolling Stones. He’d also happily accept that his outfit comes second. The key reason for this is the one-man edifice of riffs and attitude that is Keith Richards. Like the ancient Rome of rock and roll, he might be crumbling these days, but he indestructibly endures and remains ever-vital.
Despite what you may have read, The Rolling Stones weren’t built on the foundation of sex and drugs but rather pure rock ‘n’ roll; everything else was secondary. The triumvirate just formed that way by virtue of inevitability. As a band, they were hell-bent on liberation, smashing the stilted shackles of conservatism that they had grown up with, none more so than the high seas Captain Richards.
The guitarist is now simply synonymous with rock ‘n’ roll. Like the ground beneath our feet, it feels difficult to remember a time when the band’s battle-hardened guitarist wasn’t a part of the fabric of existence in one form or another, either roaring through the radio, tearing up some column inches, or comically chastising Elton John. However, where he is best is with a guitar in his hand, and below, we’re bringing you ten of the gunslinger’s finest rock riffs.
Old or young, Richards is likely to have soundtracked at least one of your more memorable nights with his uncanny ability to pick out and perform some of the classic rock world’s greatest riffs of all time. The kind of riffs that make you want to give it all up for the hum of the generator and the blur of the disco lights, throw away your full-time job and start gigging around the clock and the country. This inspiration is a legacy he’d be most proud of, and then promptly explain how you don’t come close to competing.
The Dartford-born musician might well be about as British as they come with a cockney swagger and a sarcastic smile, but he found his musical nous across the pond and in the backwaters of Americana. Like many adolescents in the 1960s, a young Richards was consuming every R&B record that came his way. The guitarist then re-interpreted his love of blues, blending the backbone inspiration of musicians like Muddy Waters with the dark mysticism of Robert Johnson the vigour of and rock ‘n’ roller Chuck Berry into his own work with the axe. In fact, his passion for the roots of it all is how he and Mick Jagger became reacquainted.
With a passion grounded in mood and mastering the basics, Richards set out to be the most economical guitar player on the scene. He avoided the battle to be “the fastest gun in the west”, opting out of competition with noodling virtuosos like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and, instead, focused on creating energy and power with his all-action riffs. This sentiment of shunning flashiness and getting straight to the heart of the good times was more his speed, and he’s sustained it for an unrivalled amount of decades.
“I’m the riff master,” wrote Richards in his autobiography Life. “The only one I missed and that Mick Jagger got was ‘Brown Sugar,’ and I’ll tip my hat there. There he got me. I mean, I did tidy it up a bit, but that was his, words and music.” Richards continues later in the book, “these crucial, wonderful riffs that just came, I don’t know where from,” wherever they came from keep ’em coming!”
“I’m blessed with them and I can never get to the bottom of them,” he adds. “When you get a riff like ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ you get a great feeling of elation, a wicked glee. ‘Flash’ is basically ‘Satisfaction’ in reverse. Nearly all of these riffs are closely related. But if someone said ‘You can play only one of your riffs ever again,’ I’d say ‘OK, give me ‘Flash.’”
While Richards will never be regarded as the most proficient guitar player of all time – it’s tough to top Hendrix as it is – he should be considered as one of the finest constructors of a rock ‘n’ roll riff ever in history. In fact, he pretty much wrote the book on it. Creating work which resonates for decades is no mean feat. And when all is said and all is done, surely it is the unshakable energy that still rings out of tracks like ‘Gimme Shelter’, rather than some egoist ten-minute exhibition of skill, that typifies what rock ‘n’ roll has always been about. In this regard, he may well be the master of the craft.
Keith Richards’ 10 best guitar riffs:
10. ‘All Down the Line’
9. ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’
8.8. ‘Honky Tonk Woman’
7. ‘Beast of Burden’
6. ‘Gimme Shelter’
5. ‘Rocks Off’
4. ‘Start Me Up’
3. ‘Street Fighting Man’
2. ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’
1 ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
