Keith Richards is one of the most famous guitarists from one of the most famous rock bands of all time. Honestly, he basically embodies the very notion of rock and roll. It’s something he holds dear to his heart. And if anyone is allowed to say what is rock and roll and what is not rock and roll, it’s Keith Richards from the famous rock band, The Rolling Stones.
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Just as well, Richards isn’t the kind of guy to keep his thoughts to himself. He’s passed judgment on a few bands through the years, but one particular comment in 1977 was surprisingly harsh for an up-and-coming punk rock band.
Keith Richards Once Said That the Band Sex Pistols Was for “Mass-Media Consumption”
In a particularly old interview from 1977, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger dished on their thoughts of punk rock music. To the surprise of very few, they weren’t really down with what was happening in that particular genre, though Jagger seemed to think that punk rock was the natural progression of rock music. But, more so, Richards voiced his disinterest in doing the same sort of thing. One thing led to another, and Keith Richards was eventually dunking on one punk band in particular: The Sex Pistols.
“I don’t think that Bowie or Johnny Rotten or all the Zeppelins are anywhere in the future, let alone the present,” Richards boldly stated. “Jagger believes punk is today, is now. To think you’ve got to something new just for the sake of doing it isn’t real. It’s the equivalent [of] when a lot of Dixieland bands added electric guitars, calling themselves R&B just to stay up with the times.”
Ouch. That’s rough enough, but Richards didn’t stop there. He went on to say that The Rolling Stones were significantly different than Sex Pistols, and diving into punk rock in a similar way would have spelled disaster for the band.
“For a band of The Stones’ position to do that would have been ludicrous,” Richards said. “It’s fatal for The Stones to try that. Why the f*ck do WE have to try to sound like The Sex Pistols for? What’s the point of listening to that sh*t? It’s for mass media consumption anyway.”
Harsh words indeed. However, as mentioned earlier, Richards has always had a clear-cut and often strict view of what rock and roll was. And for him, rock was what The Stones were doing at that time.
Photo by Christopher Simon Sykes/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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