It’s impossible to knock Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards for his music. The Stones are pretty much the biggest rock band ever and they’re still playing. Some of the riffs and songs they’ve crafted over their 50 years of being a band will be around long after they’re gone. However, in an interview with the New York Daily News in support of his forthcoming solo album, Richards comes off as a little more than tone deaf when talking about rock music, and not just current music, but the two biggest metal bands of the last 45 years:
Some say rock is dead. For Keith Richards, it always has been.Strange, coming from the architect of the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band. “It sounds like a dull thud to me,” says the Rolling Stone. “For most bands, getting the syncopation is beyond them. It’s endless thudding away, with no bounce, no lift, no syncopation.” He has even less regard for heavy metal. “Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath,” Richards says. “I just thought they were great jokes.”
Granted, even by the time Black Sabbath emerged in 1970, the Stones already had an impressive body of work. And while many musicians want to keep an ear open for contemporary music, Richards apparently isn’t one of them. “Great jokes,” though? Maybe the Daily News shouldn’t be asking 71 year-olds their opinion of rock music. And shit, Richards even trashes the Beatles, calling Sgt. Pepper “a mish-mash of rubbish” and doubles down on the smack he talked about Mick Jagger. And don’t even get him started on rap and hip hop:
What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there,” he says. “All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.
In summation, get off his lawn. We’re looking forward to hearing what Sharon Ozzy Osbourne has to say about this. Richards’ new solo album, and first in 23 years, is called Crosseyed Heart and will be out on September 18th.
