The “geniuses” of rock and roll, according to Keith Richards
The term ‘genius’ is tricky to pin down. In science or any fact-based field, the notion is easy—one major breakthrough and someone has literally changed the world. But in art, it’s more subjective. Opinion is impossible to separate from the conversation, even when certain artists can be rightfully credited with altering and influencing the world forever. In Keith Richards’ eyes, only five artists deserve the label.
To some, Richards himself would be up there. It begs the question of where the line is between serious talent and outright genius. Having written riffs that have now soundtracked the world since, inspiring generations of new players, influencing what a rock and roll sound should sound and feel like while also changing the way people approach crafting it and using their kit – does that allow Richards to qualify?
But then, there are so many people deserving of the label who rarely receive it. The ranks of so-called geniuses are tight and seemingly closed, making it incredibly difficult for new names to break in or for overlooked legends to finally receive the recognition they deserve.
When Keith Richards shared his list of the five ultimate musical geniuses with Howard Stern, people in the comments quickly noticed a glaring omission—not just of women in general, but one woman in particular: Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Of the five men Richards mentioned, Tharpe came first and influenced them all. If they are considered geniuses, then surely the woman who paved the way for them is just as deserving of the title.
Either way, there’s no denying the talent, skill and influence of all five musicians Richards mentioned. Its not just that they deeply inspired him, but they inspired the whole world. They reshaped how we think of genre, guitar playing, performance. They remoulded the look and feel of music, influencing it to take new and exciting shapes ever since. So in the eyes of the Rolling Stones guitarist, these five exist on a god tier.
Keith Richards names five musical geniuses:
Chuck Berry
“I’d give anything to be the second guitar behind this mother,” Richards said to Howard Stern. Despite being world famous in his own right, the guitarist would’ve given it all up to simply play back up to Chuck Berry’s talent. But ask any musician, and they’d likely say the same.
Berry’s influence has followed Richards’ entire career. He once said, “When I started, all I wanted to do was play like Chuck [Berry]. I thought if I could do that, I’d be the happiest man in the world”. But that’s a similar story with all the top acts of the 1960s. The Beatles were huge admirers, too, but also students of his talent. All these groups not only looked towards Berry for influence on how exciting rock and roll could be, but their careers were often jump-started by doing a Berry cover, with his songs perhaps being the closest rock has ever got to the tradition of jazz standards.
Little Richard
So many rock and roll documentaries begin with the same scene. Somewhere at home, a young kid is watching TV when, suddenly, their eyes are opened. On the screen, Little Richard is standing up, throwing his body around while still playing the piano and singing like a god. For countless musicians, that was the moment—the instant they knew exactly what they wanted to do with their lives.
Richards was one of the many who experienced that. “I think the first record I bought was Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’. Fantastic record, even to this day,” he said, adding, “Good records just get better with age. But the one that really turned me on, like an explosion one night.”
Like Berry, Richard is another one who changed everything and remoulded music in his shape ever since. As blues, pop, and country merged into something new, rock and roll truly took form, in all its thrilling, seductive glory, when Little Richard hit the stage and started moving.
Fats Domino
The Rolling Stones were always most inspired by the American blues acts, but they weren’t the only ones. The influence of that class of musicians in the states is more than just sounding good; they were the pioneers that essentially created rock and roll and created what bands like the Stones, the Beatles, even Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, and so on all did.
Fats Domino was one of the essentials. “Fats Domino was the only performer of what’s called rock and roll that I ever loved as a kid,” Charlie Watts said as the musician’s influence touched every corner of the Stones. Though he was largely a pianist, Domino’s rhythms impacted all band members, pushing music at large into new places.
Eddie Cochran
In his autobiography Life, Keith Richards crafts a playlist of the most influential songs in his life. Amongst them is Eddie Cochran’s ‘Summertime Blues’.
Cochran’s legacy is an interesting one. For the likes of Richards and Jagger and their age group, he’d soundtracked their earlier engagements with rock and roll. As one of the key artists who helped bridge the gap between American rock and the UK, Cochran was a huge deal. But when he died in 1960, at only age 21, he also became one of those tragic names that burned bright and fast, with his legacy and genius status undeniably being trapped in shining amber with the question of what he may have gone on to do next.
“When I woke up the next day, I was a different guy. Suddenly, I was getting overwhelmed,” Richards wrote of the first moments he heard rock and roll. Listed alongside Little Richard, Fats Domino and the rest of the geniuses, he counts Cochran amongst the class that first turned him onto it all.
Buddy Holly
Perhaps living fast and dying young is a quick way to securing genius status cause Buddy Holly did it too. At only age 22, Holly died in a plane crash on what is known as ‘the day the music died’ as he, Ritchie Valens, and ‘The Big Bopper’ J P Richardson were killed, with some seeing it as the moment the new generation of stars were ripped away.
He’s another one who did so much and inspired so many in only a tragically short amount of time. “You could learn from Buddy Holly how to write songs, the way he put them together. He was a beautiful writer,” Mick Jagger said of the musician, counting himself amongst the generation who were taught by him. Richards is in that class, too, as well as their peers, as he said, “I remember talking to Lennon and McCartney about Buddy. The fact that he was writing his own songs was a great impetus for us.”
