Keith Richards’ big issue with James Brown: “He is an asshole”
Being a celebrity doesn’t automatically earn people the right to act however they want. Most people know how to keep their ego in check whenever they reach the big time, but for every regular dude like Eddie Van Halen, there has to be an Axl Rose who kicks up their diva-ness every time they come within spitting distance of the general public. While Keith Richards has earned the right to do whatever he wants in the public eye, he admitted that he wasn’t thrilled looking at how James Brown behaved with his band.
When The Rolling Stones first started, though, there was much more inspiration from Brown’s signature brand of soul than most people realised. Aside from the fact that they were playing a bunch of soul covers when working on their first tunes, half of Richards’s attempts at ballads weren’t that far removed from when Brown got sentimental on tracks like ‘I Don’t Mind’.
But being ‘The Godfather of Soul’ also means putting in the work to be that strong, and no one gets called the hardest-working man in show business for a reason. From the moment he walked out onstage, no one could deny that Brown was giving the people exactly what he wanted to give them, whether that came down to the dancers that he used or playing off the band in just the right way.
And he wanted to let you know how hard he worked as well. No one could deny that the man absolutely tore it up whenever he walked out onstage, but seeing him sweat like no one else and then have someone come out from backstage when he fell to his knees to put a jacket over him is still one of the most over-the-top moments in early rock and roll history.
Brown also practised what he preached about working hard, and that also meant working the band hard. Even if all they were doing was vamping on one chord, Brown made sure that the groove didn’t budge an inch when he played, often letting the groove ride for a little while before he even started ad-libbing.
Although that can be chalked up to discipline, Richards considered Brown’s antics to be completely unwarranted, saying, “I had long enough to realize that just because I dig someone’s work doesn’t mean I have to like them as a person… James Brown can be an asshole. If you want to know, he IS an asshole. But you expect it from him. He pumps himself up to be the baddest and meanest.”
Richards may have a keen ear to know what to look for in The Stones, but he would never be that strict about whatever went into the tracks. The rock icons’ shows are much more involved now, but even years after pumping out ‘Satisfaction’ for the first time, Keef is more than happy to take things as they come and improvise stuff on the fly if it means adding to the performance.
That probably just speaks to how both musicians approach their shows, though. Richards approaches almost every one of his tunes like it’s a jam session with a few more special guests in front of them, but Brown made sure everything was air-tight before he even thought about taking it to the people.
