The legendary guitarist Keith Richards didn’t think could be in his band: “He was not a team man”
In 1974, the opening of a lifetime came up in the music world. It was the ultimate job opportunity, the ultimate audition, and countless people queued up for the chance to potentially join The Rolling Stones.
Already well established as one of the greatest rock and roll bands in history, bagging that gig was a fast track to a legacy, a chance for people already owning that legend title to level up even further or the chance for a background player to finally step into the limelight. But as the band tested out friends and peers, one player simply never would have worked.
Imagine trying to prepare for that job interview. After the loss of Brian Jones in 1969, The Stones were left with an opening. Initially, that was filled by Mick Taylor, who helped craft some of the band’s biggest songs. Alongside Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ songwriting, Taylor’s additional playing helped them level up their sound from their 1960s era into moments like Let It Bleed and the roaring musicality of ‘Gimme Shelter’. But by the mid-70s, Taylor was gone.
It’s clear that a Rolling Stone must have certain qualities. Taylor left because he said he felt like a “junior citizen in the band of jaded veterans”. He quickly grew tired of feeling like the band’s intern, constantly stuck working under Jagger and Richards. He said of his exit, “There are some people who can just ride along from crest to crest; they can ride along somebody else’s success. And there are some people for whom that’s not enough. It really wasn’t enough for me.”
But that’s really the demand of being in the band. Whether a musician likes it or not, the band has always been powered by Jagger and Richards as a powerful duo. While all the other musicians undeniably have an impact on crafting a song’s sound, it will always come back to its two songwriters and the need to keep them in the brightest spotlight.
“He was a soloist to the max…”
keith richards
So when Taylor left, and auditions were back on, a long list of legends gave it a go. Peter Frampton tried out, Shuggie Otis tried out, Rory Gallagher tried out. However, one of the key people who auditioned was Jeff Beck, who was willing to step away from his own projects just for a chance to join the band.
However, the problem was that Jeff Beck was Jeff Beck, and the band wanted a Rolling Stone. “We felt that Jeff had his own furrow to plough and that he was not a team man,” Richards said of that audition.
He added, “He was a soloist to the max,” which, given Richards’ infamous ethos of “Solos come and go, riffs last forever,” was never going to work. Richards’ entire musical legacy is built on being a guitarist who thinks of the big picture, believing that big guitar solos or technically flashy moments ruin the flow of the song. Considering that was really Jeff Beck’s who shtick, it was never going to mesh.
“He was such an individualist. It wouldn’t have worked with The Stones at all. We’re all about teamwork,” Richards continues, which Taylor might have contested.
However, through it all, the band remained fans of Beck’s and deeply respected him. “But don’t get me wrong, he was a tremendous player. The odd times we got together, I was always amazed by the stuff that he did with his tremolo bar. He was one of the best,” Richards said, admiring his talent even if it wasn’t right for the band.
