The one classic rock band Keith Richards called “boring shit”
Keith Richards is a lot of things. He is perhaps the finest crafter of riffs this side of the universe. He is, up until this point, seemingly indestructible, and he has, quite possibly, the largest mouth in rock history. But, he and his band have certainly earned the chance to gob off.
The Rolling Stones are one of the few pioneering bands from the 1960s that made it to the 21st century, although they certainly didn’t leave the heydays of rock and roll unscathed. Despite the deaths of several members and plenty of scandals, The Rolling Stones still perform shows, releasing their latest record, Blue and Lonesome, in 2016.
The Stones are rock veterans who have watched countless bands attempt to follow in their footsteps and reach the same glorious heights. Of course, many bands and artists have achieved this aim, whether they were directly inspired by The Rolling Stones or not. Yet, guitarist Keith Richards has never shied away from proudly proclaiming his – often unwarranted – opinions on other musicians.
From David Bowie to Led Zeppelin, Richards has some strong thoughts. Discussing Metallica and Black Sabbath, Richards expressed his distaste for the metal bands, going as far as to say (via New York Daily News), “I don’t know where Metallica’s inspiration comes from, but if it’s from me, then I fucked up.” Elsewhere, Richards has called Oasis “obnoxious,” adding: “Grow up and then come back and see if you can hang.”
Richards has also made no secret when it comes to his hatred of rap music, telling New York Daily News, “Rap: so many words, so little said. What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there. 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.”
However, there is a particularly beloved classic rock band that Richards can’t stand, a group that emerged in the mid-1960s across the pond from the Rolling Stones. The Grateful Dead, significant figures of American counterculture known for their expansive mix of styles and tendency to perform extended jams, are not championed by Richards. According to the Stones member, “The Grateful Dead is where everybody got it wrong. Just poodling about for hours and hours. Jerry Garcia, boring shit, man. Sorry, Jerry.”
The Rolling Stones only ever released one song that was longer than ten minutes – ‘Goin Home’ – so it’s no surprise that Richards isn’t a fan of bands like the Grateful Dead, who played several songs over 45 minutes in length, such as ‘Playing In The Band’ and ‘Dark Star’.
But, there are some moments when one must sit back and take stock of the words falling out of Richards’ mouth and what they actually mean. Can one really get away with calling a band like Grateful Dead “boring”? They might be tiresome, you might feel that long-winded jam sessions should be left back in the 1960s or that their Deadhead fanbase feels more cliche than counterculture these days, but still, the b-word feels particularly harsh.
Grateful Dead didn’t just start jams; they invented them. They weren’t just taking LSD; they were 800 tabs of acid in a birthday cake, mind-exploding wonderment, friends with the very inventor of the drug, kind of tripped out. A more accurate term for Richards’ view on the band might be ‘not my cup of tea’.
Even though Richards is not a fan of The Grateful Dead, that hasn’t stopped Garcia from expressing his adoration for The Rolling Stones. He’s a big fan of their 1967 album Between the Buttons, even covering ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ in 1989 and performing his own rendition of ‘Connection’ with his other band, New Riders of the Purple Sage.
