The best Rolling Stones line-up, according to Keith Richards
As rock’s resident titanium man, Keith Richards has seen many come and go. Bands, friends, lovers; many ships have passed by the Londoner’s harbour as he has witnessed life change markedly since he burst onto the scene in the early 1960s. One of the last remaining monuments to a bygone era, the guitarist has been omnipresent since the halcyon days and witnessed both the positive and negative byproducts of his efforts come to the fore.
There’s something about the typical rockstar wherein, as a natural part of railing against tradition and innovating, there needs to be a certain degree of bravery and self-confidence, with the latter quite often interchangeable with downright arrogance. This confidence fuelled the revolt against the status quo in the 1960s, with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, and seemingly every other prominent act of that era arriving with uncontainable swagger.
Of course, as the years wore on and the facilitating elements of success wreaked havoc and turned this generation into largely detestable caricatures, many of Richards’ peers would lose their domains as the world altered. Yet, for the most part, the ‘Gimme Shelter’ songwriter and his band remained unscathed by the ticking of the clock. They’ve managed to maintain their status as one of the world’s most successful bands and keep on their path.
While their brand has remained intact, Richards has had his fair share of scrapes with death, the law and other moments that would have been the undoing of most. However, by some God-gifted decree, the cat-like musician has managed to dodge an array of hazards and continue making his art. Tragically, however, the hedonistic lifestyle of Richards, his songwriting partner Mick Jagger, and the rest of their generation would have several consequential casualties, with the most notable being the death of founding Stone Brian Jones in 1969, aged just 27.
Since Jones left the band, they have had many different iterations, with rock excess taking its toll and many other reasons leading to this colourful cast of characters. The revolving door of musicians that have played in The Rolling Stones is something Richards has openly discussed before, and he once even named his favourite edition, choosing from the Jones, Mick Taylor or Ronnie Wood eras.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1987, Richards picked Taylor’s era as the one that produced their best work, such as Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers. However, he mentioned that the most enjoyable chapter has been the one featuring former Faces legend Wood. As for Jones, well, we all know how it ended, so there’s no surprise Richards didn’t even mention it.
He explained: “The most fun is Ronnie. He’s also the most open. However, I think some of our best work was probably with Mick Taylor. Ronnie’s incredibly underrated in a lot of ways. He’s got a lot more to him than you think, ’cause he’s a very sort of superficially flippant character. But he’s got a lot more depth to him than most people think. And I’ve always enjoyed working with him very much.”
Adding: “I love his enthusiasm. And he’s been with the Stones longer than any of the others. That was the amazing thing while we were doing Dirty Work: “Do you realize, Ronnie, that you’ve been in this band longer than Brian was? Longer than Mick Taylor? And you’re still the new boy.” [Laughs.]”
Listen to Dirty Work below.
