The Rolling Stones album Keith Richards said “nobody really got”
As The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards knows all too well, the public’s perception of an album or song constantly changes. Just because a release isn’t immediately taken to the hearts of millions doesn’t mean it won’t eventually accrue legendary status and be revered as a masterpiece.
Over the course of their career, The Rolling Stones have enjoyed a rollercoaster ride. In one breath, they have been celebrated as rock ‘n’ roll heroes, with every move they make being lauded by the masses and the press holding them up as gods among mere mortals. However, they know how sharply this can turn overnight, and they have seen their reputation be torched in an instant.
Ultimately, The Rolling Stones have learned to ignore the outside noise and focus solely on creating art fulfilling their desires. If artists always attempted to bend themselves to fit the perceived demands of their fanbase, the world would never have witnessed The Beatles releasing Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Brian Wilson wouldn’t have pushed himself to the limit to make The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
For a while, it seemed like The Rolling Stones could do no wrong following the consecutive releases of Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers in quick succession. However, for reasons unrelated to their musical proficiency, the British group became pariahs who were no longer held up on an unbreakable pedestal.
Due to tax laws in the United Kingdom, The Rolling Stones fled the country for their next album, 1972’s Exile on Main St., which was recorded at a villa in Nellcóte, France, and Los Angeles. Their decision to leave their home country behind for financial purposes didn’t sit right with their fans, who paid their fair share of tax despite earning considerably less than The Stones.
Therefore, once Exile on Main St. was released, the public was unwilling to look past their thoughts of The Rolling Stones as people and judge them purely on artistic merit. As a result, it was dismissed as a misstep, and it took many years for fans to finally accept it was an incredible body of work deserving of credit.
Many years later, Richards reflected on the album to Uncut and admitted, “It’s funny with Exile. When it came out, nobody really got it. I mean, nobody. There was so much on it. Maybe that was the problem. It didn’t sell that well at the time. But now, everyone seems to love it. It came at the end of what was probably our most consistent run of albums.”
While Richards didn’t let the initial disgruntlement towards Exile on Main St. affect him on a personal level and consistently believed in the project, the same can’t be said for frontman Mick Jagger. “It’s a bit overrated, to be honest,” he once said of the album. “Compared to Let It Bleed and Beggars Banquet, which I think are more of a piece, I don’t see it’s as thematic as the other two. I’m not saying it’s not good. It doesn’t contain as many outstanding songs as the previous two records.”
In response to Jagger’s comments, Richards said of his bandmate: “That’s Mick for you [laughs]. Sometimes, he’s too close to things. He doesn’t read things the way that other people read them. Mick’s got a tendency to think in front of himself. He doesn’t really like to dwell on the past. Actually, he prefers to deny it.”
For Richards, whether The Rolling Stones fanbase lacked belief in Exile on Main St. or viewed it as a seminal record never mattered. He knew it was magnificent, so nobody else’s opinion mattered on the subject. It’s this headstrong approach at every step of his career that placed Richards on the path to greatness and made sure The Stones never began to second-guess their artistry.
