The Rolling Stones song Keith Richards wants to delete from history: “We rushed it”
The Rolling Stones have secured far more victories than defeats over the course of their career, which has been going strong for over 60 years. They have achieved unmatched longevity in the rock ‘n’ roll sphere, defying claims that it is a young man’s game. Yet, The Stones, led by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, would still have done plenty of things differently if they had a second bite at the cherry.
Almost every band in existence would view The Rolling Stones as an exemplary case. They rose from humble beginnings in the London club scene of the 1960s to play arenas before advancing to stadiums. Not only did they make it to the top, but incredibly, the legendary group have remained there since 1964, when they first reached number one. However, Richards is one of the loudest dissenting voices in the music industry, including towards his own band, The Rolling Stones.
Following the monumental success of ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction‘, which provided The Stones with their first number one record in the United States, the pressure was on for the group to do it all over again. At this stage, they’d already had several number ones in the UK, but breaking America put them into a whole new stratosphere. Suddenly, they were expected to churn out another ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, which is easier said than done.
By most people’s standards, The Rolling Stones handled the pressure of following one of the greatest rock songs of all time with aplomb by releasing ‘Get Off of My Cloud’. However, Richards does not subscribe to that school of thought, and if it were up to him, The Stones would have taken a complete musical detour rather than producing another anthem. ‘Get Off of My Cloud’ is an undeniable classic, firmly adored by their legion of fans, and remains part of the band’s setlist as of 2024, further proof of its lasting appeal. Notably, it wasn’t played live by The Rolling Stones for 33 years until 1999, which suggests the band, including Richards, now have a positive stance on the track, but it hasn’t always been that way.
‘Get Off of My Cloud’ topped the charts in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, which thrilled Decca Records, but Richards later disowned the track. In a frank admission, the guitarist acknowledged they just made it to cash in on the success of the previous single rather than for artistic purposes.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1971, Richards was brutally honest about what sparked him to write it. He revealed:” ‘Get Off of My Cloud’ was basically a response to people knocking on our door asking us for the follow-up to ‘Satisfaction’… We thought ‘At last. We can sit back and maybe think about events’. Suddenly there’s the knock at the door and of course what came out of that was ‘Get Off of My Cloud'”.
It was a creation which cynically came from his head rather than his heart. Additionally, the timing of the release was another major contributing factor to Richards’ disdain for ‘Get Off of My Cloud’, explaining, “I never dug it as a record. The chorus was a nice idea, but we rushed it as the follow-up. We were in L.A. [Los Angeles, where ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ was recorded], and it was time for another single. But how do you follow-up ‘Satisfaction’? Actually, what I wanted was to do it slow, like a Lee Dorsey thing. We rocked it up. I thought it was one of Andrew Loog Oldham’s worst productions”.
Although Richards felt his artistic integrity was sacrificed for ‘Get Off of My Cloud’, it cemented The Rolling Stones’ position as an internationally renowned rock powerhouse. As much as a song in the vein of Lee Dorsey would have quenched his creative thirst, it likely wouldn’t have gained radio play or pleased label executives. While ‘Get Off of My Cloud’ wouldn’t have been released if Richards had his way, it was the best move for the band with the benefit of hindsight and has also aged like fine wine.
