The classic rock band Keith Richards dismissed as posers: “I’m a very hard taskmaster”
As Keith Richards knows all too well, presentation is essential to being a rock group. Although songs are the most crucial part of being a band, and everything else crumbles to pieces without that aspect, it’s also vital to look like the part.
Throughout rock history, countless bands have cared too much about their appearance and consequently not spent enough time in the studio. Richards has always placed music above all else and believes that some groups have focused too heavily on their aesthetic.
Regarding appearance, if a band is truly going to stand out from the crowd, then it’s vital that they don’t offer up a look seen a million times before. The reason why Elvis Presley and The Beatles were so striking, respectively, was because their image felt fresh.
Similarly, during the 1980s, new-wave acts had a distinct style that aligned with the brand of music they delivered and sparked a new movement in fashion. Towards the end of the decade, Guns N’ Roses had established themselves as the world’s most prominent contemporary rock group. Their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, sent them into the stratosphere, and they became the band on everybody’s lips, including Richards.
Furthermore, the Rolling Stones were pivotal in Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash’s musical upbringing. During an appearance on Jonesy’s Jukebox with former Sex Pistols punk Steve Jones, he said the band’s back catalogue was “pretty much his favourite music of all time”.
Slash also named their LPs Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed among his all-time favourite albums, adding, “The Stones were definitely the background music to my existence for a long time – and still are. My parents were really into the Stones, too.”
As a musical outfit, Richards didn’t have any major qualms regarding Gns N’ Roses and even stated that he found their rise admirable. Like his band, they began by playing sweaty clubs and climbed the ladder to the top of the table. When asked for his thoughts on Guns N’ Roses, Richards responded: “Not much. I admire the fact that they’ve made it despite certain resistance from the radio biz. I admire their guts.”
Nevertheless, in typical Richards fashion, he then offered a critique of the band, adding, “But too much posing. Their look – it’s like there’s one out of this band, one looks like Jimmy, one looks like Ronnie. Too much copycat, too much posing for me. I haven’t listened to a whole album to be able to talk about the music.”
With more than a hint of self-awareness, Richards added: “I’m a very hard taskmaster. I know that everybody’s gonna say, ‘Oh, he’s putting everybody down.'”
Despite claiming they were a bunch of posers, Richards later intervened to keep Guns N’ Roses together when Slash was struggling. Although he eventually quit the group, Keith’s advice kept him in it for longer than he had planned. “The Stones were recording Voodoo Lounge… Keith asked me about what I was doing with Guns, and I told him the situation with Axl. Keith said, ‘You never quit,'” Slash told Mojo in 2009.
He continued: “I thought a lot about what he said. Keith is one of the few people I look up to. (He gave me) the wherewithal to go back to rehearsal with a fresh attitude. It kept me in there for as long as humanly possible. (Unfortunately) I was dealing with somebody who didn’t want to do anything but drag the ship down.”
Although Richards wasn’t enamoured with the band’s image, he evidently respected Guns N’ Roses artistically and respected their bid to help keep rock ‘n’ roll alive. Additionally, in the band’s defence, their aesthetic made them stand out from their peers, which could be interpreted as a knowing nod to their main musical influences rather than anything more sinister.
