Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has made headlines with some interesting comments about classic bands.
The latest targets of Richards’ ire are contemporaries Led Zeppelin and The Who.
Talking to Rolling Stone, Richards called Zeppelin “hollow” and said The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltrey is “all flash.”
“I love [Led Zeppelin guitarist] Jimmy Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there. Jimmy is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it, you know?”
He also took a shot at late Who drummer Keith Moon.
“[Moon] could play to Pete like nobody else in the world. But if somebody threw him into a session with somebody else, it was a disaster. There’s nothing wrong with that; sometimes you’ve got that one paintbrush, and you rock it.”
Fightin’ words for sure.
This isn’t new for Richards, who recently dismissed Metallica and Black Sabbath.
“Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath. I just thought they were great jokes,” he said.
He also went after an entire genre of music, calling rap fans “tone deaf.”
“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.”
Not even The Beatles are safe from Keith Richards’ scorn.
“The Beatles sounded great when they were the Beatles,” he told Rolling stone in August. “But there’s not a lot of roots in that music. I think they got carried away. Why not? If you’re the Beatles in the Sixties, you just get carried away – you forget what it is you wanted to do. You’re starting to do Sgt. Pepper. Some people think it’s a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties – ‘Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we.'”
Richards just released his third solo album, Crosseyed Heart.
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