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Keith Richards on Keith Richards
This must-have collection of 50 years of quotes from rock's ultimate survivor, Keith Richards, makes a compelling companion piece to his recent autobiography.
Keith Richards always lacked the guile to give the sort of quotes that served record sales or his own image. The result was usually an interview free of phoney claims or self promotion, even if it might occasionally be tricky to follow - depending on what condition Keith was in when he gave it.
Now, Sean Egan has done a sterling job of organising a huge number of Richards’ published utterances drawn from GQ, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone, plus many more never before seen in print.
Taken together they form a riveting commentary on Keith Richards’ half-century progression from gauche young pretender to craggy elder statesman of rock music.
They also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate and honest man who occupies a unique and rarefied role in the history of rock ’n’ roll.
Keith Richards always lacked the guile to give the sort of quotes that served record sales or his own image. The result was usually an interview free of phoney claims or self promotion, even if it might occasionally be tricky to follow - depending on what condition Keith was in when he gave it.
Now, Sean Egan has done a sterling job of organising a huge number of Richards’ published utterances drawn from GQ, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone, plus many more never before seen in print.
Taken together they form a riveting commentary on Keith Richards’ half-century progression from gauche young pretender to craggy elder statesman of rock music.
They also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate and honest man who occupies a unique and rarefied role in the history of rock ’n’ roll.
292 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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214 people want to read
About the author
Sean Egan
70 books23 followersA freelance journalist, author and editor who writes about arts and entertainment (music, film, TV, comics and literature), social history (20th and 21st centuries) and sport (soccer and tennis history).
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 11, 2017
Enjoyed the ride through memory lane and the entwining of this group's music and history with my own life, but did not believe the thinly parsed story so I read a lot online to fill in the missing pieces to the puzzle. A lot more was learned by reading news accounts at the time, than from Keith's version of fact.
Besides a bizarre positive spin of his years of heroin use, which included abuse of his first son. He wrote how he would have his son as a child on tour with him and his son was not only in charge of getting him out of drug stupors to perform or handling police knocking on the door but also would have to wake him up as he nodded while driving on tour in Europe. His son would tell him to pull over off the road to take more heroin so he could stay awake and continue driving to the next gig. Sickening neglect and abuse of a child, let alone of himself.
Another disturbing part was when the author insults a deceased young teenage boy-man who was having an affair with Keith Richard's lover and mother of his children, Anita Pallenberg, and who died in Keith's bed. He calls him an idiot and says he always knew he was an idiot. The young man was reportedly playing Russian Roulette with Anita in the bedroom when the fatal shot occurred while Keith was on tour with another lover. Anita's drug habit was on par with Keith's and had a daughter die during this time, allegedly from SIDS. However, you cannot stop thinking what money can buy....to get out of these horrific situations.
Besides a bizarre positive spin of his years of heroin use, which included abuse of his first son. He wrote how he would have his son as a child on tour with him and his son was not only in charge of getting him out of drug stupors to perform or handling police knocking on the door but also would have to wake him up as he nodded while driving on tour in Europe. His son would tell him to pull over off the road to take more heroin so he could stay awake and continue driving to the next gig. Sickening neglect and abuse of a child, let alone of himself.
Another disturbing part was when the author insults a deceased young teenage boy-man who was having an affair with Keith Richard's lover and mother of his children, Anita Pallenberg, and who died in Keith's bed. He calls him an idiot and says he always knew he was an idiot. The young man was reportedly playing Russian Roulette with Anita in the bedroom when the fatal shot occurred while Keith was on tour with another lover. Anita's drug habit was on par with Keith's and had a daughter die during this time, allegedly from SIDS. However, you cannot stop thinking what money can buy....to get out of these horrific situations.
November 28, 2020
A swell collection of interviews, spaced throughout the decades. Keith talking is a lot like Keith playing guitar; certain riffs are creatively used in various permutations. As with Miles Davis, you can hear his conversational rhythms just by reading his words. As an added bonus, in a combined interview from 2002 ("Stones Keep Rolling"), you could almost swear you can hear Phil Cornwell and John Sessions doing their Mick and Keith roles from "Stella Street".
October 15, 2019
After the first long interview you realize you’re reading the musings of a twenty eight year old thru the lenses of heavy drugs and fame. As the book moves on and he gets older, the interviews are rehashed tellings of the same things. You can totally skim the last half of the book.
Richards is an intelligent guy though. It would be interesting if he wasn’t so one dimensional.
Richards is an intelligent guy though. It would be interesting if he wasn’t so one dimensional.
October 6, 2017
Not as good as I expected. A lot was just interviews he'd given years ago.
June 22, 2019
Insightful look into a long successful career.
April 8, 2023
Too much sex and drugs and not enough rock and roll.
December 18, 2016
Too much real life that's so far from my world.. Things I didn't really want to know.
January 7, 2014
This book reveals how flat out verbally intelligent and articulate Keith is and it offers priceless info from cover to cover. A few of the many pearls inside: “If you don’t keep up your acoustic work, you’re never going to get the full potential out of an electric, because you lose that touch.” “There ain’t a good guitarist around who just plays electric guitar. You can’t fake it on an acoustic, you have to forget all the toys and just play.” “I love sitting around with an acoustic guitar whacking out songs.” “Usually there’s a lot more than two guitars on our records. “You write the song, record it, then work out a way to perform it live.” “So much depends on the feel and the enthusiasm of the playing.” “We’re more interested in the sound.” “It’s very rare on a track that you want the same sort of distortion all the way through.” “One of the great things about writing songs is to leave a certain area vague.” On and on the great Keith quotes continue…
If you love Keith’s work on guitar like the rest of us, then buy/read Keith Richards on Keith Richards and get into his head more in order to understand why he does what he does. This book is packed with critical info on how he approaches sound and recording; more importantly though, this book does a great service by avoiding the superficial aspects of rock stardom and getting into the real deal - the music.
If you love Keith’s work on guitar like the rest of us, then buy/read Keith Richards on Keith Richards and get into his head more in order to understand why he does what he does. This book is packed with critical info on how he approaches sound and recording; more importantly though, this book does a great service by avoiding the superficial aspects of rock stardom and getting into the real deal - the music.
February 25, 2015
ok, how do you review a book on keith, when you have read just about every book written about the man....every book I get one or two things that I have never heard. I thought the book was interesting, there were a couple of interviews that I did not read before. I like that it is a collection all together...as the book and writer, how hard is it to ask people to reprint the interview they did with keith. I know sean egan has done other books about the stones....I have the books.....olo
July 17, 2016
An entirely unrepentant accounting of Richards youth and heyday with the Rolling Stones. It's a good read, with a strong, clear voice and a surprising amount of detail (I suspect Richards is an inveterate journal keeper). Richards waxes rhapsodic about his love of music, drugs and guns. A number of incidents are narrated by friends of Richards, which is an interesting technique, though when it's told by his son, Marlon, I found a little disturbing. Like I said, unrepentant to the end.
October 28, 2019
Didn't finish it quite yet - moved and now wonder where it went.
Overall, a collection of events, stories, and rock-and-roll adventures (behind the scenes) of a legend in the music realm.
An avid reader himself, made the book a more interesting read.
I have to find it to read the ending....
Overall, a collection of events, stories, and rock-and-roll adventures (behind the scenes) of a legend in the music realm.
An avid reader himself, made the book a more interesting read.
I have to find it to read the ending....
July 7, 2015
Not what I was expecting BUT learned a lot about Keith on Keith [and bought some new Rolling Stone albums].
August 19, 2015
Amazing life. Great read for an old Stones fan.
February 14, 2016
Humour. How does remember after what he's been through? Don't care much for his recent comment about the Beatles.
November 23, 2015
i love courageous people. people who can get outside their skin
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews