The Rolling Stones have unarguably won the test of time among 1960s bands. As such, we think they’ve earned the right to be opinionated on what makes a band successful. Keith Richards has certainly capitalized on that right. Below are his strong opinions on three of his fellow bands from the 1960s.
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones had a sense of friendly competition. They often sent jabs back and forth, sometimes in earnest and sometimes to play into the public perception that they must hate each other. If there was one facet of The Beatles that Richards had a real problem with, it was their post-touring India days. The Stones guitarist thought The Beatles left the sound that earned them fame and “got carried away.”
“Chicks wore those guys out,” Richards once said. “They stopped touring in 1966; they were done already. They were ready to go to India and sh*t…Mishmash of rubbish […] There’s not a lot of roots in that music. I think they got carried away.”
The Band started their life as backing musicians, notably for Bob Dylan. Though they earned fame in their own right, Richards felt they never left their backing band sensibilities behind. They lacked “spontaneity,” according to the guitarist.
“I was disappointed,” Richards once said. “Dylan was beautiful, especially when he did the songs by himself. The Band were just too strict. They’ve been playing together for a long, long time, and what I couldn’t understand was their lack of spontaneity. They sounded note-for-note like their records. They just didn’t seem to come alive by themselves. I think that they’re essentially an accompanying band.”
The Bee Gees are set far apart from The Stones. Because of this, Richards had trouble taking a pop group like The Bee Gees seriously. He once called them “kid stuff,” making his feelings on the trio very clear.
“Well, they’re in their own little fantasy world,” Richards once said. “You only have to read what they talk about in interviews. How many suits they’ve got and that kind of crap. It’s all kid stuff, isn’t it?”
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