The Rolling Stone's chief guitar architect Keith Richards, never gave much mind to what others think and he's not changing now. In and interview with the New York Daily News he said rap music if for "tone-deaf people" and Metallica and Black Sabbath are "great jokes."
To Richards rock 'n' roll is basically dead. Candidly, he said, "It sounds like a dull thud to me. For most bands, getting the syncopation is beyond them. It's endless thudding away, with no bounce, no lift, no syncopation."
"Rap - so many words, so little said," the 71-year-old musician said in the interview, which may have been fishing for some obviously sensationalized answers. These quips should come as no surprise to long-time fans, Keith does and says what he wants and doesn't give much thought to the public's opinion on the matter.
These comments are just the latest in a number of outspoken remarks the rocker has made while making the rounds on national media in promotion of his first solo album in 23 years, Crosseyed Heart.
In an interview with Esquire earlier this summer, Richards called The Beatles landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band "a mishmash of rubbish." He said the band got away from its roots and just took it too far to the extreme.
The New York Daily News interview went on to reveal that Richards would have preferred to write another Stones record, but the pieces just never fell into place. He ended up writing Crosseyed Heart while on the road for several highly lucrative Rolling Stones tours over the past four years.
Drummer Steve Jordan was apparently the catalyst for the project, curiously asking Richards how he came up with tunes such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Street Fighting Man." Richards told him it was sparked by jams with Stones drummer Charlie Watts. So, Jordan persuaded Richards to do the same, this time with Jordan behind the kit, and sure enough something sparked.
Listen to "Trouble," Richard's lead single, and "Amnesia" from Crosseyed Heart out September 18.
