{"id":382063,"date":"2026-01-01T19:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T19:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/382063\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T19:45:09","slug":"the-only-hard-rock-band-keith-richards-ever-liked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/382063\/","title":{"rendered":"The only hard rock band Keith Richards ever liked"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Keith<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Marcel Antonisse \/ Anefo)<\/p>\n

Thu 1 January 2026 16:18, UK <\/p>\n

Keith Richards has given so much of his life to The Rolling Stones<\/a> that it is little wonder he hasn\u2019t had much time to enjoy anyone else. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s the hard-nosed leader of the gang, and he\u2019s never shown any soppy weaknesses, such as liking The Beatles, The Band, Prince, The Bee Gees, or almost anyone bar the devil man himself, Robert Johnson, for that matter. Disdain for their rivals has been a core tenet of the Stones, giving them a grovelling grittiness in the often overly chummy clique of pop culture.<\/p>\n

However, there was one band that the Stones met up with on tour and even the acerbic Keef couldn\u2019t help loving. While Prince might not have worked out as a supporting act, with Richards eventually dubbing him an \u201coverrated midget\u201d<\/a>, he was charmed no end by the Australian rockers AC\/DC when they met onstage in Sydney. Their simplicity and power appealed to Richards, who has always championed feel over flashy complexity.<\/p>\n

Ahead of three massive shows down under in 2002, Richards cooked up the cunning plan to invite a couple of Australia\u2019s favourite sons over to rehearsal. Angus and Malcolm Young duly accepted the offer. Thereafter, they not only endeared themselves with their similar laissez-faire attitude but also the magnetism of their dualling guitar work. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a guitar player is one thing, being a guitar player with another guitar player, it\u2019s to the power of. It\u2019s not two guitars, it becomes five, six, ten,\u201d Richards said. This taps into what Richards sees as the magic of modern rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, writing in his memoir, \u201cThere\u2019s something beautifully friendly and elevating about a bunch of guys playing music together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>A blissed-out young Keith Richards. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cThis wonderful little world that is unassailable. It\u2019s really teamwork, one guy supporting the others, and it\u2019s all for one purpose, and there\u2019s no flies in the ointment, for a while.\u201d The budding, exuberant nature of AC\/DC embodies that. They\u2019re just out there jamming for kicks.<\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones rocker claimed that the duo nailed this cohesive power and the alchemy that can be borne from it. Richards himself has always held this as paramount whether he\u2019s been playing with Ron Wood, Mick Taylor, Brian Jones or anyone else who has dared to resonate with him. <\/p>\n

He ascribed this attitude as the triumph at the heart of AC\/DC, commenting on the Four Licks tour DVD: \u201cThere are bands that you can\u2019t tell who is doing what. Angus and Malcolm, in a way, you know Angus gonna play the leads, but their tightness is always impressive.\u201d Their as close-knit as anyone in rock for that matter.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just the dates Down Under that made this clear to Keef. He had admired them on the festival circuit for years and years, with Charlie Watts adding: \u201cThey\u2019re great at festivals, they are probably the best at it, I think. I know Keith has always liked AC\/DC<\/a>.\u201d Seeing them first-hand only heightened the appeal. \u201cBless their hearts; they are great little bundle of energy,\u201d Richards agreed.<\/p>\n

But what did Angus Young make of the Stones?<\/p>\n

Sadly, Angus Young wasn\u2019t quite so complimentary in return. Dishing out a dose of Richards\u2019 usual medicine, he told Classic Rock several years ago that he\u2019d \u201cyawn [his] head off\u201d if he had to sit through a Rolling Stones concert. \u201cThe Rolling Stones get up and play soul music these days, and this is supposed to be rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. Leave that to the people who do it best,\u201d he said. The people who played it best, in his view, were the progenitors \u201cChuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard\u201d.<\/p>\n

While he admired the days when the band stuck closely to the blues-adjacent pioneers, he had little time for the \u2018expansion\u2019 of their sound that soon followed. \u201cThey must have progressed the wrong way,\u201d he cuttingly commented. <\/p>\n

Continuing, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you when it stopped getting\u2019 good \u2013 when The Rolling Stones put out \u2018Jumpin\u2019 Jack Flash\u2019 and \u2018Street Fighting Man\u2019. Past that, there\u2019s nothing.\u201d Perhaps this is why he\u2019s never looked to \u2018progress\u2019 all that much with AC\/DC, once joking, \u201cA lot of people say that we make the same album eleven times. And really, they\u2019re lying. It\u2019s actually been 12 times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorry, Keith, the joint cover of \u2018Rock Me Baby\u2019 might have set Sydney ablaze, but the feeling of glowing admiration is not mutual. It might have been had you called it quits in the \u201860s, but the later stuff isn\u2019t cutting it for the Aussie lad in an ill-fitting school uniform.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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