![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Keith-Richards-Red-Rooster-Copenhagen-1970-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ Bent Rej<\/p>\n
Fri 26 June 2026 16:08, UK <\/p>\n
The fact that Keith Richards<\/a> is still among the living today is one of the most abnormal feats of the human condition. <\/p>\n After going through every single form of excess that the rock world had to offer, Richards has returned stronger for it, still standing to play on any stage that The Rolling Stones may occupy. Although Richards may have been on the other side of sobriety now, he admitted that a few Stones classics may have had some chemical assistance.<\/p>\n When talking about drugs in the rock scene, though, many claim that creativity and narcotics go hand in hand. Although the drugs themselves may not be a shortcut to excellent rock music, many artists have claimed that everything from alcohol to cocaine has served as the perfect springboard for making outstanding music. <\/p>\n Seeing how The Rolling Stones were meant to be the rough counterpart to The Beatles, Richards would often partake in any drug that he could get his hands on. Although he maintained that some drugs didn\u2019t do much for him throughout his life, many of The Rolling Stones\u2019 celebrated 1960s material tended to come from drugs as well.<\/p>\n Richards has often resisted the romantic notion that drugs were the source of the band\u2019s creativity. Instead, he has argued that they were simply part of the environment in which the Stones lived at the time, with the songwriting itself still rooted in blues traditions, instinct and countless hours spent playing together.<\/p>\n Ushering in the hippy movement, the psychedelic experience of listening to albums like Their Satanic Majesties Request tended to be informed by the band\u2019s flirtation with acid. As they started to get back in touch with their blues-infused roots on albums like Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St, though, Richards had started his dance with the devil after picking a massive heroin habit.<\/p>\n By the early 1970s, however, the consequences of that lifestyle had become impossible to ignore. Recording sessions increasingly revolved around Richards\u2019 unpredictable schedule, and while his addiction coloured some of the band\u2019s music, it also threatened to derail one of rock\u2019s most successful partnerships.<\/p>\n Since former Stones guitarist Brian Jones had already been asked to leave because of his inability to gel with the rest of the band<\/a>, it started to look like Richards was about to become another rock and roll casualty. Even though the band usually had to wait for Richards to come up with the basis of the song with one guitar riff, Richards believed that one of his most emotionally vulnerable songs came about because of heroin.<\/p>\n After the massive undertaking of Exile on Main St, Goats Head Soup saw the band getting back in touch with making punchy songs, including the controversial \u2018Star Star\u2019 and the heartbreaking ballad \u2018Angie\u2019. Although Mick Jagger may have been able to deliver some of the group\u2019s greatest ballads, it would be Richards who took the reins on the song \u2018Coming Down Again\u2019.<\/p>\n While not openly about his drug abuse, Richards would later recall that he could never have written the song without the help of his heroin habit, telling Rolling Stone<\/a>, \u201cI wonder about the songs I\u2019ve written: I like the ones I did when I was on (heroin). I wouldn\u2019t have written \u2018Coming Down Again\u2019 without that. I\u2019m this millionaire rock star, but I\u2019m in the gutter with these other snivelling people. It kept me in touch with the street, at the lowest level\u201d.<\/p>\n Even with Jagger\u2019s sweet croon, Richards\u2019 dejected tone is the perfect way to deliver the song. As opposed to singing about coming off of an uneasy relationship, Richards sounds weathered from the storm in this song, waiting for the subsequent withdrawal to pass before returning to his chemical muse. Although Richards has been on the road to recovery for years, \u2018Coming Down Again\u2019 is one of the most transparent songs he has ever made.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Coming Down Again\u2019 endures because it refuses to glamorise its subject. Instead of presenting addiction as part of the mythology of rock and roll, Richards delivered one of the Stones\u2019 most intimate performances, capturing the exhaustion, vulnerability and emotional cost that accompanied a period of his life he would eventually leave behind.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Rolling-Stones-Mick-Jagger-Keith-Richards-Mick-Taylor-Bill-Wyman-Charlie-Watts-Far-Out-Magazine-.jpeg\")
<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
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