{"id":776866,"date":"2026-09-20T14:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776866\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T14:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:18:14","slug":"rock-music-was-born-in-1961-according-to-keith-richards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776866\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock music was born in 1961, according to Keith Richards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Keith<\/p>\n

Credit: Bent Rej<\/p>\n

Sun 20 September 2026 11:02, UK <\/p>\n

The exact moment rock \u2018n\u2019 roll first reared its non-conformist head is a matter of some conjecture, but few will argue that the moment arrived outside the 1950s. Laying the groundwork for the 1960s pop rock takeover, as led by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards<\/a>, the 1950s threw out such titans as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Buddy Holly. <\/p>\n

Like practically everything, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll didn\u2019t arrive a bolt from the blue. The early rock sound was synonymous with rhythm and blues, rooted in early 20th-century Mississippi Delta blues music. Over time, progressive pop artists folded in influences from other genres, like gospel, country and folk. Pianists like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis also brought the boogie-woogie aspect to proceedings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That collision of styles made it difficult to credit rock \u2018n\u2019 roll to one artist, song or recording session. Long before the term entered common usage, Black musicians had already developed much of its rhythm, attitude and instrumental language, while country performers contributed another strand to its evolving sound. <\/p>\n

What happened during the 1950s was less the sudden invention of a genre than the moment those ideas converged and reached a mass audience. Radio stations, record labels and teenagers searching for something of their own then transformed that mixture into a genuine cultural force.<\/p>\n

When The Rolling Stones entered the fray in 1963, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was well established and on the verge of global commercialisation. Britain became the hub of innovation for this chapter in the genre\u2019s story, with The Beatles embodying the so-called British Invasion. In 1966, American guitarist Jimi Hendrix consolidated this transition as he moved to London to find a more nurturing environment for his unrivalled talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>Credit: Bent Rej<\/p>\n

October 17th, 1961, marked a critical moment in the history of British rock music. That day, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, still in their late teens, struck up a conversation for the first time on platform two at Dartford Railway Station. Jagger held a stack of rhythm and blues records under his arm, which weren\u2019t yet commonplace in the UK, prompting Richards\u2019 approach. <\/p>\n

While Jagger and Richards developed their songwriting abilities, The Rolling Stones made their first inroads in the UK charts by leaning on trusty R&B covers by some of their favourite American stalwarts, such as Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Howlin\u2019 Wolf. Unlike The Beatles, the Stones were more infatuated with the bluesy side of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll; therefore, as far as Jagger and Richards were concerned, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was ignited on the strings of Muddy Waters\u2019 electric guitar. <\/p>\n

Although Richards would credit his early blues heroes as instrumental in rock\u2019s existence, he deems 1956 as the first year of the genre as a recognisable force in music. Most notably, it was the year US pop charts and rhythm and blues charts began to look much the same as Elvis Presley achieved his first number-one<\/a> hit single in the US with \u2018Heartbreak Hotel\u2019. <\/p>\n

In 1956, Richards was just 13 years old and had been introduced to music by his maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore \u201cGus\u201d Dupree, a touring jazz guitarist. A fascination with rock \u2018n\u2019 roll grew throughout his teen years. \u201cWhen I was 15, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was a brand-new thing,\u201d the guitarist remembered in a 1987 interview with Rolling Stone. \u201cWe were very conscious that we were in a new era. Totally. It was almost like AD and BC, and 1956 was year one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards felt that, before 1956, he was living in a monochrome world, but after rock music entered the airwaves, he saw colour and found purpose. \u201cSuddenly, there was a reason to be around, besides just knowing you were gonna have to work and dragging your arse to school every day. Suddenly, everything went zoom \u2013 glorious Technicolor.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Richards\u2019 generation, the change went far beyond hearing a louder or more energetic kind of music. Rock \u2018n\u2019 roll offered young people an identity that seemed separate from the restrained postwar world inhabited by their parents. The clothes, movement and slang surrounding the music all carried the suggestion that existing rules could be ignored, even if the songs themselves were ostensibly about dancing, cars or romance.<\/p>\n

A small handful of proponents founded the initial scene, but as Richards noted, its global impact was dramatic. \u201cIt was an international explosion,\u201d he added enthusiastically. \u201cJust a few little goddamn records by some guys in Memphis and Macon and places like that. But they really did have an effect. It\u2019s absolutely amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further to music\u2019s immediate entertainment value, rock had a provocative quality that picked its admirers up by the scruff of the neck and defied political boundaries. \u201cIt\u2019s reshaped the way people think. I mean, now you\u2019ve got rock \u2018n\u2019 roll concerts in Moscow because you can\u2019t stop that shit. You can build a wall to stop people, but eventually, the music it\u2019ll cross that wall. That\u2019s the beautiful thing about music \u2013 there\u2019s no defence against it,\u201d Richards concluded. <\/p>\n

Rock music didn\u2019t take an overtly political position until the 1960s, when Bob Dylan popularised folk, encouraging a generation to denounce injustice through song<\/a>. However, from the get-go, rock music came hand-in-hand with a youthful arrogance and cheeky, non-conformist outlook primed for a countercultural revolution. <\/p>\n

Watch The Rolling Stones perform in one of their early concerts below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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