Say what you will about Keith Richards but...

[hippywife]

the man is a fucking genius. Just listened to his interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Songs like Street Fighting Man and Jumpin' Jack Flash contained no electric instruments. They were all acoustic guitars driven through an old cassette player used as an amplifier because he was looking for a different sound that he could hear in his mind and couldn't reproduce with the most expensive equipment available at the time. No wonder they had one of the most unique sounds going.

He also seems to remember most ever detail of the Stones' career pretty damn well.

I've never said this before but "Fuckin' A!


To all of us who were fucking around for the greatest rock band ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaKl2ec4J_w&feature=related

[Crazy Dave]

1. I've heard similar stories from different musicians

The older ones that is. These days all you need is a laptop and a sound proof room to record about anything but back in the days when they only had about $500 to make an album you'd hear some pretty amazing things they did to get their sound.

Too many to remember and I can't remember the specifics on but a few. Judas Priest using silverware in a drawer for the clashing on Metal Gods and a lot of the of the songs that were on Jackson Browne's Running on Empty were recorded in hotel rooms and one song was on his tour bus using a box and a bass drum foot pedal.

[hippywife]

2. So the fuck what?

They had the finest technology of their day and it still stands the test of time. None of the laptop boyz can touch the greatest rock and roll band ever! :hi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5zZpMIrWu8&feature=related

Dance with me. Crazy Dave!!

[Crazy Dave]

3. No they can't

20 years from now most of the laptop bands will be gone but people will still know who the Stones were.

With the exception of "Alice In Chains" and "Creed" I don't own or listen to any music less than 25 years old :hi:

[hippywife]

4. There ya go, baaaaaaaaaaaaabeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Mick was 45 and Tina 49 in those vids. No lipsyncing so they can dance and run around like these wussie pop singers on the raaaad-i-oooo today.

Even 10 years later they were still bringin' it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQ7-Q6VEPI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUp4ej8bVzg&feature=artist

And almost 20 years later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHKSpXik-E&feature=artist


Come on, Crazy Dave....d-d-d-d-dance with me!

[Crazy Dave]

5. Okayeeeeeee!

Crazy Dave hippywife

[hippywife]

6. Woooooohoooooo!

Dancin' with Mr. D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_S532DjrZk&feature=artist

[hippywife]

7. Got to scrape the shit right off your shooooos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3uNiUCrp0&feature=artist


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtnxvpIEg8w&feature=artist

[abq e streeter]

19. LOVE Sweet Virginia

and am supposed to sing it with B.K. playing sax, on his (and Keith's) 67th birthday ; Dec. 18th, here in Albq..... will try and get it videotaped (that's probably not even the right terminology anymore), and post it ( If B.K. is cool with that).
Looking forward to reading that book too.

[hippywife]

23. I knew I could draw you out. LOL

I would love to see the vid! That would be fun. :hi:

[Chan790]

22. Creed??

I was your compatriot, your fellow soldier in arms about musical innovation until you admitted liking Creed.

[Demoiselle]

8. I heard that interview, too. Came away with a new appreciation for him and the Stones.

Funny, unpretentious and bright. Had Terry Gross hooting with laughter more than once.
And yeah, the music is great. I can't listen to much new stuff either. Bores me. (Harumph, several old fart noises here.)
I also came away with new appreciation for Johnny Depp. He absolutely nailed Keith in the "Pirates" movies.

[hippywife]

11. It really was a great interview, wasn't it?

I thought the same as you, bright, funny, and unpretentious. Funny thing was I was leaving work and had no idea who she was interviewing today, but knew immediately before it was said. LOL

:hi:

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Same here. After so many years of Keith Richards jokes...

the real one is a gas. A great guy behind that death mask.

Whoda thunk it?

(I'm gonna get the book)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. Yeah, but...Pete Townshend did the overdriven acoustic guitar thing too.

If you listen to a lot of Who songs...like "I Can See For Miles"...you can hear the acoustic in place of what might have been and electric rhythm guitar.

Don;t know who did it first or who did it best but in terms of the music I have no problem giving him the "genius" label.

I think that in other areas of his life, Keith might prefer for the world to see him one way while reality paints a quite different picture.

[hippywife]

12. I think he was pretty straight forward

about his personal life, too.

One thing was Terry asked him about all the situations in which he was terribly injured, almost killed. She asked if he ever thought about it being "it." He said when you're bouncing around in a Mercedes that's rolling over and over again, you do have time to consider that, but if it turns out it isn't, you just go on with life.

[hippywife]

28. Oh, and Pete?

Another of my favorites. :hi:

[MiddleFingerMom]

10. I never GOT the Stones until the mid-80's when my GF (about 10 years older than I)...

.
.
.
... made it abundantly clear what they were all about.
.
.
.
I told her that I just couldn't understand her fascination with/lust for The Stones...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
... and she dipped a little while shivering (she had the most delicious shiver) and said, VERY breathily...
.
.
.
.
.
THEY'RE SO... ... ... ... ... NAUGHTY!!!!!
.
.
.
I immediately, finally and ultimately got what they were all about.
.
.
.

[hippywife]

13. Maybe, maybe not.

To me it's been all about the music. :hi:

[Sweet Freedom]

15. I read that to create the eerie guitar intro in Gimme Shelter

they overheated a old amplifier, but the effect only lasted a short while, so it took forever to record.

I love Keith. My favorite book is "What Would Keith Richards Do?"

[hippywife]

25. I think it was this same technique he was describing.

That is one great song, too. :hi:

[mitchum]

16. There are no electric guitars on those two songs, but there are electric instruments...

There is an electric bass on both SFM and JJF, and an electric organ on JJF.
"Parachute Woman" is another song where Keith plays his acoustic guitar into an overdriven cassette recorder

They were indeed the greatest rockandroll band in the world

[hippywife]

18. They aren't dead yet! LOL n/t

[Iggo]

17. I used to record music like that, but nobody called me a genius.

They just called me poor. (Or, more properly, a tweaker...lol.)

[hippywife]

26. I'm sorry, Iggo.

:hug:

[lillypaddle]

20. Saw the Stones in Norman, Oklahoma

at the Univ. of Ok. stadium in 1998 - OMG, they were GREAT! What a show they put on. Damn.

[hippywife]

27. For a bunch of old guys!

:rofl:


:hi: from over near Tulsa. :hi:

[lillypaddle]

30. Hey

they put on a show even young guys don't do! The audience was pretty funny, though ... talk about "old guys," myself included. :)

[Fire Walk With Me]

21. I have long chided some of the early RS output for unidentifiable instrumentation/bad recording

technique...now I am vindicated.

WTF was that thing? Can anyone tell me? No one could. Now we know. And all is forgiven if it was purposeful and creative, and not a simply biblical fuck-up!

[hippywife]

24. It gave them their unique sound

during that era. I love that sound. And who knows what else he's done or is doing. :hi:

[Fire Walk With Me]

29. Definitely unique, but without the explanation, I was reduced to "WTF was THAT"

way too often :rofl:

Neat.

[MrMickeysMom]

31. I heard that interview in my car ...

... had to stop in the driveway to finish listening to it. I'm with you, hippywife. His book, "Life" would be a good one for the coffee table this Christmas, eh?

But, the respiratory therapist in me picked up on the sound his airways made emptying in that crackle-smoker's laugh.

Peace

[hippywife]

32. Funny you mention that.

When I turned on the radio, that was the first thing I heard, no words, and I already knew it was him.