Keith----

[whitefang]

Keith Richards turns 71 today, 12/18. Yeah, I know---he looks much OLDER, but all joking aside, he's given all of us a lot of good sound to listen to...and he even inspired and influenced an already good guitarist in at least ONE way....

 

Pete Townshend, on one taped interview( or perhaps an older FILMED interview) said that back in The Wo's early days, BEFORE they made it as big as they got, and when "Can't Explain" was just starting to climb the charts, both The Who and the Stones wound up on the same bill at some concert venue. Pete said he wandered around behind the scenes to see if he could get a glimpse of any of the Stones, as THEY were heroes to a LOT of up and comers in those days. He looked behind some canvas wall or something, and saw Richards "limbering up" before going on by swinging his arm around in a "circular" motion, which looked so cool to Townshend that he adapted the movement into his actual PLAYING of the guitar, and it quickly became his "signature" move! And all Keith was doing was "limbering up"!

 

Now----THAT'S having influence!

Whitefang

[Sharkman]

Keith is a living legend, there is no doubt about it. The only thing that disappointed me about his autobiography was there weren't more "Keith stories", such as when Keith heard that John Lennon had just been shot, Keith grabbed a pistol and went running to Lennon's hotel, which was almost a mile away. Obviously, Keith never made it there. It's amazing this guy is still alive today. And the music world is better because of him.

[SEHpicker]

Happy Birthday Keith - a true icon of rock n roll.

[Larryz]

Happy Birthday Keith! I still love listening to a real rock and roll legend! Especially on Satisfaction!

 

although you can't tell by looking at him, Keith is a modest guy...IIRC in an interview on Shine A Light...he was asked who the better player is, him or Ronnie Woods. His answer was neither of us are that good compared to other guitar players (like Buddy Guy, who he gives one of his guitars to in the movie)...and neither of us are any better than the other. However, when you put us both together, we become as good as any other player out there! I learned the same thing back in the day playing with my old buddy, it's just the magic that happens...Happy BD!

[Winston Psmith]

One of my heroes for as long as I can remember listening to music. Happy birthday to a true icon!

[Guest]

Happy Birthday Keef.

[skipclone 1]

Happy birthday Keith-and shame on even the music press and their sycophants, who should know better-for exploiting him as a football for every antidrug zealot group who needed a whipping boy. He is an intelligent, thoughtful, funny dude who always has really interesting things to say.

[Scott Fraser]

Happy birthday Keith-and shame on even the music press and their sycophants, who should know better-for exploiting him as a football for every antidrug zealot group who needed a whipping boy. He is an intelligent, thoughtful, funny dude who always has really interesting things to say.

 

Yeah, as far as drug statements go, all I can say is that Keith is still alive & vital at 71 & a whole lot of dumbasses didn't make it out of their 20s or 30s.

[Caevan O'Shite]

Here's to him and Happy Birthday! He's definitely made his mark on the lexicon of style, tone, and musical vocabulary on the guitar; he may not have been first to use Open G and such- not by a long shot!- but he certainly brought his own take on how to use it, and as far as I know, nobody played guitar sounding quite like him before he started doing it, but a whole lot of players played things sounding a lot like him after he was heard doing it with the Stones!

[whitefang]

Well, what CAN you say about a guy who had the BALLS to argue with Chuck Berry about HOW to play Chuck Berry songs?

 

He was also the FIRST guy I ever saw play one of those clear acrylic guitars....It was when they were on ED SULLIVAN one time, beck soon after MICK TAYLOR joined them.

Whitefang