Keith Richards’ opinion on Bruce Springsteen

One of the most influential guitarists and songwriters in the world since the 1960s, Keith Richards entered Rock history alongside Mick Jagger through the incredible music they created with The Rolling Stones alongside Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Ronnie Wood, Brian Jones and Mick Taylor over the decades.

Although he has always been more interested in older Blues music and Reggae, especially after living in Jamaica, Richards continued paying attention to artists from younger generations. During his career, he gave his opinion on many famous songwriters who emerged after the Stones, including Bruce Springsteen.

What is Keith Richards’ opinion on Bruce Springsteen

Although Keith is not a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen’s music, he has expressed both positive and negative opinions about the American artist. “I’m not a raving maniac (fan) but I do enjoy. I admire the guy and the way he’s gone about it and stuck to his guns for what he wants to do. I went to see him in New York, actually in New Jersey at the Meadowlands, which is like his hometown virtually, you know.”

“That was a great gig, just mainly because it was like hometown boy coming in, you know. It was a good gig, I couldn’t imagine playing a four-hour show myself (laughs). I don’t know how he keeps me interested,” Keith Richards said when asked by BBC in 1986 if he was a fan of Springsteen (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

But later on, Keith said he loved Bruce’s attitude but thought he was going the wrong way in his career, calling him pretentious and overblown. “Bruce? That’s a tough one, because I like the guy. But the music… I don’t know. I’m the toughest taskmaster of all time. I’m going to annoy a lot of people. Bruce? To me, it’s pretentious. I love his attitude, I love what he wants to do. I just think he’s gone about it the wrong way. These are just my opinions, and okay, I’ll annoy the lot of you. Bruce? Too contrived for me. Too overblown,” he told Rolling Stone in 1988.

Bruce performed with Keith Richards and The Stones

Although Keith hasn’t always said good things about Bruce, they like each other and have had the chance to perform together on stage. The band invited Bruce to be part of their special show in Newark, New Jersey, at the Prudential Center, which later became the live album and DVD “Grrr Live!” (2023). Springsteen also remembered that experience fondly in his biography “Born To Run”. He said that the first guitar solo he ever learned was from the Stones’ “It’s All Over Now.”

“Mick welcomes me to rehearsal. Keith, Ronnie and Charlie (from back behind his drums) follow with warm greetings. (…) These are the guys who INVENTED my job! They have been stamped on my heart since the chunking chords of ‘Not Fade Away’ came ripping off the little 45 I bought at Britt’s Department Store in the first strip mall in our area. After some pleasantries, there are two mike stands alongside one another, a few feet in front of the band. Mick, still all sharp edges and pragmatism, moves to the mike on the left.”

“I take the right as he counts off and Keith, the man whose recorded playing taught me my first guitar solo, slithers into the opening riff of ‘Tumbling Dice.’ I’ve come across many spirit-filled folk in my travels but no one as spectrally beautiful as Keith Richards. Some years ago Patti sang backup for the Stones and on Keith’s first solo record. One night we visited him in the studio. He took Patti’s hand, looked me in the eye and, with great regard for her, said, “Oh . . . oh . . . this one,” Bruce Springsteen said.

What Richards said about recording with Bruce’s wife and singer Patti Scialfa

As Bruce said, his wife and singer Patti Scialfa had previously recorded with Keith Richards. In one of the sessions, he went to the studio with her. She was a backing vocalist on Keith’s first solo album “Talk is Cheap”, released in 1988. When promoting the record, the British musician recalled why he chose her and the day she and Bruce appeared in the studio.

“The last overdub that Patti did for this record, she walks in with this guy. ‘Hi, Patti, how’re you doin’?’ We’re talking. The guy is standing in the doorway, and I turn around, and suddenly I realize it’s Bruce (laughs). Oh, oh, naughty, naughty, naughty. I’ve met Bruce two or three times. We’ve had several good chats, usually at some release party or premiere, and we just end up in the corner talking. He’s a sweet guy, a nice guy.”

“Mind you, I think four-hour shows really are way over the top. To me, a great rock & roll act does twenty minutes [laughs]. I remember the Paramount, where you got the Impressions, Jackie Wilson, Joe Tex, and everybody does just their absolute supreme best shot! A lot of the shows you get these days are very self-indulgent. I don’t think anybody can be enthralling for four hours onstage playing rock & roll,” he told Rolling Stone in 1988.

Bruce had already shared the stage with Mick Jagger in 1988 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were part of the superband that performed The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There”.