Rock and Roll music really conquered the world in the 50s with names like Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. Those American artists were a huge inspiration for aspiring musicians all over the world, including the United Kingdom. It was a few years later, in the 60s, that bands like The Rolling Stones, formed by Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones took everything to another level giving the music genre a new perspective.
In the following decades many other sub-genres of Rock appeared. Including Punk, which really changed the landscape of the music business by the late 70s. But what was Richards’ opinion on Punk and a band like Sex Pistols.
What is Keith Richards’ opinion on Sex Pistols
By the time The Sex Pistols released their groundbreaking and only album “Never Mind the Bollocks” in 1977, The Rolling Stones already were one of the biggest bands in the world. Richards always was a sincere person and gave his real opinion on other artists. But he didn’t say many good things about the Pistols. A little bit after the album was released, the Rolling Stones guitarist was interviewed and he mentioned the group. “I don’t think that Bowie or Johnny Rotten (Pistols’ vocalist) or all the Zeppelins are anywhere in the future, let alone the present. Jagger believes punk is today, is now.”
“To think you’ve got to do something new just for the sake of doing it, it isn’t real. It’s the equivalent to when a lot of Dixieland bands added electric guitars, calling themselves R&B just to stay up with the times.”
He continued:
“For a band of The Stones’ position to do that would have been ludicrous. It’s fatal for The Stones to try that. Why the fuck do we have to sound like the Sex Pistols for? What’s the point of listening to that shit? It’s for mass-media consumption,” Keith Richards said.
One year before he had already talked about the band when he was asked about them by the journalist John Ingham. “Keith, there’s a band in London called the Sex Pistols. They think you’re old and should stop playing and get out the way.” Ingham recalled in his article that after saying that, the Rolling Stones guitarist was with “ultrasheen eyes glaring and just below the surface a volcano is erupting.”
Richards’ answer was: “Just let them try. We’re the Rolling Stones. No one tells us what to do. We’ll stop when we feel like it. (…) There’s more to it than saying ‘shit’ on TV or learning to spit by practicing in the mirror.”
Punk bands didn’t impress Richards that much
It was not only the Sex Pistols that really didn’t impress him that much. Richards was really never was a fan of the music genre. He believed that most of the members of that band could barely play their instruments. He said that the thing he loved about that generation was the attitude but according to him “only a very few (bands) could actually play, you know, music,” he told Vevo back in 2011.
Formed by John Lydon (Vocals), Mick Jones (Guitar), Glen Matlock (Bass) and Paul Cook (Drums), the Sex Pistols are one of the most influential bands of all time. Active initially from 1975 to 1978, the band released only one studio album: “Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols” (1977). That album had praised songs like “God Save the Queen”, “Anarchy in the U.K.” and “Pretty Vacant”.
Since the late 70s the group reunited multiple times for reunion concerts. They are currently active but with a touring singer named Frank Carter. Lydon continues to tour with his own band “P.I.L”.
