The Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter Keith Richards helped to form the band in 1962 and has been a crucial part of their sound. Right in the center of the evolution of Rock and Roll music in the United Kingdom in the 60s, he had the opportunity to see up-close that transformation. With the success of the Stones he continued to see the music business evolving but he wasn’t always happy with what was happening.
Besides being one of the most influential guitarists of all time, Richards is also known for saying what he really thinks. So over the decades he gave his opinion on many other artists, like the Pop phenomenon Taylor Swift.
What is Keith Richards’ opinion on Taylor Swift
When Taylor Swift was born in 1989, the Rolling Stones already had released more than 20 studio albums and were on the road for almost three decades. She started her career in 2003 and in the following decade became one of the most successful artists in the world. Nowadays, she has sold an estimated amount of more than 200 million records worldwide. Which curiously is the same amount The Rolling Stones have sold.
She already praised the British band and said they were an influence. Swift also had the opportunity to perform with them in 2013. She joined them on stage in one of their concerts in Chicago to sing their classic track “As Tears Go By”. Two years later Mick Jagger joined her on stage to perform “Satisfaction” at her show.
Although Richards performed with Swift in 2013 when she sang with the Stones, he never had many nice things to say about her. In an interview with GQ magazine in 2013, he called her and Justin Bieber “the flavor of the month”. Justin Bieber? Actually I met this guy and found him quite humble, as he should be. His music? I mean it’s a load of crap isn’t it? Taylor is a pretty girl. I don’t think about the competition. I mean they’re the flavor of the month, aren’t they?” Keith Richards said.
He said that she wouldn’t be around for another 20 years
Three years later, in 2018, his opinion didn’t change and he said that she probably wouldn’t be around for another 20 years. He said in an interview with Wall Street Journal, that he wished her well. But also that he never really liked Pop music.
“Good luck, girl. (I) wish her well while it lasts. I’ve just been around too long to be picking the bones out of kids. It wouldn’t be fair of me, and I’ve always been an opinionated bastard anyway. And I never did really like pop music. Even when I became pop music, I was listening to the blues and jazz and not interested in the hits,” Keith Richards said.
The Rolling Stones already had once the highest-grossing tour of all time (“A Bigger Bang Tour” – 2005 to 2007). Since then many other artists have had more profitable tours than that one and one of them is Taylor Swift. Nowadays, she has the most profitable tour of all time, which is called “The Eras Tour”. With 60 dates from 2023 to 2024, the tour made more than 1 billion and 39 million dollars.
Until now she released 11 studio records, 5 EPs and four re-recorded albums of her discography. She is currently the solo artist with the most weeks at number one on the United States Billboard 200 chart. In 2023 she was the most streamed artist in Spotify, with 26.1 billion streams.