The Rolling Stones are one of the best-selling bands of all time, with an estimated amount of more than 200 million records sold worldwide. The guitarist and songwriter Keith Richards is an important part of the group’s success and created some of the most memorable guitar riffs of all time. Although he is part of one of the most important Rock and Roll bands in history, there were some groups that he would have liked to be a member of. It was in an interview with Spin in 1986 that Richards mentioned those groups and Rock and Roll Garage selected what he said about them over the years.
The 6 bands Keith Richards said he would have liked to be a member of
Elvis’ original band The Hillbilly Cats
“I could’ve done with being one of Elvis’s original band”, Keith told Spin. He has always been a huge fan of that line-up which had the legendary guitarist Scotty Moore. He even said back in 2008 in a project called “Living Legends” that they were one of the greatest bands of all time. “I would start personally with probably The Hillbilly Cats, Elvis’ band. Scotty Moore (Guitar), D.J Fontana (Drums) and Bill Black (Bass). The most amazing stuff and it was very early on.”
Scotty Moore was a touring and studio guitarist for Elvis from 1954 until 1968. Some critics credit him for inventing the power chords in the 1957 “Jailhouse Rock”. Unlike many people from that era, Richards was equally interested in Elvis and also in his band, not seeing them as a backup group, but as part of that incredible music that was being presented.
“He hit it like a bombshell. It was like the world went from black & white to technicolor. I guess they were the first white band that anybody heard of with a good lead singer, that was sailable. They had the rhythm. The beautiful thing about Elvis was that he sort of turned everybody into everybody (and made people think) ‘maybe you can do it’.”
“I was just as interested in the band as I was in Elvis. So I just considered him to be part of it, you know, Bill Black, Scotty Moore and D.J. Because of the early ones (Elvis albums) didn’t had drums on it, this is the funny thing he is the king of Rock and Roll and some of his earlier records don’t actually have drums,” Keith Richards said in the Classic Albums series in 2001 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Buddy Holly and The Crickets
The Crickets was another band that Keith Richards said he would have liked to be part of. They were the backup band for the influential Buddy Holly who tragically died in an airplane crash back in 1959 at the age of 22.
Although he had a short career, Holly was a huge influence to Keith Richards and other British artists like The Beatles. When Rolling Stone magazine asked Richards to vote for the best singers of all time, he placed Buddy in position number 4. He was only behind Sam Cooke, Jimmy Cliff and Aretha Franklin in Richards’ opinion.
The American singer and guitarist was a pioneer in the mid-50s Rock and Roll scene. Born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family, he learned to play the guitar and sing with his siblings. His style was not only important for Rock, but also for Gospel, Country and R&B.
Curiously, Keith once said that when he needs inspiration to write, he listens to the Buddy Holly albums. “People today run themselves into a corner thinking they actually created these things. I’d rather look upon myself as an antenna or some go-between. I’m just around. Songs are running around – they’re all there, ready to grab. You play an instrument and pick it up. What I generally do is like, ‘Fingers are getting a bit soft right now. I’ll go through the Buddy Holly songbook– because I love Buddy’s songs. Then I start playing ’em for half an hour. (Sings “Maybe Baby”),” Keith Richards told Guitar Player in 1992.
Little Richard
“I could’ve used being in Little Richard‘s band in the ’50s,” Richards said. It was by the end of that decade that Richard released some of his most important albums like “Here’s Little Richard” (1957) and “The Fabulous Little Richard” (1958). Those records had songs like “Tutti Frutti”, “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up”.
Richards and Richard were good friends and when the legendary American musician died in 2020 at the age of 87, Keith said: “So sad to hear that my old friend Little Richard has passed. There will never be another!!! He was the true spirit of Rock’n Roll!”
The Rolling Stones guitarist was deeply influenced by Little Richard and revealed in his autobiography Life, that the first record he bought was by the American artist. “I think the first record I bought was Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.” Fantastic record, even to this day. Good records just get better with age.”
He told Rolling Stone once that he believes the first year of Rock and Roll music was 1956 because it was when Elvis appeared on national television and also when Little Richard released “Long Tall Sally”.
Muddy Waters
“I would’ve loved to have been in Muddy’s band in the early ’50s,” Keith Richards said. Muddy was another musician that Richards admired and was a good friend of. He was really a huge influence for him as a guitar player as he told Guitar Player magazine in 1992.
“Yeah! He’s my man. He’s the guy I listened to. Maybe I just picked it up off of him. I recognized it. It was just the same as my drive. I felt an immediate affinity when I heard Muddy go [picks up guitar and plays the opening lick from “Rollin’ Stone”]. You can’t be harder than that, man. He said it all right there. So all I want to do is be able to do that.”
Keith had the chance to perform with Muddy Waters in 1981 in Chicago, two years before his death at the age of 70.
Louis Armstrong
“Would’ve loved to be in Louis Armstrong‘s band in the ’20s. I mean, I can go back farther than that. Yeah, I wish, I wish [laughs],” Keith Richards told Spin. This choice might be a surprise for many fans, since Louis Armstrong’s music was more focused on Jazz rather than Rock and Blues.
He started to release his first singles still in the 20s, decade mentioned by Richards. However, his biggest hit, “What a Wonderful World”, was released only in 1967. He died a few years later, in 1971, at the age of 69.
In 2007 he was asked by Rolling Stone if he recalled how music was before Rock and Roll. He mentioned Louis Armstrong as one of the best from that era.
“Oh, yeah, very much. There was some very good jazz. And all those novelty songs — “Shut the Door (They’re Comin’ Through the Window)” — a barrage of that banality. But luckily, through my mother, I was listening to Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong and stuff, you know? And through jazz, I knew quite a lot about black music,” Keith Richards said.
Blue Caps
The final band mentioned by Richards were the Blue Caps, who were Gene Vincent’s backup band. The band’s original line-up had the influential guitarist Cliff Gallup, who is often mentioned by British guitarists as an important influence.
Besides him, the line-up of the classic album “Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps” (1957) also had: Paul Peek (Guitar), Willie Williams (Guitar), Russell Williford (Acoustic guitar), Dickie Harrell (Drums), Jack Neal (Upright Bass) and Clifton Simmons (Piano).
