Keith Richards disses hip-hop, heavy metal in new interview
Legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has been on a roll lately, while promoting his new solo album Crosseyed Heart. Last month he dissed The Beatles’ legendary opus Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and now he’s come after the entire genre of hip-hop.
“Rap — so many words, so little said,” Richards recently told the New York Daily News. “What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there,” he says. “All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.”
Richards did not limit his barbs just to hip-hop, however. He said that most rock music “sounds like a dull thud to me,” and called foundational metal bands Metallica and Black Sabbath “great jokes.” New York Daily News’ Jim Farber noted that Richards “follows every put-down with a wink.”
For more, read the full interview at New York Daily News, or and catch EW’s recent interview with Richards as part of our Fall Music Preview. Crosseyed Heart is out Sep. 18.