The Rolling Stones’ guitarist, Keith Richards, is presumably not celebrating Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the 79-year-old was asked about rap and said he didn’t like “people yelling” at him.
But it’s not just rap music he doesn’t like—it’s other genres, too.
“I don’t want to start complaining about pop music,” he said. “It’s always been rubbish. I mean, that’s the point of it. They make it as cheap and as easy as possible and therefore it always sounds the same; there’s very little feel in it.
“I don’t really like to hear people yelling at me and telling me it’s music, aka rap. I can get enough of that without leaving my house.”
The Rolling Stones new album, Hackney Diamonds, is set to drop on October 20 and will feature artists such as Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
It will be the first new music for the group in more than 18 years. Richards says they wrote the album in December 2022 and recorded it the following month in the Bahamas, Los Angeles and New York.
As for Richards’ comments, he isn’t the first rock legend to hate on rap nor will he be the last. In 2014, KISS frontman Gene Simmons infamously said rap artists don’t belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, telling Radio.com, “A few people decide what’s in and what’s not. And the masses just scratch their heads. You’ve got Grandmaster Flash in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Run-D.M.C. in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? You’re killing me. That doesn’t mean those aren’t good artists. But they don’t play guitar. They sample and they talk. Not even sing.”
