From The Mouth Of Keith Richards

While speaking with Jim Farber of the New York Daily News about his new solo album, Crosseyed Heart, Richards was a quote machine on overdrive, offering so many observations that he could zip his lip for the rest of the year and his printed remarks from this week would remain freshly controversial all the way through Dec. 31.

On Mick Jagger: “He’s preoccupied with something really boring.  He’s a control freak.  He likes to know everything that’s going on.  He lost himself a bit in the details.”

“He’s a hell of a frontman.  I still love him dearly … your friends don’t have to be perfect.”

On The Beatles’ 1965 Shea Stadium gig: “As a band, they weren’t in sync with each other.

On heavy metal: “Millions are in love with Metallic and Black Sabbath.  I just thought they were great jokes.”

On rap: “Rap – so many words, so little said.”

“What rap did that was impressive was to show there are as many tone-deaf people out there.  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.”

On Keith Richards: “I can drag that image around – the Keith with a bottle of bourbon in one hand and a joint in the other.  It’s a ball and chain.  At the same time, I take it as a privilege to be taken into people’s hearts and minds.  I feel like I’m doing all these things that they can’t do in a 9 to 5 job.  In a way they’re saying, ‘Go ahead, Keith.’  They’re giving me license … and I’ve taken full use of it.”

Read the entire interview here.