A studio will buy a new piece of equipment even if it costs a billion dollars, because it keeps you in the studio. They know that every time they give you another possibility or a choice to make, you have to be making these decisions in the studio and the clock's ticking and money's going around.
Basically, all I know is that in order to do what I do - turn people on - the band needs to be turned on first.
But my mother always had good music taste in music.
Everybody starts by imitating their heroes. For me it was Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters.
Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll.
Getting older is a fascinating thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.
Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen.
Hey, we just enjoy it. I think we think we're getting the hang of this thing, you know?
I always judge how Mick's feeling about a show by how many songs he's willing to change in a night. I don't make the set list up because he's got to sing them. If there's 4 or 5 different songs from the night before, I know that he's really feeling like on the ball.
I enjoy working with other people very much and, given the time, I'd work with just about anybody, really. As long as I can get along with them and they've got some good stuff to do.
I have no idea what the audience makes of me.
I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.
I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.
I only get ill when I give up drugs.
I say good luck to people who want to emulate me, but they better realize what they're getting into; they better know that there's more to this than attitude. It's about the music; it's about the blues. That's what sustains me.
I still don't go to bed to go to sleep. Usually it overtakes me sooner or later, but basically that's true.
I took drugs because I wanted to hide.
I'm not the guys I see on MTV, who obviously think they are me.
I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.
I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.
If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.
If you had a blindfold on, you can get into music ten times more effectively than watching pre-conceived images of what the song means.
If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.
In the end, being pop stars was handy; you realize you could do a whole lot more from this position. Suddenly it wasn't so unhip to be a pop star.
It's an addiction... and addiction is something I should know something about.
It's good to be anywhere.
It's great to be here. It's great to be anywhere.
Let me be clear about this. I don't have a drug problem. I have a police problem.
Mick and I had done a couple of numbers with Alexis. It was good experience and we got off on it. And then Alexis had offered Mick a couple of gigs to come and sing at some of these deb jobs he was doing.
None of us back down easily... Someone once asked me if we still fight about this stuff. Was Sharon Tate's living room a mess? Of course we still fight, but it's also an argument within yourself.
Oh yeah, we couldn't believe it that we were actually going to come to America and work.
Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.
That's the important thing: You can't take this gig on and think, I'm just going to grind it out, because you'll grind yourself out. You've got to be looking forward to something, and morale right now is very good.
The only new technology that interests me is when it sort of throws me back soundwise.
The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.
The Stones in a club is still the ultimate rush.
The tour has taken on a life of its own due to several reasons, probably one of them being the change in the tax laws in England, which made it impossible to play there while we wrangle with the British government.
There's no substitute for live work to keep a band together.
To make a rock'n'roll record, technology is the least important thing.
To me, as long as we've known each other, I've always thought Mick's most brilliant thing was that he could work in an area two foot square and give a very exciting performance.
We haven't played together for three years, basically since the last tour, yet every time we get back together there's this extra juice that makes people feel good about playing.
We never wanted to be pop stars. We were thinking more about jazz. Of course, we realized that wouldn't work if we wanted to get into a recording studio.
What you eventually end up with, right, is that you've got five million more possibilities of what you can do with all these different pieces of equipment with the result that all records start to sound more and more alike - and most records are made on the same three or four pieces of equipment.
Whatever side I take, I know well that I will be blamed.
When I listen to what I did under the influence - 10 years of work - I don't think it either enhanced or impaired me. It didn't have that much to do with it.
Yeah, it was interesting doing Peter Tosh and Max romeo, but the thing that stopped me doing more of that has always been the time thing, you know, sort of being able to say to somebody definitely that I can spend... give all my time for as long as it takes, you know.
Yes, I find it very interesting to still be together after all this time, and in a way it's put us in this unique position.
You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones.
In addition to several solo albums, Keith has played guitar on releases by Max Romeo, Hubert Sumlin, Les Paul, Tom Waits, Bono and The Edge of U2, Nona Hendryx, John Phillips and Aretha Franklin.
To this day, Keith wears a bracelet that resembles a pair of handcuffs, which were fashioned from a key chain Keith found. He said it is a reminder that he never wants to be arrested again.
Keith released his first solo album, Talk Is Cheap, in 1988.
Keith has over 1000 guitars, some of which he has not played, but was simply given.
Keith derived much of his early style from Chuck Berry, whose guitar work remained a touchstone for him throughout his career.
Keith makes a cameo appearance in the 3rd Pirates Of The Carribean movie.
Johnny Depp has said that the character of Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is mostly based on Keith, including his voice, his mannerisms, his personality, and aspects of his appearance.
Keith has three children with his former partner Anita Pallenberg - son Marlon, daughter Angela and son Tara (deceased).
Keith met Mick Jagger when he was at primary school, but when they went into secondary schools they lost touch. One day in 1960 they accidentally met on a train and talked about starting up a group. From 1960-1962 The Rolling Stones were formed. It comprised of Mick Jagger on lead vocal and harmonica, Keith on guitar, Bill Wyman on bass, Charlie Watts on drums and Brian Jones on guitar.
Keith was a close friend of country legend Gram Parsons and has referenced to his early death due to drug abuse in one of the songs he's written for the Stones; Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine/Well it's another goodbye to another good friend ("Before They Make Me Run", from 1978's "Some Girls"). Keith also played two tribute gigs to him alongside Norah Jones and others in 2004.
Keith was voted the 10th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.
In 1977, Keith was ordered to play a series of benefit concerts for the blind after a widely publicised drug arrest in Toronto. For these shows he assembled a band called The New Barbarians which included himself, fellow Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste.
Keith has worn a skull ring on the third finger of his right hand since the early 1970's, reminding himself "that we are all the same beneath the surface”.
Keith shares the same birthday as Brad Pitt, Casper Van Dien and Steven Spielberg.
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