Keith Richards Talks About ‘Life’, Drugs and the Stones With Rolling Stone and in New Book
Keith Richards, 66, once again decorates the front cover of Rolling Stone; now at magazine and newsstands nationwide
In the Oct. 28 issue of Rolling Stone, Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards breaks opens up some of the interesting details and stories that parade his newly-released autobiography simply titled “Life.” It’s a life filled with notorious drug abuse (he gave up heroin in 1978, and was forced to quit cocain in 2006 after accidentally falling from a coconut tree in something he defines as a wake-up call), lots of sex, troubles with the law and an turbulent relationship with longtime bandmate Mick Jagger.
In the Rolling Stone twelve-page feature, writer David Fricke describes Richards’ memoirs as two stories: “one of music, misbehavior and survival; the other a fond, perplexed, sometimes outraged telling of Richards’ life with Jager, including their battles over control and the destiny of their band.”
In the book, Keith Richards opens up in details, like a confession, about the excessive partying lifestyle the band engaged in.
In Chicago, there was an acute shortage of hotel rooms, so Hugh Hefner thought it would be a laugh to invite some of us to stay in the Playboy Mansion. I think he regretted it. Hugh Hefner, what a nut. We’ve worked the lowest pimps to the highest, the highest being Hefner. He thew the place open for the Stones, and we were there for over a week. And it’s all plunges in the sauna, and the Bunnies, and basically it’s a whorehouse, which I really don’t like. The memory, however, is very, very hazy. I know we did have some fun there. I know we ripped it up.
His relationship with Mick began to get its share of bumps and bruises throughout the Stones’ ascent to the top. Most of it was built on jealousy.
I’ve no doubt, in retrospect, that Mich was very jealous of me having other male friends. And I’ve no doubt that that was more of a difficulty than women or anything else. It took me a long time to realize that any male friend I had would automatically get the cold shoulder, or at least a suspicious reception, from Mick. Any guys I got close to would tell me, sooner or later, “I don’t think Mick likes me.” Mick and I were very tight friends, and we’d been through a lot. But there is a weird possessiveness about him.
The book, a comprehensive, foretelling event about one of rock ‘n roll’s greatest bands and a close-up of their leaders, hits stores at the end of October 2010.