Last month, I started a new tradition here at my blog: Rock and Roll Fridays! Every fourth Friday of the month, I intend to share a review of at least one good artifact of rock music, including biographies, concert videos, and television specials. It's Rock and Roll Friday again, so today I'm sharing my short review of Keith Richard's autobiography Life.
I bought this 2010 rock star memoir by Richards (guitarist, singer, co-songwriter (with Mick Jagger), co-leader and founding member of the Rolling Stones) years ago, then never actually read it until much more recently (in 2020).
I think I was reluctant to get into it, because Richards is pretty much the personification of the depraved, bad boy rock star in the popular imagination. His drug use and addictions, frequent arrests, and outlaw persona are legendary; in fact, he writes that during the 1970s he consistently topped lists of "ten rock stars most likely to die this year". But he didn't.
And after reading his story, he turns out to be a much more complex, intelligent, thoughtful and even perhaps kind person than I had expected. Of course, he's still outrageous, but he’s also a genuinely authentic and sympathetic character, who has a lot to say about the Rolling Stones, his relationships with Mick Jagger and the other band members, and their iconic music.
He also delves deeply into his guitar playing techniques and songwriting, along with many of his legendary life experiences and relationships. He recounts the many celebrities he's known, and partied and played music with, and shares other unexpected anecdotes from his long life and enduring career as one of the most notorious stars of the rock and roll era.
I thought I wouldn't like this book, but I did. "It's Only Rock and Roll, But I Like It!" Recommended for rock music fans, and the celebrity-curious.
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