Keith Richards has reignited half-a-century of friendly, but often creatively taut rivalry, with The Beatles by declaring the legendary band’s equally legendary seventh studio album ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band‘ as ‘a mishmash of rubbish’.
Speaking to Esquire ahead of the release of ‘Crosseyed Heart‘, his first solo album in twenty years, Richards said:
“The Beatles sounded great when they were The Beatles. But there’s not a lot of roots in that music. I think they got carried away.”
“Some people think it’s a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like, ‘Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we’.”
Released in 1967, ‘Sgt. Peppers’ is widely seen as one of the most influential pieces of rock music ever, reinventing the concept of an album and how far the medium could be taken.
While The Rolling Stones released their own stone cold classic collection of albums not long after, in the light of Richards’ comments it’s probably worth reflecting on the band’s 1967 effort ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request‘ which, despite some significant bright moments, is now looked back on as a mere poor Pepper imitator.