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Whats up with Keith Richards on LZ?


weapon2010

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This is a quote from Rolling Stone, Keith Richards bad mouthing Led Zepplin:

I was never a big Zeppelin guy.(from the reporter)
"Me neither. I love Jimmy Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there. Jimmy is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it, you know?"

I don't get why they are bad mouthed by some of the top musicians of all time such as Keith Richards and Pete Townshend?To not like LZ  musically is one thing(which I cant even comprehend that, most great bands love and praise them), but to take shots by calling them "hollow" sounds like sour grapes.There is also a video

of Keith Richards saying "that musically they never really took off for me ".Seriously are these guys for real or is it pure jealously?

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48 minutes ago, weapon2010 said:

 

I was never a big Zeppelin guy.(from the reporter)
"Me neither. I love Jimmy Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there. Jimmy is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it, you know?"

 

 

 

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Two reasons why. 

1. Richards is from the Chuck Berry style of rock and roll. There is a small amount of musical crossover to Zep, but for the most part, they are very different. 

2. The rest is all about money, ego, concert grosses, record sales, etc. 

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Jimmy and Keith are very good friends. Shared love of the blues and for a long time, various narcotics. Freddie Sessler was a known fixture on Stones and Zep tours, due to his proclivity to produce weapons grade cocaine at will. If you believe Lori Mattix then they both had their blood changed to get off heroin.

Keith always called Plant and Bonham "a couple of Ernies" rather disparagingly. 

Maybe Keith didn't like Bonzo because Jagger came to see Zeppelin in the States and Page and Jagger got in one limo and made Bonzo travel in a separate limo so Bonzo told the driver to pull alongside and pointed a gun at Jagger.

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Also, as a Brit, I suspect there was an element of north v south snobbery in terms of how Richards felt about Plant and Bonham.  It was a big deal in the 60s/70s, where Londoners particularly had this view of anyone from "the north", which back then was anywhere north of Watford, as being unsophisticated and stupid.  This was a general view but probably more acute in the music scene.

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21 minutes ago, NealR2000 said:

Also, as a Brit, I suspect there was an element of north v south snobbery in terms of how Richards felt about Plant and Bonham.  It was a big deal in the 60s/70s, where Londoners particularly had this view of anyone from "the north", which back then was anywhere north of Watford, as being unsophisticated and stupid.  This was a general view but probably more acute in the music scene.

This. I was surprised (even as a Londoner) when I read the Barney Hoskyns book on Zep, especially the chapter on Plant & Bonzo's musical life pre-68. How much snobbery there was towards the Birmingham music scene in London, and how much resentment it caused in Birmingham, not surprising given they were brewing great bands like The Move.

To pick another example from sport, Roger Hunt retired from the England team (soccer) because he got dog's abuse from the crowd in London due to replacing the London hero Jimmy Greaves. And this was a player who'd helped the team become World Champion!

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Well I don't know, maybe there is such a thing as a rock and roll attitude that these guys had, so perhaps expecting to tell it kinder and with more content that explains it is maybe a bit too much.

But I suspect it's just not the style of music, singing and lyrics he likes. 

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1 hour ago, NealR2000 said:

Also, as a Brit, I suspect there was an element of north v south snobbery in terms of how Richards felt about Plant and Bonham.  It was a big deal in the 60s/70s, where Londoners particularly had this view of anyone from "the north", which back then was anywhere north of Watford, as being unsophisticated and stupid.  This was a general view but probably more acute in the music scene.

It still is.

Not to generalise many "southerners" don't even know where the Lake District is. Watch any quiz programme and when a geography question comes up relating to anywhere north of the Edgeware Road and panic sets in. In every aspect of life in this overcrowded Island of ours , London and the South East is a magnet. It sucks the life out of this country. Of course its cheaper to get a degree in Northern Universities. Living is cheap. But as soon as the degree is got it's back to London to earn loads of cash. Of course it's the Capital I hear you say. Indeed, but more people live outside London than in it. Investment outside the Capital is a fucking joke. Central Government doesn't give a shit. Point in question: The Manchester Arena bombing earlier this year. The Conservatives wouldn't meet the bill for the emergency services and it wasn't until there was a public outcry that they agreed to cough up. They wanted Manchester Taxpayers to find the money. Would never happen in London

Another Classic example: A cricketer who played for Durham. Excellent batsman. Never got a sniff of playing for the England side. He joined Essex. Why did you join Essex he was asked. "So I could advance in the game and get noticed and I couldn't get that playing for Durham" Durham is of course in the North East of England and Essex the South East.

 

Edited by chillumpuffer
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3 minutes ago, BledZabbath said:

Keith Richards also badmouthed Black Sabbath, I think his mind is gone.

To be honest I don’t think he’s anywhere near as good as Jimmy or Tony, that’s just my honest opinion and a possible matter of taste.

Is there a common theme here? Which part of the UK are the Sabs from again?

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Just to add to the reasons, if you have listened to a lot of the famous musicians from that same era, you get a lot of snide remarks about Zep.  They have mellowed a lot these days, but many of their interviews from the past had some Zep bashing in them.  I always thought that money was by far the biggest reason.  Many of these famous musicians, even the Stones and the Who, got royally ripped off in the old days, coming back from grueling tours with not a lot to show for it.  Meanwhile, Zep were breaking records and drowning in cash thanks to the ways of Peter Grant.  I can't help but think that this affected their peers, who in their resentment, shot back with words like shrieking, bombastic, vulgar, loud, pompous, etc.

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4 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

Another Classic example: A cricketer who played for Durham. Excellent batsman. Never got a sniff of playing for the England side. He joined Essex. Why did you join Essex he was asked. "So I could advance in the game and get noticed and I couldn't get that playing for Durham" Durham is of course in the North East of England and Essex the South East.

Playing at The Oval or Lord's has always been a good way to get noticed by the selectors. Playing for Glamorgan or Northants a good way to get ignored.

By the way chillum, if it's Stoneman you're referring to, did he not go to Surrey not Essex?

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It was fairly pronounced, even to this ignorant Yankee kid at the time, the disdain the Londoners had towards Birmingham and other Midlanders. When I first travelled to England and got a first-hand look at this North-South schism, a lot of the comments I had read over the years suddenly came into context.

But even then, I couldn't give a rat's arse what X thought of Y and what Y thought of Z, and so on and so on. I like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, the Stones, Bowie, The Move, The Who, Black Sabbath, Faces, Mott the Hoople, Pink Floyd...some a lot more than others and some only pertaining to certain years and/or certain lineups. But nothing Keith or Pete or David or Jimmy or Robert or anybody says about anybody isn't going to change who I like or don't like.

So stop caring so much about what Keith or whoever says about Led Zeppelin...and yes, it has been discussed ad nauseam on this forum already. Multiple threads exist on this very subject.

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9 hours ago, 76229 said:

This. I was surprised (even as a Londoner) when I read the Barney Hoskyns book on Zep, especially the chapter on Plant & Bonzo's musical life pre-68. How much snobbery there was towards the Birmingham music scene in London, and how much resentment it caused in Birmingham, not surprising given they were brewing great bands like The Move.

To pick another example from sport, Roger Hunt retired from the England team (soccer) because he got dog's abuse from the crowd in London due to replacing the London hero Jimmy Greaves. And this was a player who'd helped the team become World Champion!

As a Liverpool fan and scouser it’s “Sir Roger”..... lol

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13 hours ago, Mook said:

Keith Richards is a bad tit.

 

1 hour ago, weapon2010 said:

Keith is a real d-bag.He seems a bit insecure as well.

He is a major part of one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever, and has written innumerable classic songs and riffs. He's earned the right to an opinion.

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