What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [17]
VII. CONFIDENCE: HOLDING UP AGAINST CRITICISM
Or, In Keith Lingo: the Dean Martin Dilemma
Criticism is a bitch. Sometimes it is meted out on a level that goes beyond what seems appropriate and is nearly vicious. Then we question whether or not the person dishing it out is right. It makes you want to give it all up, pack up the bag. When you get it, what do you do?
WHAT WOULD KEITH DO?
When criticism is unleashed on you like a wild dog, you’re sure the critic is getting an erotic thrill out of it. And maybe that’s the case. Everyone needs to get their kicks somewhere, sadists included.
Keith and the Stones have taken on some choice commentary over the years. Some typical early 1960s reviews: “It is disgraceful that long-haired louts such as these should be allowed to appear on television.” “The whole lot of you should be given a good bath … Your filthy appearance is likely to corrupt teenagers all over the country.” “I have seen today the most disgusting sight I can remember in all my years as a television fan."
Lovely.
But one of the roughest came in 1964, when the Stones appeared on the TV show Hollywood Palace. They felt they’d finally made it and were in the big leagues. But the show’s host, Dean Martin, had other plans. Dino rolled his eyes and insulted the band in a continuous rant, often without the band realizing it: “The Rolling Stones. Aren’t they great? [roll of the eyes; mocking laughter from audience] … I don’t know what they’re singing about, but here they are … Now don’t go away. You wouldn’t leave me with the Rolling Stones, would you? … That [trampoline artist] is the father of the Rolling Stones. He’s been trying to kill himself ever since."
Dino, how could you?
What do you do? Go back to the dressing room and kill yourself? Instead of losing hope, Keith got mad. What could have kicked in his confidence and sent him crawling home maimed instead only made him stronger. What doesn’t kill you does make you stronger, like Nietzsche said—if you let it.
“If Dino had thought a little more, he wouldn’t have been quite so flippant, but then I don’t blame him thinking about it now. At the time it was like a deadly insult, but all those things only went to make us want to prove ourselves more, so that we could come back and bite their heads off. That was all they did, was like, steel you. That’s what toughens you up.”
It’s just like the exile issue. Every time you hear a no, know that the no’s true purpose is to be proven wrong. Half the time the person giving the no is on the way out anyhow. Not many years later, Dean became a relic. Seasons always change. As Keith says, “There’s always the future,” and the future was honing in on Dean’s turf. Time is a scary thing—but work with it. “What is life but playing with time?"
The higher purpose of these nasty comments is to remind yourself to keep tough and stick to your ideas. And it’s here where the expression An opinion is like an asshole, everyone has one becomes meaningful.
The best part is when you can prove you were right, no matter how long it takes. Decades later, when accepting a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the Stones, Mick spoke for all of them: “To all the people who took the piss—the joke’s on you.” It was a great moment of your evil twin coming through and telling it like it is.
However, even within your own Rolling Stones, there’s going to be some fighting for your ideas. During the making of Stones records, when the band decides which songs to keep on an album and which to discard, Keith raises his hand for every song. “Eventually, they’ll find their way."
Trouble Within:
VIII. BEING YOUR OWN SAINT GEORGE AND HOLDING TOUGH AGAINST THOSE “INNER DEMONS”
There’s enough problems with the outside world and problems coming from other people, so isn’t it a drag that there has to be so much turmoil and trouble on the