What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [40]
“It went straight to his head. Suddenly he thought he was six foot four. In actual fact he was only five foot six."
—on fame and its effect on Brian Jones
“I’ve been invented by the media. I’m just a minstrel."
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for screaming teenage pubescent chicks."
“The fact is I am sixty years old, and twenty-year-old chicks are still throwing their pants at me. It’s ridiculous really."
“We certainly didn’t wanna be rock ’n’ roll stars. That was just too tacky."
“I realized pretty quickly that in order to control my own music, fame had to go along with it. So we figured we might as well learn to be famous for a bit."
“I’m all for a quiet life, except I didn’t get one."
“Fame isn’t something where you just sort of go, ‘Okay, I’ll be famous!’ and take the ticket. When it happens, you better grab it."
“Being famous is okay, but in the courtroom, it works against you."
“You try living out of a suitcase for twenty years."
“At least for a year I can walk around and say, ‘Do you know who you’re talking to?’ ”
—on accepting his man-of-the-year award
“If I’m a guitar hero, I never entered the competition—I forgot to fill in the application form."
“They come up to me in the street and say, ‘How do we get to be really big and earn lots of money? What do you have to do to make a good group?’ and I say, ‘Well, look, why don’t you try starving?’ ”
“You set yourself up in this game. You’re supposed to worry when they’re not there. You’re up for grabs out there. I’ve been living with that for most of my life. I don’t think it’s enough to die for. I don’t think you should run away. Hey, just stop."
—responding to Princess Diana’s death
“You’d constantly be going through this thing of one minute … fanatical acclaim, and the next minute you’d go a few hundred miles and it’d be, like, ‘Scumbags!’ You’d be nobody, the lowest, lower than the town bum—at least they knew him."
“In the end, being pop stars was handy."
“I get paid while I sleep."
FAMILY
“The only way you can be like me is to have a good family."
“If you get a chance at it, try it out, because it’s one of the most special things that you’ll get on the face of this earth. It gives you that final missing link of what life’s about."
“I cry quite often. I look at a picture of my grandfather sometimes, listening to music that he loved."
“I think families are great as long as they can get along. And if you can do it with a couchful, why not a worldful? How wonderful life would be."
“Sometimes the only thing you’ve got to hang on to is family."
FASHION and STYLE
“I reckon our style came direct from the Three Stooges."
“Hair’s a fascinating thing. Ask Delilah."
“The sexiest thing a woman could wear? Being stark fucking naked."
“Fashion thinks more about me than I think about it."
“I just wore what I wore and people noticed."
“Once you get into fashion in music it has already diminished."
“I love books … a well-dressed mind!"
“Everybody associates long hair with dirtiness … Maybe it’s a Victorian thing."
“I mean, a few chicks have had a snip here and there when I’m asleep. Those damned Delilahs! Otherwise … I just walk into the bathroom and there’s a pair of scissors … I don’t like people around me with sharp objects. That’s my job."
—on haircuts
“A lot of what I’d learnt at art school came home to roost. About selling a look, an attitude, an image—like what kind of hair you wanted."
“We had a set of uniforms, but everyone kept losing his suit, so we decided to call it a day and go on as we liked."
“Look at this. I’ve got chains growing out of my hair. Should I see a doctor?"
—on his hair charms
“I wear … whatever is available in my bag that’s not in the laundry. And then I steal a few things."
—when asked who decides
what he wears onstage
“If I don’t have this down my belt, I kinda feel undressed."
—referring to a six-inch bone-
handled knife in his waistband
FEAR
“Fear? As a kid, I knew it real well. I’m this little squirt, and every day when I go home from school, no matter which route I take, I’m gonna get