What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [70]
May 13, 1972 – Exile on Main Street is released.
A double album that combines blues, country, soul, and rock. Considered the most Keith of all Stones albums, it includes his trademark song “Happy.” (The source of his happiness has been debated—some say it was hearing Anita was pregnant; Keith says it was finally showing up for a session on time.) There’s a strong influence from Gram Parsons on the album, as well as from Little Richard, Hank Williams, Southern spirituals, country-western, and Robert Johnson.
July 18, 1972 – Arrested in Warwick, Rhode Island, with other Stones, for assault and obstructing police due to scuffle at the airport. Keith also punches out a photographer.
July 1972 – Tour truck is destroyed by a bomb in Montreal.
August 1972 – Keith moves family to Villars, Switzerland; tries a Swiss family life and skiing.
December 1972 – Warrants are issued for the arrests of Keith and Anita in Nice, France.
The case ultimately collapses when it’s revealed that police were coerced into concocting stories.
December 1972 – Keith buys his estate, Point of View, in Jamaica.
1973 – Death of grandfather Gus Dupree, the man who introduced him to music and the guitar.
1973 – Rumors start circulating that some guitarist named Ron Wood is going to replace Keith if he doesn’t clean up his act.
1973 – Walking-death look gets thumbs-up.
Lester Bangs writes in Creem magazine: “Keith was obviously one of those people who look the absolute best of their entire lives when they’re clearly on the verge of death. It seemed to lend him a whole new profundity and eloquence … soul flattened, skin sallow, bone scraped, and behind the reflector-shaded eyes the suggestion of a diseased intelligence … Fucked up. It was beautiful."
June 26, 1973 – Police storm and ransack house at Cheyne Walk while Keith and Anita are in bed.
Found: cannabis, Mandrax, cocaine, Chinese heroin, guns, and 110 rounds of ammunition. Bail: one thousand pounds.
June 27, 1973 – Court again, for narcotics and firearms charges.
Keith and Anita are released on bail and go to Sussex, where, four days later, there’s more trouble …
July 31–August 1, 1973 – Redlands, Keith’s home in Sussex, mysteriously bursts into flames.
August 1973 – Spain bans all Rolling Stones records.
August 31, 1973 – Goats Head Soup is released.
Contains the Keith drug song “Coming Down Again” and “Angie,” which may be about Anita (“Anita-I-need-ya”) or his just-born daughter Dandelion (later renamed Angela).
September 19, 1973 – Gram Parsons dies at age twenty-six from heroin overdose at a hotel room in the California desert.
The body is stolen from the Los Angeles airport, driven back to the desert, and set on fire in a Three Stooges–level amateur cremation. The death is a major blow to Keith. From here on in, many claim to hear the ghost of Parsons in Keith’s songs.
October 15, 1973 – Suspended prison sentence given by a Nice court.
Keith and Anita are ordered to pay £500 each, plus an additional £205 for Keith, for possession of drugs, firearms, and ammunition. Thrilled, they throw a party at a London hotel and accidentally set the bed and the room on fire.
October 24, 1973 – Marlborough Street Court fines Keith and gives Anita a one-year discharge for the Cheyne Walk raid.
February 1974 – Keith and Anita are banned from entering France.
July 1974 – British magazine New Music Express calls Richards “The world’s most elegantly wasted human being,” an honor that will last decades.
August 1974 – Rumor starts that Richards has undergone a complete blood transfusion in Switzerland.
It’s later revealed the rumor was started by Keith himself.
October 18, 1974 – It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll is released.
Songs include “If You Can’t Rock Me” and “Fingerprint File,” purportedly about the FBI’s tracking of Keith and Mick.
October 1974 – Recording of Keith’s song “Scarlet” with Jimmy Page and Ian Stewart.
The song is never released.
November/December