Keith Richards Isn’t Afraid To Use This “Cut-Throat” Technique in Music, Here’s Why

Whether telling Prince to get over himself when he was the opening act for the Rolling Stones to admitting to snorting his own father’s ashes, Stones guitarist Keith Richards has never shied away from saying exactly what’s on his mind—and that includes his willingness to include a “cut-throat” technique in his songwriting.

Technically, a quick perusal of the Rolling Stones’ musical catalog would make Richards’ approach to writing pretty obvious. Still, it tends to hit differently when the artist reveals their not-so-secret secrets so plainly.

Keith Richards Uses A “Cut-Throat” Writing Technique

In a 2022 interview with Uncut, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards discussed the re-issue of his 1992 solo album, Main Offender. The album was his second solo studio project, preceded by his 1988 record, Talk Is Cheap. Richards told Uncut that although both albums were fun to create, he was especially excited about reuniting with his solo band for Main Offender.

“We were more familiar with each other,” Richards said of him and his band. “[We] knew how to play with each other. It was probably more fun. A lot of it comes from freewheeling in front of a microphone with a riff.”

Richards said that this half-improvisational technique is his go-to for songwriting. When asked if he enjoyed a collaborative process, the guitarist offered a more one-sided perspective on collaboration. “I’ll take anybody’s idea,” he admitted. “You can call that collaboration. I call it thieving! Writing is a cut-throat business.”

While it’s no great secret that the Rolling Stones have borrowed from other artists, particularly blues musicians who came before them, it isn’t often that a musician will blatantly admit to unapologetically stealing from others. But of course, Keith Richards isn’t like most musicians.

The Guitarist Has Even Stolen From His Own Band

Keith Richards isn’t afraid of stealing music from anybody, whether it’s a past musician or his own bandmates. One such example of the latter came in the form of “Happy,” a 1972 single from the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main St. It became the only Stones track to enter the Billboard Hot 100 with Richards on lead vocals, and he was the one responsible for making that happen.

Richards wrote “Happy” during the band’s stay at Villa Nellcôte in the South of France in the early 1970s. The guitarist wrote the song so quickly in one afternoon that the rest of the band didn’t even know it existed when Richards made the executive decision to feature himself on lead vocals. “I’d stolen it and captured it before anybody else knew it existed,” Richards admitted in 2010 (via Far Out Magazine). “So, that was it.”

“Happy” is a favorite of Richards to play to this day, despite it being “not usually my genre,” he explained. “I’m not known for happy and joyful stuff. I’m probably more aligned to Lucifer and the dark side. Some of the best songs, some of the happiest ditties in the world come out because you’re feeling exactly the opposite. Sometimes, you write to counteract that feeling.”

“I was feeling anything but happy when I wrote “Happy,”” Richards said. “I wrote “Happy” to make sure there was a word like that and a feeling like that.”

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