The Fellow Guitarist Keith Richards Couldn’t Stand the Sight Of

The music industry is rife with rivalries. In an industry so fickle, competition is stiff. You have to keep your guard up or you could be pushed out of the spotlight by another artist. The rivalry we’re focusing on today is that of Keith Richards and Jeff Beck. Learn more below about why the two guitarists “Couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”

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The Beef Between Keith Richards and Jeff Beck

Hey babe, what more can you tell?
The good Lord ring your front door bell
Though our love goin’ down, don’t cry
Thought I saw a man, yes I fell in the ground
Here we go down now

Early on in the Rolling Stones’ tenure, Beck was rumored to be on the shortlist of guitarists to replace Mick Taylor in the ’70s. He ultimately wasn’t chosen for the group, due to his individualism.

“We felt that Jeff had his own furrow to plow and that he was not a team man,” Richards once said. “He was a soloist to the max. He was such an individualist. It wouldn’t have worked with the Stones at all. We’re all about teamwork.”

Richards’ comments above came after Beck’s death and are markedly less pointed than his opinion about his fellow guitarist earlier in their careers. The two artists eventually worked out their differences, but there was a time when they could barely be in the same room together.

“Guitar players, for me, are the hardest ones to know, all this professional sh** going on,” Richards once said. “Very unprofessional, really. I mean, Jeff Beck and I, for years, could hardly stand the sight of each other. It’s only been over the last few years that that’s all fallen by the wayside. Thank God it’s all over and we can sit around and have a drink and talk. That’s a guy I admire a lot. He’s a great player.”

We echo Richards’ gratitude that he and Beck worked out their differences. We can’t rest easy in the knowledge that two of our favorite rock greats had it out for each other at one time. Them being on good terms gifted us collaborative performances, like the one below.

Here we go down
There’s nothing but the powers that be
I know you’re fine, I know you’re right
I know, I know, ’cause you’re going down
Oh you’re going down

(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)