Keith Richards thinks the idea of “new rock ‘n’ roll” is “pointless”

Keith Richards has made public his indifference towards today’s music, sharing that he finds the popularised use of synthesisers “cheap and corny”.

The Rolling Stones guitarist voiced his thoughts in an interview with Rolling Stone. When asked if he had been listening to new music from the rock world, Richards offered, “There is no new rock ’n’ roll. It’s pointless.”

“There’s great musicians and some great singers and stuff. Unfortunately, to me, in music, it’s been synthesised to death,” he explained. “Once you start synthesising things, you’re not getting the real thing.”

Richards added: “I don’t want to go into a long discourse on what’s wrong with synthesisers and music these days, except to say they’re cheap and corny.”

Elsewhere in his interview, Richards voiced his support of the Black Lives Matter protests, saying “it’s about bloody time”.

“In [the US], things are coming to a head. That’s the way it is. You got to deal with it,” Richards said. “It’s difficult for me to talk about it, because I am not an American. I live here, I am in heart and soul, I am one of you, but I can’t interfere. I’m like Putin, I refuse to interfere in your electoral process.”

The British guitarist, whose rock ‘n‘ roll career was hugely influenced by Black American blues musicians, also expressed his gratitude to Black artists: “They’re the reason I’m here.”

“You want to know what Black people have done for the world, man? Just listen to the music. It’s an expression, and it touches everybody,” Richards said. “It touches whites and yellows and little hairy things, I don’t know, but that’s what it’s about.”

“It’s about touching people and recording has made that possible. And throughout the history of this music, recorded music, the influence of the blues is just massive. It just takes different shades. In the swing music in the 30s and 40s, Louis Armstrong, I mean, do I have to ramble on?”

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