Vintage Keith Richards

So I’m reading Keef’s biography at the moment, and I am amazed at some of the photos of him. I sometimes wish I lived in the old days, they really were a decadent time. People drank and smoked and didn’t worry about a thing. Rock concerts were meant to burn through electricity, there were no alcoholic ‘coolers’ and rock stars didn’t preach about the state of the planet. And people were just built better in those days. Put me through a week of Keith’s life back in the day and I’d be dead.

I also loved the old days because photos captured the moment, whereas now we take photos on cameras with a thousand different setting, 6 different lenses, and then we take these photos back, put them on our computers, alter them until they’re ‘perfect’, and then only publish them. I love the raw nature of old photos, processed with minimal camera settings and no Photoshop. Any photo that has captured an important piece of histroy hasn’t been Photoshopped. We Photoshop magazine photos, and that’s why I hate these photo’s so much. They’re artisitc, but so much effort has gone into them, so much money, so much time. I just don’t like it. I do love photos though that capture moments, and these are three of Keith, that perfectly capture him, always with a drink:

Aviators, bottle of Jack, bag, and about to get into a waiting limo…this was a decadent era

Getting out of the Stones plane in 1972 — What I would have done to experienced, first hand, that lifestyle. It just doesn’t seem to happen anymore. Thanks Bono!

Jack Daniels and Coors — Just another day in the office

Just for a moment try and think how amazing it must have been to have been one of the Stones? Living in one of the most insane musical eras, where real music was made. Where real parties and drinks were had. A time where the environment wasn’t a worry, and you just did what you felt like? Where money wasn’t an issue and you were a damn hero in the public’s eye. The whole world at your feet. Days and night spent playing music, making money, having fun with women and partying with your mates, drinking anytime you wanted.

How mad must it be to be Keith today? You can sit on your couch with a bottle of wine, and look back on possibly one of the most awesome lives a human has lived, ever. Imagine that, of all the billions of people who have gone before you, and of all the time the earth has existed, you have lived possibly the most decadently of them all. You’ve been one of the biggest rock stars in the world, made the most money, drank the most, done the most drugs…and you’re still alive. And you’re at the peak of the human race right now, this is the most advanced we’ve ever been. From here it all seems downhill, as we struggle for energy and scale our lives down to help conserve energy.

Imagine that, not just being the best in your industry, but to have lived the best life in the entire universe. Ever.

That to me is just beyond crazy.

Photos Credit