Rock's fake rebels | Dorian Lynskey
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The Rolling Stones were always more reactionary than revolutionary, as Keith Richards proves
Like many national landmarks, Keith Richards is regarded fondly because he never really changes. You see him and you think: ah yes, that’s what rock’n'roll stars do. Even as he increasingly resembles a character from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the 66-year-old guitarist can be relied on to maintain such long-cherished habits as smoking, drinking and being amusingly rude about Mick Jagger. Decades removed from when he was considered a threat to the morals of the nation’s youth, his hellraising exploits seem cosy. These days it is not his lifestyle that has the capacity to raise eyebrows but his politics.
On Friday he told an interviewer that he had sent Tony Blair a letter of encouragement to “stick to his guns” over Iraq, back when most musicians were either opposing the war or maintaining a discreet silence. On Saturday, in [...]