Life according to Keef

Life according to Keef 

My brother and I managed to give each other the same gift for Christmas, Keith Richard's autobiography, Life.

It took me till this month to start the novel but when I did, it was compulsory bus trip to work reading material. The book starts with an amusing annecdote of how the Stones were arrested on suspicion of using drugs which basically sets the scene for the whole of the book. Keith's life is a wild ride of drugs, women and cars.

Keef, as Richards signs his letters had an interesting childhood but frankly when I'm reading biographies of rock stars (like Slash's), I don't really care if they were bullied, their dad was a drunk or they had to walk 50 miles in the snow to get to school without shoes. I just want to hear how the band got together, how the hits were written, what happened on the tours and whether Marianne Faithful really did naughty things to a Mars bar (she didn't).

The formation period of the Stones is a very cool section of the book. The short version is they paid their dues by gigging all day and night, everyday.

Keith was also a musical magpie who learned everything he could from everyone - which totally reminded me of Bob Dylan's modus operandi as seen in the Martin Scorsese documentary, No Direction Home.

The book is full of great little nuggets of rock n roll history but the things I really enjoyed where seemingly random stories such as how he thought John Lennon was a lightweight when it came to his drug taking and the fact Lennon often ended up puking somewhere as a result.

At the heart of the Rolling Stones is the relationship between Keith and Mick Jagger. In this story Keith bares all on Mick. His love and disrespect for the man. While it's clear that Mick has saved Keith's ass more time from jail and drugs than Keith probably admits, he quite confidently calls him out for fucking too many chicks, pretending he was the leaders of the band and arranging solo album deals on the side without letting the band know. Sounds like they were / are as fractured as those boys from Oasis.

Life is a fine read, any fan of the Stones and their music would get a lot out of it.