Keith Richards Caved to Pressure Before Making His 1st Solo Album: ‘I Had to Be Dragged, Kind of Screaming’

Keith Richards shot to fame as the hard-living guitarist for The Rolling Stones. That’s been his main gig for more than 60 years, the band for whom he wrote what might be his favorite song. Still, Richards’ first solo album proved to be a hit even though he had to be pressured into making it.

Keith Richards felt ‘like a turncoat’ making his first solo album

Richards was a rock star and a musical trendsetter with The Rolling Stones. He was also late to the party among members of his band — Richards was the last to go solo.

The guitarist focused his energy on the Stones for decades. For better (a run of great albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a slew of No. 1 hits) or worse (his drug addiction, rotating cast of rhythm guitarists), Richards gave everything he had to the band. He never really considered going it alone until the late 1980s.

While working on the 1987 movie Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll — he appeared as himself in the documentary/concert film — Richards and Steve Jordan formed a friendship. The drummer, who has recorded with Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Stevie Nicks, James Taylor, and other notable stars, put pressure on Richards to make a solo record. The guitarist finally relented, as he told Bruce Springsteen guitar player Steven Van Zandt (via YouTube):

“During that whole period of making the movie, Steve and I had become tighter and tighter, and he said, ‘What’s next?’ And I have to be dragged, kind of screaming, into ‘You’ve gotta make a record.’ It never occurred to me, and it was also to me like a turncoat. I had one great band, one of the greatest bands in the damn world, and I said [to myself], ‘Yeah, you don’t screw this up, man.’ All of my energy and whatever I’d got had been to the Stones.”

Keith Richards

Making a solo album felt like a betrayal to Richards. Despite the Stones being more than 25 years old at the time. And despite the fact every other member of the group had already done it. Richards finally caught up with them when he released Talk Is Cheap in 1988.

Mick Jagger’s first solo record landed in 1985. Before that, guitar player Ronnie Wood (who joined the Stones in 1975) broke away on 1979’s Gimme Some Neck. The player Wood replaced, Mick Talyor, also went solo in 1979, and before that, bassist Bill Wyman released his first record in 1974. Even drummer Charlie Watts put out a jazz-centric solo effort in 1986.

How did Richards’ solo debut  ‘Talk Is Cheap’ perform on the charts?

Richards wrote the Stones’ hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in his sleep. His first record on his own required a bit more work. Richards and Jordan co-wrote all 11 songs on Talk Is Cheap. Even though the guitarist was the last member of The Rolling Stones to go solo, the album’s success proved fans were hungry to hear it.

Even without a charting single, the record climbed to No. 24 on the Billboard charts. It spent 23 weeks among the top albums in 1988. English fans received it more tepidly. Talk Is Cheap peaked at No. 37 in just three weeks on the chart in Richards’ homeland, per the Official Charts Company.

Meanwhile, the RIAA certified Richards’ solo debut gold (500,000 units sold) less than a year after its release.

Perhaps most importantly, Talk Is Cheap revitalized The Rolling Stones. The lackluster album Dirty Work (1986) prompted Jagger to focus on another solo record and tour. Within a year of Richards’ releasing his solo album, the Stones reconvened to write, record, and release Steel Wheels in August 1989.

Keith Richards’ first solo album happened only after he caved to peer pressure. He was the last Rolling Stones member to go solo, but he succeeded with his record and helped re-energize his main group.

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