Rolling Stones Feud? Keith Richards Brands Mick Jagger A ‘Control Freak’

The Rolling Stones have been making music for more than 50 years, and its two main members — Keith Richards and Mick Jagger — have had notorious rows in the past. In a new interview with The New York Daily News, Richards supported what he said about Jagger in his 2010 autobiography, Life. Richards implied Jagger was a bit of a snob.

“I’ll reinforce that. His daughter, Georgia Mae, was sitting around in my room and she said, ‘oh, you know what dad’s like. He’s such a snob.’ He can come off that way even to me and the rest of the band. He comes on the plane and doesn’t say, ‘Hey mate.’ He’s preoccupied with something really boring. He’s a control freak. He likes to know everything that’s going on. He lost himself a bit in the details.”

Richards, who turns 72 in December, said he loves Jagger, who turned 72 in July. The guitarist praised Jagger’s abilities as the Stones frontman and noted, “your friends don’t have to be perfect.”

Back in 2013, Mick Jagger told The Daily Mail that he’d requested an apology from Richards for what he said in Life. It was necessary in order for the band to continue.

“Well, I think it was a good thing he got together with me and said that. I don’t really want to talk about it apart from that, but I think it’s good that he said it, and yes, it was a prerequisite, really. You have to put those things to one side; you can’t leave them unspoken. It’s very tempting – English people like to do that. They don’t like to face up to these things. It’s easy to push them out of the way, but it’s good we had that conversation.”

Despite his crusty words, Richards admitted to some regret that he is still seen as a rock star embroiled in excess. He’s been married for more than three decades and is a grandfather.

“I can drag that image around… It’s a ball and chain. At the same time, I take it as a privilege to be taken into people’s hearts and minds. I feel like I’m doing all these things that they can’t do in a 9 to 5 job.”

Richards has just completed a new solo album, Crosseyed Heart. It has been 10 years since the Stones released a new studio album. Despite the long gap, the band, which formed in 1962, continues to tour. This past summer the Zip Code tour took the band through several cities in North America.

[Photo by Jason Merritt / Getty Images Entertainment]