Keith Richards Calls Out Pop Music as ‘Rubbish,’ Names Other Genre He Could Do Without

The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards remains firmly on "Team Rock," reflecting on his career and the band's new album Hackney Diamonds during a chat with The Telegraph and calling out two genres of music that aren't his cup of tea. He starts by taking a shot at pop music, calling it "rubbish."

The guitarist explains, “I don’t want to start complaining about pop music. It’s always been rubbish. I mean, that’s the point of it. They make it as cheap and as easy as possible and therefore it always sounds the same; there’s very little feel in it.”

Per Richards, “I like to hear music by people playing instruments. That is, I don’t like to hear plastic synthesized Muzak, as it used to be known, what you hear in ­elevators, which is now the par for the course.”

But pop music wasn't the only genre drawing a harsh critique from the legendary guitarist. Commenting on rap music, Richards humorously added, “I don’t really like to hear people yelling at me and telling me it’s music, AKA rap. I can get enough of that without leaving my house.”

Richards and the Rolling Stones famously emerged as one of the biggest rock acts in the world during the '60s, an era in which they went head-to-head with The Beatles on the charts. But within the discussion, Richards downplayed any rivalry between the two bands.

In fact, he explained, “I don’t think John Lennon would have had much problem fitting into the Stones, or George [Harrison], if you can imagine that sort of thing happening.”

“We were the same generation, and we all loved the same music. When we first heard The Beatles, we were relieved that there was some other band in England on the same track that we were on. And within a few months, that track was the main track,” explained the guitarist.

And all these years later, we're finally getting a Rolling Stones-Beatles crossover with Paul McCartney appearing on the Stones' song "Bite My Head Off." "Paul happened to be in town…And we couldn’t keep him away, bless his heart. And hey, if you can get one of the Beatles on your track, you know, you do it.”

He went on to add, “Paul’s a very amiable cat to play with; we’ve been great friends forever.”

READ MORE: The Rolling Stones Debut 'Angry' Off New Album 'Hackney Diamonds'

Hackney Diamonds, which also features guest turns from Lady Gaga, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and former Stones bassist Bill Wyman, is due Oct. 20. Pre-orders are available here.