The Rolling Stones Classic That Keith Richards Disliked and Didn’t Believe Was “Single Material”
Sometimes, a band knows they’ve made a hit right away, and other times, it takes a bit of convincing—such was the case for the Rolling Stones hit Keith Richards disliked and insisted wasn’t worth putting out as a single. Looking back now, imagining the Stones without this iconic track seems sacrilege.
Of course, hindsight is always 20/20. Regardless of what Richards thought about the song when he first wrote it, he certainly enjoyed the success the track brought the band all those years ago in 1965.
Keith Richards Disliked This Future Rolling Stones Hit At First
Singles are commercially sensible opportunities for a band to reach a wide audience before releasing a full album. The songs a band selects to put out as singles should be universally appealing, catchy, and enduring. Days after writing the now-instantly recognizable riff for “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Richards wasn’t sure the track qualified.
“There’s this motel in Clearwater, Florida. I remember sitting with Keith and writing the song “Satisfaction,”” frontman Mick Jagger recalled in the BBC documentary My Life As A Rolling Stone. “[Then-manager] Andrew Oldham said, ‘This is like a No. 1 single—this is great.’ Keith was like, ‘I don’t really like it. It can’t come out as a single.’”
“He only had the first bit,” Jagger later explained (via History). “It sounded like a country sort of thing on acoustic guitar. It didn’t sound like rock. [Keith]…thought it was a joke. He really didn’t think it was single material, and we all said, ‘You’re off your head.’ Which he was, of course.”
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