"To make a rock'n'roll record, technology is the least important thing"
About this Quote
Keith Richards is needling a modern superstition: that the secret sauce of great music lives in gear forums, plug-in presets, and the studio’s latest miracle box. Coming from a man whose most iconic riffs often sound like they were dragged out of a busted amp and a half-broken mood, the line isn’t anti-technology so much as anti-alibi. It’s a refusal to let craft cosplay as feeling.
The intent is bluntly democratic. If technology is “the least important thing,” then a rock’n’roll record doesn’t belong to people with unlimited budgets or pristine rooms. It belongs to whoever can summon a groove that feels inevitable. Richards is defending the messy human physics of rock: timing that leans forward, notes that smear, a voice that cracks at exactly the right moment. Those details can be cleaned up, but they can’t be invented by software.
The subtext is also a jab at perfectionism. Rock, in Richards’ worldview, is a contact sport; the point is impact, not polish. By downranking technology, he elevates the unglamorous essentials: band chemistry, conviction, and taste - the ability to know when to stop tinkering and just hit “record” while the song still has blood pressure.
Context matters: Richards came up in an era when limitations were the medium. Tape ran out. Edits were costly. Happy accidents weren’t romantic mythology; they were practical reality. His quote reads like an update to an old credo: you can upgrade the tools forever, but you can’t upgrade away the need for a great take.
The intent is bluntly democratic. If technology is “the least important thing,” then a rock’n’roll record doesn’t belong to people with unlimited budgets or pristine rooms. It belongs to whoever can summon a groove that feels inevitable. Richards is defending the messy human physics of rock: timing that leans forward, notes that smear, a voice that cracks at exactly the right moment. Those details can be cleaned up, but they can’t be invented by software.
The subtext is also a jab at perfectionism. Rock, in Richards’ worldview, is a contact sport; the point is impact, not polish. By downranking technology, he elevates the unglamorous essentials: band chemistry, conviction, and taste - the ability to know when to stop tinkering and just hit “record” while the song still has blood pressure.
Context matters: Richards came up in an era when limitations were the medium. Tape ran out. Edits were costly. Happy accidents weren’t romantic mythology; they were practical reality. His quote reads like an update to an old credo: you can upgrade the tools forever, but you can’t upgrade away the need for a great take.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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