‘Keith Richards: Under The Influence’ Shows What It’s Like Being Rock N’ Roll’s Coolest Guitarist

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has survived heroin addiction, drug busts, brain surgery and smoked enough Marlboro reds to fill a cancer ward, but will he survive old age? Of course, no one survives old age, but whether or not the archetypal rock n’ roll bad boy can maintain his cool while entering his ‘70s is one of the underlying themes of the documentary Keith Richards: Under The Influence. As he says at the film’s outset, “You’re not grown up until the day they put you 6 feet under. You’re never grown up.”

Under The Influence is an original Netflix production and it premiered on the streaming site in 2015. It was directed by Morgan Neville, who is best known for the 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Neville has a sympathetic eye and ear for the nuances of how musicians interact and relate to their music. For Richards fans — admittedly, like myself — it’s a treat, as Neville takes us inside the man cave on his Connecticut estate, festooned with skulls and old blues LPs, and into his guitar locker, filled with vintage axes that recorded so many classic rock hits.

The film has a warm, chummy approach, akin to spending an afternoon with Keith, sharing a drink and a smoke and hearing him spiel about his favorite music and how it inspired him. It’s similar in that way to Life, Richards’ rambling 2010 autobiography which ambled through his personal history, in not-exactly chronological order, before sharing his Bangers & Mash recipe and ending abruptly, the literary equivalent of an all-night bender with the guitarist, appropriately ending in a mutual blackout for the author and his audience.

Under The Influence covers all the same plot points as the autobiography. It’s a tale anyone who grew up on British classic rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s knows well. A legion of malnourished children grow up in the ashen squalor and literal ruins of post-World War II Britain, before their lives are illuminated by the shining beacon of American rock n’ roll and rhythm & blues. Richards says after hearing Elvis Presley for the first time, “The world went from black and white to Technicolor.” However, rock n’ roll would soon take a backseat to the blues as the object of Richards’ eternal reverence. His chance meeting with former schoolmate Mick Jagger on a London train platform, and the future frontman’s possession of prime Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry platters led to the formation of “The World’s Greatest Rock N’ Roll Band,” The Rolling Stones, now well into their sixth decade.

The Rolling Stones started out as blues devotees but soon morphed into the ill-mannered, unkempt antithesis of their rivals to the north, The Beatles. If The Beatles wore matching suits, The Stones were mismatched in blue jeans and sweaters. If The Beatles wrote well-crafted pop tunes, The Stones delivered bluesy rave-ups (well, until later, when they figured out how to write well-crafted pop tunes, though The Stones pop songs always had an underlying edge and menace). If The Beatles charmed America with their engaging wit, The Stones horrified the older generation with their detached hostility. Dean Martin, seen introducing the band on The Hollywood Palace variety show in 1964, doesn’t hide his disdain, rolling his eyes and cracking jokes at their expense.

There’s a convincing argument to be made that says The Rolling Stones are the original punk rock band. From the outset, they didn’t give a toss about what people thought of them and did their best to tweak authority figures, either in their appearance, their behavior or provocative songs like “Street Fighting Man” and “Sympathy For The Devil.” While the ‘60s counter culture snaked ever further from the mainstream, Richards raised the black flag, looking like an actual pirate with his dark rooster mullet, dangling jewelry and gypsy scarves. The Stones became an increasingly respectable rock institution in the 1970s, but “Keef” held out as the band’s remaining rebel, incurring the wrath of law enforcement. A serious drug bust in 1977 forced him to kick heroin, though it should be said, “clean” for Keith Richards is not what most rehabilitation counselors would consider sober living.

Under The Influence mostly eschews the headlines, though, and concentrates on the music. As friend and occasional collaborator Tom Waits describes him, “He’s like a London cabbie, who has all the knowledge, except he has that in music.” Its kind of about the recording of his 2015 solo album Crosseyed Heart, which saw him reunite with his backing band The X-Pensive Winos, but kind of not. The recording footage merely illustrates how the man called “The Human Riff” intuitively knows how to flesh out a song and take it to the next level. “This could use a little more juice,” he says at one point about the recording process, adding, “You never know when the magic bit’s going to come in.” But he does know. He’s made a career out of it.

From there Keith travels to Chicago to hang out with blues legend Buddy Guy, to Nashville to talk about his love of country music, to Jamaica to talk about how reggae nourished his love of music in the ‘70s, when he felt rock was getting stale. These are the influences he’s been under, though the title also is a nod and a wink reference to his legendary drug and alcohol intake. Tom Waits tells a hilarious story about their first encounter and recording session, saying “There were beverages involved. I must admit I was trying to match him, which you must never try to ever do.”

In under an hour and half, Under The Influence breezes through the guitarist’s life and music. More than anything else, the film is about what it’s like to actually be Keith Richards, and as you might guess, it’s pretty f***ing cool being Keith Richards. Towards the end, he discusses the “ball and chain” of his image, the stereotype that right now, as he says, “Keith Richards is smoking a joint, bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand, walking down the road, cursing the fact that the liquor store is closed.” But besides the liquor store part, it’s an image born out by the movie and his behavior. Ever the coolest guy in the room, he’s nonchalant about his survival thus far, saying, “Life’s a funny thing, you know? I’ve always thought 30 was about it, beyond that, it would be horrible to be alive. Until I got to be 31. (laughter) “Well, it ain’t so shabby. I’ll hang in a while.”

[Watch Keith Richards: Under The Influence on Netflix]

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician who got The Rolling Stones ‘Hot Rocks’ for his 8th birthday and has never looked back.  Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.