Keith did the right thing to shut down the interview. This journalist guy Larsson was obviously way off topic and provoking Keith, once he succeded it was time to leave but he did not seem to understand, so Keith had to get a little physical. What else should anyone expect.

Way to go Keith! I've done my share of interviews and I've met enough of those m*****f*****s who think they are above all the rest, because they are "journalists".

Who wants yesterdays papers?

Not much info here but some background in case anyone (like me) needs a memory refresher from August 2007 - basically all of the stories online repeat the same content as what is here. For those for whom the link doesn't work, I've pasted the whole story at bottom of this post.

Keith Richards Demands Satisfaction

excerpt: "I am not going to apologize for my subjective opinion... It is Keith who should apologize. After all it costs around $145 to see a rock star who can hardly handle the (guitar) riff to 'Brown Sugar' any more."
Swedish rock critic Markus Larsson, writing for the web edition of Aftonblade"


Original review in Swedish - can anyone translate it (rather than paraphrase)?

thanks!

- swiss

Article below

STOCKHOLM and LONDON, Aug. 30, 2007

Keith Richards Demands Satisfaction
Tells Swedish Critics To "Write The Truth" & Apologize For Bad Review

They're over 50, and they're still rocking. And rolling, of course.

(AP) The Rolling Stones are picking up a little more moss than usual, with a dustup in Sweden over guitarist Keith Richards' performance, and some static in London over a photo of Richards and bandmate Ron Wood smoking on stage.

Smoking is banned in enclosed public places in England under legislation that came into effect July 1. Companies that allow the ban to be breached can be fined up to $5,000.

Looks like the Stones and the O2 Arena, site of Tuesday's smokier-than-legal concert, will be able to duck the fine - this time.

Greenwich Council, the local authority for the southeast London neighborhood where the concert hall is located, says the venue has been warned not to let it happen again.

The problem in Sweden is a little harder to handle.

Quote

"I am not going to apologize for my subjective opinion... It is Keith who should apologize. After all it costs around $145 to see a rock star who can hardly handle the (guitar) riff to 'Brown Sugar' any more."
Swedish rock critic Markus Larsson, writing for the web edition of Aftonbladet
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has demanded an apology from Swedish newspapers for their scathing reviews of the group's performance in the country earlier this month.

Tabloids Expressen and Aftonbladet gave thumbs down to the Aug. 3 concert at Ullevi stadium in Goteborg, with Expressen suggesting Richards was "superdrunk" on stage.

"This is a first!" the 63-year-old rock star wrote in a letter published by Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter. "Never before have I risen to the bait of a bad review... But this time ... I have to stand up ... for our fans all over Sweden ... to say that you owe them, and us, an apology."

Dagens Nyheter said it received the letter from concert organizer EMA Telstar. Company head Thomas Johansson told The Associated Press that Richards wrote the letter and gave it to him after reading translations of the Swedish reviews.

"There were 56,000 people in Ullevi stadium who bought a ticket to our concert - and experienced a completely different show than the one you 'reviewed,"' the letter said.

"How dare you cheapen the experience for them - and for the hundreds of thousands of other people across Sweden who weren't at Ullevi and have only your 'review' to go on.

"Write the truth. It was a good show."

In his review, Aftonbladet's music writer Markus Larsson gave the concert a score of two on a five-point scale, and said Richards appeared "a bit confused."

"I am not going to apologize for my subjective opinion," Larsson told the paper's Web edition on Wednesday. "It is Keith who should apologize. After all it costs around $145 to see a rock star who can hardly handle the (guitar) riff to 'Brown Sugar' any more."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-11 10:24 by swiss.

Typical. The people are hurraying a violent childish behavior, "way to Keith!", and then someone says some critical words of such fanaticism, that post is reported and got delated.

Finally I started to get what being a "fan" is all about.

I guess I have said all I have to say, and a bit more, of The Rolling Stones during all these years. Time to go on.

Cheers.

- Doxa

Quote
Doxa
Typical. The people are hurraying a violent childish behavior, "way to Keith!", and then someone says some critical words of such fanaticism, that post is reported and got delated.

Finally I started to get what being a "fan" is all about.

I guess I have said all I have to say, and a bit more, of The Rolling Stones during all these years. Time to go on.

Cheers.

- Doxa

Doxa! so glad you're still here - pls don't go - you're one of the most interesting and enjoyable posters here. Some people's identities are more wrapped up in the Stones and individual members of the Stones than others--and in different ways. Some people feel and think, with no division between the two. They LOVE the Stones so they can't even THINK of the Stones as being anything other than perfect. Others of us LOVE the Stones too, but also THINK of the band, the music, their performances, individuals, their behaviors....as more complex than simple black/white good/bad love/hate evil/perfect. For some of us discussing the Stones critically (not necessarily negatively but, sure, sometimes) is a sign of how much we respect them; the fact that we take the time to actually think beyond YAAAAAAA===WHOOOOOOOOO! (we probably do that too with our hearts but our brains are happy looking more closely at things).

Anyhoo, you're a great thinker and I'd be less likely to come here if notpossible to read your analysis (and selfishly you're also a member of the small group of women here--there's how many of us? like maybe 2 dozen?). Glad you're still here and hope you'll stick around.

-swiss

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Doxa
Funny how still some people still try justify violent, stupid behavior. What a polide child, a primadonna Keith is. I guess if he had shooted him, some people will say "well, he was provoked, and you know Keith.."

Come On Doxa. You were simply wrong on this one. You judged Keith on a story written by some tabloid reporter. And the story simply wasn't true. And then you go on saying that people here would defend Keith when he would have shot that reporter. Really ...

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Keep On Rolling

Quote
swiss

Quote
Doxa
Typical. The people are hurraying a violent childish behavior, "way to Keith!", and then someone says some critical words of such fanaticism, that post is reported and got delated.

Finally I started to get what being a "fan" is all about.

I guess I have said all I have to say, and a bit more, of The Rolling Stones during all these years. Time to go on.

Cheers.

- Doxa

Doxa! so glad you're still here - pls don't go - you're one of the most interesting and enjoyable posters here. Some people's identities are more wrapped up in the Stones and individual members of the Stones than others--and in different ways. Some people feel and think, with no division between the two. They LOVE the Stones so they can't even THINK of the Stones as being anything other than perfect. Others of us LOVE the Stones too, but also THINK of the band, the music, their performances, individuals, their behaviors....as more complex than simple black/white good/bad love/hate evil/perfect. For some of us discussing the Stones critically (not necessarily negatively but, sure, sometimes) is a sign of how much we respect them; the fact that we take the time to actually think beyond YAAAAAAA===WHOOOOOOOOO! (we probably do that too with our hearts but our brains are happy looking more closely at things).

Anyhoo, you're a great thinker and I'd be less likely to come here if notpossible to read your analysis (and selfishly you're also a member of the small group of women here--there's how many of us? like maybe 2 dozen?). Glad you're still here and hope you'll stick around.

-swiss

+1

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swiss
you're also a member of the small group of women here

I believe Doxa is a guy

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Keep On Rolling

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Doxa
I guess I have said all I have to say, and a bit more, of The Rolling Stones during all these years. Time to go on.

Well, who am I to stop you ? Good luck, and I mean that.

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Keep On Rolling

Quote
Doxa
Funny how still some people still try justify violent, stupid behavior. What a polide child, a primadonna Keith is. I guess if he had shooted him, some people will say "well, he was provoked, and you know Keith.."

Personally I feel ashamed being once a member of this worshipping cult.

- Doxa

So you're not prepared to consider the remotest possibility that every coin has two sides, witness the subsequent statement issued by the Richards camp ? It didn't occur to you, for example that the preceding statement of events issued by Larsson & Co might just have incorporated a degree of exaggeration, to which the Richards camp eventually saw fit to issue a rebuttal or counter-statement.

Shame on you, you're as narrow minded and pathetic as the posters on here that you seem all too eager to criticise.

There's being a sycophantic a** licker, and then there's being a normal balanced individual who doesn't take comments from an over-zealous tabloid journalist with a particular agenda without a hefty pinch of salt, and waits for a response from the other side. If you can't tell the difference between one and the other, then take your shame and drive off into the sunset with it, you won't be missed here.

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-12 11:57 by DandelionPowderman.

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paulywaul
drive off into the sunset

LOL pauly, never figured you could be this poetic

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Keep On Rolling

Quote
Doxa
Typical. The people are hurraying a violent childish behavior, "way to Keith!", and then someone says some critical words of such fanaticism, that post is reported and got delated.

Finally I started to get what being a "fan" is all about.

I guess I have said all I have to say, and a bit more, of The Rolling Stones during all these years. Time to go on.

Cheers.

- Doxa

See ya then ......... bye. Have a good trip. Don't bother calling in, no-one's listening.

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

[passing popcorn with large pinches of salt to Paul :E ]

Doxa,

We all love your posts. Some posters here manage to focus on the era they like the most, instead of getting tangled up in discussions of the current line up.

From what you're saying, I believe that your interest in the band stops around 1983. There still lots of stuff to discover, debate and analyze from the band's first 20 years. Don't go!

DP



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-11 11:23 by DandelionPowderman.

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DandelionPowderman
After all, we have an IORRian who was the closest witness to this incident. When she says that all Keith did was to push the guy aside to be able to get out of the room, I beleive her.

+1

It's in the journalist's interest to exaggerate whatever Keith did or didn't say and do, and in Keith's people's interest to make out that he was just joking... but putting the two of them in a room together and letting him be asked about the bad-review gig was an explosion waiting to happen, and whoever was responsible for it should have known better - unless they meant it to happen. I don't think the journalist should be surprised that he wasn't welcomed with open arms!

It's obvious to anyone who knows anything about the band that Keith has always had a bad temper that sometimes gets the better of him - and that he likes to come across (in print and in person) as a dangerous guy that you don't mess with. However, the line of people who have actually suffered any real physical damage at his hands is (as far as I know) extremely short. If the journalist has any bruises or black eyes to show, I will be very surprised.

Losing your temper is immature (even if understandable), and not as far as I'm concerned something to praise or be proud of. In Keith's many-sided character, it's a side I find unattractive. But that temper may also be the driving force behind his aggression on stage and the passion in his music - so I suppose you have to take the man as he is - complicated. It is certainly blind worship to applaud everything he ever does, even when he occasionally says, writes and does things you despair of.

Of course I accept your right to applaud his actions if you do really think he did the right thing here - I don't, but it's not the end of the world. The whole thing will probably be a nine-days-wonder (or in iorr terms, a nine-page-thread wonder) - it's not important enough for people to leave the board over! Doxa, please don't storm out of the room like a certain guitarist just did - or if you do, don't stay away too long. I often don't agree with you, but I'd miss your posts.

Good post Greenlady,
It sure does seem obvious this was a situation purposely manipulated by the media to elicit a response by Keith. I mean come on, he asks about the gig that he reviewed, knowing it would piss Keith off. And it did. But also, Keith should have at that point just ended the interview and kicked the guy out. Additionally, it is surprising that Keith's handlers did not at least research the jerk who was coming to interview him. THey should have, and I am sure Keith had some words to say to his staff... So this guys five minutes of fame went to six minutes, Keith looks a little silly, and the entire thing will be forgotten until the next Keith event...

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SwayStones
Wow !
I haven't read yet the whole thread but the initial post .
I must say I was speechless at 1st sight and thought that Keith's behaviour was only the next step to the bullshit he wrote about Jagger.

Now I am thinking :"Could all this just be a kind of publicity /advertizing for a new album &/or new tour ?"
Like "the return of the bad boys " ?
If not,it means that only Keith could hardly play guitar ,but he is just screwing up the "last" chance the Stones had to play again.

What do you think ?

Would someone be so kind to answer me ? I feel like I was talking nonsense may be but I couldn't help having this thought about publicity.
Btw, don't think i am negative concerning Keith.I am just voicing an assumption ,you know .



I am a Frenchie ,as Mick affectionately called them in the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 .

You are right. Nonsense, what' you're writing here now is nonsense. Sorry to have to put it this way, but that's the way it is.

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SwayStones

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praline
We used to have such a brilliant exhibition of stupidity in France on the French forum. It's over now that the forum has died.

That's why I am glad to witness that phenomenon again here - no wonder why fan derives from "fanatic". We have here a handful of silly people who are ready to go tomorrow to the headquartes of that Swedish tabloid, with an explosive belt - just like for Mahommet's cartoon actually !

Eeeeerrrrrrr.

You're French, Mademoiselle Praline,arent' you ?
Say your thing ,come on .

btw,praline (may I call you "sweetie" ?) I do agree with what you wrote above.
And I am not trying to polish the apples



I am a Frenchie ,as Mick affectionately called them in the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 .

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sweetcharmedlife
Whether you like it or not....And you can ban me from here until the next century. But I'm as entiltled to my opinion as you are. Without telling you to piss off.

I didnt realise I was the admin of this site, but thanks for the offer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-11 14:23 by Gazza.

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Addicted
You are right. Nonsense, what' you're writing here now is nonsense. Sorry to have to put it this way, but that's the way it is.

And on the seven day GOD spoke and said,"what' you're writing here now is nonsense".
What a Joke

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

Keith vs Larsson
Which side are you on?

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Come On
Keith vs Larsson
Which side are you on?

mick taylor! ;-)

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SwayStones
I feel like I was talking nonsense

Who cares I talk nonsense very often, but I still feel good

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Keep On Rolling

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SwayStones
I couldn't help having this thought

You don't wanna know how many times a day I can't help having certain thoughts LOL

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Keep On Rolling

I can't help but feel Keith handled this very badly. Every artist puts work out and should expect feedback both positive and negative. If you're really so sensitive, especially after 50 years in the business, you're in the wrong game. Of course the journalist was trying to get a reaction and if Keith can only handle sycophantic interviewers he and his people should make sure thats what he gets.
Mick would never have been so crass and common as to lower himself into such a pointless conflict. A firm statement or biting remark could have handled that guy in the manner he deserved.

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iamthedj
I can't help but feel Keith handled this very badly. Every artist puts work out and should expect feedback both positive and negative. If you're really so sensitive, especially after 50 years in the business, you're in the wrong game. Of course the journalist was trying to get a reaction and if Keith can only handle sycophantic interviewers he and his people should make sure thats what he gets.
Mick would never have been so crass and common as to lower himself into such a pointless conflict. A firm statement or biting remark could have handled that guy in the manner he deserved.

I remember Mick in 1987 or 88, attacking the interviewer (in fact this was also a swede!), storming out in rage of the interview room. It was big news back in the day, also here in Norway. So, I guess it's lonely (and tough) at the top

Here´s a translation of the interview´s last part. Maybe someone already has posted it elsewhere.

Question: I have to ask you. A couple of years ago you played in Gothenburg and got a lukewarm review from a Swedish critic.
Answer: Oh, you mean the man from Gothenburg? He put me down even before I played Gothenburg. And when I wanted to see him he already had left the town. I hate cowards.
Q: Well...
A: He has a malevolent pen. He doesn´t like me. One day I want to meet him in a dark room.
Q: But I, eh.
A: It´s not you?
Q: Yes. And I´m not a coward. (Keith slams his glass down on the table)
A: It´s you!
Q: Yes, it´s me.
A: So you are the man who hates me?
Q: No, I don´t hate you.
A: (Keith rises) Let´s turn out the lights here and now. You´ve really been writing a lot of shit about me.
Q: I wanted to come here and look in your eyes and...
A: So it´s you. Why am I talking to you? You´re full of shit. When I wanted to talk to you, you ran away.
Q: No, I didn´t. And I´m here now.
A: What do you want? Slit my throat?
Q: I don´t want to fight. I want to explain...
A: On what did you base your review?
Q: I didn´t think the show lived up to my expectations. But I stand for it and I...
Q: Funny thing that no one else felt the way you did. So now it´s personal. Now we say goodbye. (Keith gives the reporter´s head a little push). Consider yourself lucky to get out from here alive. (Keith quickly leaves the room)