The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has discussed the potential threat of artificial intelligence on the music industry, stating the technology can be used as “a tool or toy” by musicians.
Richards made the remark on the inaugural episode of the new BBC Sounds podcast Sidetracked with Annie and Nick, hosted by former BBC Radio 1 DJs Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw. During the conversation, Richards spoke about The Rolling Stones’ upcoming album Hackney Diamonds, and the ever-changing technological landscape.
The guitarist said: “If you really want to listen to a record properly… I mean digital is toy town. Synthesizers, not you have AI, which is even more superficial… But AI is like anything else. It can either be a tool, or it can be a toy. And most times, all of these things become toys. But it’s like how you use it.”
Richards added: “Recording is a special art in a way. I don’t know really how to put it into words. Because I mean, if you could put music and what it does into words, there’d be no point in it. But vinyl will give you what’s real and I prefer to hear it that way. I like real.”
Ahead of the release of The Rolling Stones’ collaboration ‘Sweet Sound of Heaven’ with Lady Gaga, Richards also explained how the track was born, telling the podcast hosts: “Lady Gaga came in and had definitely not been to bed, she was beautifully chaotic, and was like ‘I want to play you my new music and I was like ok, great!”
“Thinking, another time. And she took me into another studio and played me a song, and stood really close to me, which is my hell, and sung all her songs to me, in my face and she’d not been to bed and I had, and was like ‘oh yeah!’ trying to get into it. And it was good and I love her but it was just too much to handle,” Richards added.
The collaboration, which also features Stevie Wonder, is set to be released on September 28th at 5pm BST. ‘Sweet Sound of Heaven’ is the second single to be taken from their forthcoming album Hackney Diamonds, set for release on October 20th. It arrives mere weeks after ‘Angry’, which was released alongside a video starring Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Mick Jagger weighed up the possibility of a future hologram tour by the band once they are no longer able to play.
“You can have a posthumous business now, can’t you? You can have a posthumous tour,” he said in a new interview. “The technology has really moved on since the ABBA thing [the pop group’s recent “Voyage” virtual show], which I was supposed to go to, but I missed it,” the frontman added.
Get ready! Sweet Sounds Of Heaven ft. @ladygaga and @StevieWonder out tomorrow – September 28 – 9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm BSThttps://t.co/f1Odn2p9Wm
📸: Andrew Watt pic.twitter.com/o5AD53bJbT
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) September 27, 2023
