Ahead of the Keith Richards – The Origin of the Species documentary going out on Saturday 23 July, 9pm on BBC Two, Keith spoke to Matt Everitt for Music News on BBC Radio 6 Music & BBC Radio 2.
Keith Richards said: ‘My generation, you grew up automatically expecting to go National Service, go in the army at 18… there was no reason to suppose it was going to change but then, my luck, right on the cusp, they knocked it on the head. And so suddenly this horizon opens up. These two years that you thought, peeling spuds in Catterick or something, you know, suddenly these two years open up with this vista of possibilities…. For instance, if I’d have had to go in the army there’d have been no Rolling Stones and probably no Beatles either.’
Keith Richards – The Origin of the Species – made by acclaimed director, Julien Temple – tells the story in Keith’s own words about his formative years during the post-war period. It is an exploration of how these years impacted his life, and influenced the 60s and the decades that followed. It is centrepiece of the BBC Music My Generation season, telling the story of popular music since the 1950s across TV, Radio and Online.
