Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015) User Reviews

Keith's drunk chuckle makes it worth your time

[maccas-56367 · 7/10 · 25 January 2019]

The drunk chuckle of Keith Richards makes me smile. This wasn't so much a documentary about Keith, but more about his music influences. If you're a guitarist or big fan of the blues, then you'll probably love this. If not, then you may find it a bit underwhelming as I did in parts.

The first half was a bit like hanging around a music store as guitarists talked about their instruments and recording techniques. I did enjoy hearing how 'Street Fighting Man' came about in the studio though.

The sheer scope of different genres and musical influences on Keith was impressive, as was his sheer love for music and rock n roll itself. The reggae and country segments were particularly interesting - as for me, the Stones were my stepping stone into the whole country genre.

Have you ever wanted to see Keith Richards and Chuck Berry argue? Well this is your chance. I also had no idea about Keith's proficiency on a piano - was great to see him playing!

By the end, you feel like you've been hanging out with Keith and he starts to feel like a good friend. A brief touching moment on family and love was a nice way to wrap things up.

If you've always just thought of Keith as a pirate or drunkard, then watch this to get a better understanding of the man and how gifted a musician he is - we need to appreciate these music legends while they're still around!

Good, but needs more focus and depth

[grantss · 7/10 · 16 September 2018]

The legendary Keith Richards reveals the artists, individuals and music that influenced his music.

Interesting documentary, on a very interesting subject. Keith Richards is one of the most influential and successful artists in music history and his views on music are generally worth listening to. The documentary does a reasonable job of showing what and who influenced him, making him the musical genius and megastar he has become.

Some good clips from the influential artists, plus Rolling Stones clips and Keith Richards solo clips, including behind-the-scenes footage from him working on his latest album.

However, the documentary lacks focus, jumping around and not really making too much of a point in the end. In a way this adds charm to proceedings, as this fits in with the laid-backness of Richards's persona. It would still be nice to have some degree of order though...

In addition, as you would imagine of someone of Keith Richards's ilk, his influences are broad and there is much ground to cover. This leaves not much in the way of depth, e.g. reggae gets covered in about 5 minutes and even Chuck Berry, probably the greatest influence on Richards, is only highlighted through the anniversary concert Richards appeared at.

A longer, more detailed, documentary would have been great.

"For me, music is like the center of everything." - Keith Richards

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 25 June 2017]

Don't expect to see the Rolling Stones in concert or Keith Richards doing a five minute guitar solo. This is an informative look at the aged rock and blues musician who cut his teeth on early American musical influences who along with Mick Jagger, introduced audiences on this side of the Atlantic to some of the classic names of Chicago Blues. It was informative to hear Richards tell of his first meeting with Muddy Waters in the hallway of Chess Records - Muddy was there painting a ceiling! He regales the viewer with stories from early in his career, like getting bawled out by Chuck Berry for handling the strings of Berry's guitar. An interesting clip featuring Howlin' Wolf singing to a white audience confirmed the admiration of performers like Wolf, Muddy, and Buddy Guy toward the Stones for introducing their style of music to a larger audience who may never have known they existed without the Stones' bluesy sound. Joining Keith in this documentary are fellow musicians Steve Jordan and Tom Waits, who offer their perspectives on Keith's musical style and the way he wrote songs. Missing from the doc are any mention of the Stones engaging in their legendary excesses of sex, drugs, and even rock n' roll for that matter, as this is all about Keith and his love of music. Undeterred from performing, even at the age of seventy two when this film was put together in 2015, it's probably Richards who expressed it best when he said - "I'll play as long as I can get away with it."

Entertaining But Way Too Short

[Michael_Elliott · 22 September 2015]

Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015)

*** (out of 4)

This Netflix documentary has Keith Richards talking about a variety of subjects while touring with The Rolling Stones on their 2015 tour as well as preparing his solo album Crosseyed Heart.

If you're a fan of Richards or the Stones then you're obviously going to want to check this film out as there's some great interview footage as well as some behind-the-scenes footage from the recent tour. The biggest flaw with this film is that it's rather uneven and I'd argue that 83 minutes isn't nearly enough time to fully get into the mind of Richards. Part of the film is a promo piece for the new album as Richards talks about what made him get back into the studio with a solo album and he also talks about his influences on the album. Whenever the new album isn't being discussed we get the legends talking about his influences, other rebels of rock music, country music, the blues and what it was like being chewed out by Chuck Berry.

Again, this is a good and entertaining film but at the same time you can't help but think there's so much more to know about Richards and there's just not enough time here to capture everything. Still, it was great fun getting to see him in the studio recording the new tracks and there's no question that he always manages to have something interesting to say.

Out Of His Head

[Lejink · 7/10 · 7 March 2022]

I've always considered Keith the real driving force in the Stones, now that I'm aware of how important he was to the creation of songs for the band. There's an audio clip here of him crafting the melody of "Street Fighting Man" with his overlaid acoustic guitars and Charlie Watts drumming, where you can pretty much hear the fully-fledged song and Keith then casually says, "And Mick just came in to finish it off...", presumably with the lyric and good as Jagger's lyrics often were, there's no question that it's the riffs which really made the songs, at least in my opinion they did.

Richards is also the only Stone to make a really good solo album, if you listen to his "Talk Is Cheap" and "Main Offender" albums, plus he wrote a really good autobiography "Life" some years ago so far me, I'd rather catch a documentary on him than his old mate Mick.

This Netflix production, as the name suggests, talks to the man about his main musical influences, which in order appear to be the blues, rock and roll, country and reggae music so the film takes him to places like New York, Chicago, Nashville and Jamaica allowing the man to regale us with his love for each musical style as well as inserting some vintage clips not only of some of his own musical heroes like Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, but also of him interacting with them too. There are some nice anecdotes about how modest Muddy was and how demanding Chuck was although one or two of his other tales appear a little on the tall side.

Of course, he had a new record out at the time called "Crosseyed Heart", so we get to see him playing with his solo band demoing tracks for the album and chatting informally with his band members. Debunking his caricatured image of the drunken stoner, just as he did in his book, I find a lot of what he says quite sage, especially at the end when he stresses the importance of his family to him. It was warming to hear him talk about reconciling with his twenty-years absent father who'd walked out on him and his mum before he became famous. Occasionally he rambles on a bit about the magic of music and it's obvious that he's the main man the way everybody around him seems to wait for him to stop speaking before laughing with him, plus the producer gets his infrequent collaborator Tom Waits to spout a lot of adulatory BS in Richards' name, but Keith definitely comes over as a decent, grounded guy, as evidenced by him stopping his chauffeured limo to sign autographs for his fans.

I'd have appreciated a bit more length and depth to this documentary but you suspect at ten times the length you'd still only be scratching the surface of the man.

A gem for music lovers

[adrianotedde · 10/10 · 2 November 2015]

"Under the Influence" is an intimate portrait of Keith Richards, the music lover. It is highly recommended to Rolling Stones fans and music aficionados. After over fifty years of Richards's career in pop music, this is the film that finally describes the music that made the man avoiding all the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll gossip. It is a significant and welcomed change from decades of accounts tainted by a meaningless narrative of debauchery that satisfied the lowest of rock'n'roll fans' desires and kept many others hungry for good and true music story. The 81 minutes of the film go very fast in a journey that brings the viewer through the main genres of American popular music: blues, country, rock'n'roll. Richards visits New York, Chicago and Nashville and recounts his fascination for American music and his encounters with the legends that inspired the Stones, from Muddy Waters to Howlin' Wolf and Chuck Berry. The interview briefly covers several other aspects of the musician's work like song-writing, recording processes, solo career and the use of different instruments. The film contains also precious footage of studio recordings with Tom Waits and Richards's house sessions in Jamaica with the Wingless Angels. Richards in his short, sometimes convoluted, phrases conveys all the devotion and deep appreciation for what music can bring into one's life. A strong sense of the passing of time and mortality brings in another novelty for a Stones documentary and makes Keith Richards's testimony somehow touching. Great little film on a great music soul.

Interesting, but sporadic

[oldchummer · 7/10 · 11 December 2018]

If you're a big Stones fan and have a knowledge of their history, then this documentary won't have much new stuff to offer. We get the usual story about what influenced him starting out from the old blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf to the early rock of Chuck Berry and Elvis. Most of the documentary is about his appreciation for the music as well as the making of his third solo album Crosseyed Heart (though it doesn't really get much into the songs themselves). The making of the album is more of a backdrop for Keith's ramblings on the music he loves, which I suppose was sort of the point, but it makes the documentary feel choppy and sporadic at times. It'll jump from him praising Reggae, from breifly mentioning his 80s feud with Mick, to him playing with his idol Chuck Berry in '86 within a span of 2-3 minutes. These are all very entertaining on their own, but these stories don't always get as much breathing room to go too far in depth.

This is by no means a bad documentary, its very watchable and entertaining, but its not as grand as you'd want a documentary to be about a legend like Keith.

Honest

[pglpls · 9/10 · 22 March 2022]

This is a great movie. More serious than I expected. A lot of facts disclosed. If you haven't read Keith's book, you really should. I see they are going out on tour again, I'll be interested to see the reviews. Watch it!

No Rock Star Party Stories!-??

[MovieHoliks · 6/10 · 11 January 2016]

Netflix has been making some award-winning documentaries over the past few years, and here is another original- a bio-doc about "Rolling Stones" guitarist, Keith Richards! This mostly features Keith talking about his many influences; a big part of which are American blues artists like Muddy Waters. I found it interesting as I was watching this, not being a "nationalist" by any means, but still swelling up with a little bit of pride hearing him talk about the great thing America gave to the world (as he puts it- not the "H bomb"). In spite of enjoying this documentary, I did have one big disappointment with it.. I mean, c'mon, you're interviewing Keith Richards for 90 minutes, and you don't get to hear about any of his great rock star party stories-???!!! LOL

"Rock n Roll" Great Richards Re-Hatches His American Blues & Other Musical Influences

[LeonLouisRicci · 8/10 · 3 December 2022]

It's a Casual Affair, Hanging Out with Keith as He Talks About Discovering "The Blues", and How He and Mick Jagger Formed What Became "The Greatest Rock n Roll Band In the World',

Only Because "The Blues" had so Moved Them, that They just Wanted to "Turn-On" Other People to the "Pleasure"

Man, Their Motivation Succeeded Beyond All Measure.

Their Dedication was so Great, that "The Stones" Told the Popular Teen Show "Shindig", "You Want "^The Rolling Stones", well, "Only if you also Book "Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters".

The Show Reluctantly Said Yes (American Media and Culture were Still "Segregated" in Mind and Soul).

It Became a "Spearhead" of America's Musical Culture Changes in Attitude and Gratitude for Forgotten Folks who were Forced to "Paint Ceilings" and Do Other-Things with Little Regard for Their Artistic Contributions.

The 80+ min Show is Short but Sweet.

With its Main Focus, the Lifetime Love, Advocacy of and Affection For the Musical Contributions, and to Touch on Other Forms of Music that He Embraced and Included in His Prolific Out-Put that was the Engine that Drove His Career as a Performer from a "Labor-of-Love" Grounding.

This Doc. Is an "Elementary School" Primer.

Most of the Historical Happenings, and His Personal Story are Now Well Known. His "Book" is Simply Called "Life",

and has Keith Articulating His Personal Definition in the Common-Man-Vernacular..."Life is a Funny Thing".

While Admittedly "Wasted" a Lot of the Time, and His Image of "Him Walking Down the Street with Jack Daniels and Cigarettes by HIs Side. Is One He Can't Shake..."Image never leaves you, it's not like a shadow, it's there 24-7".

But it Certainly Can Be Said...Keith Richards did Not is Not "Wasting His Life".

The Infamous "Drug-Use" and Partying is Only Mentioned Sparingly and Waved-Off by a Few Sentences Like...

"My Father is a "Straight" Guy and He can't "Process" that His Son was "Busted for Drugs".

But He and Keith have Traveled Around the World Together for the last 20 Years. Keith Proudly Comments..."I enjoyed showing Him the World and He enjoyed seeing it".

It's a Casual Affair, This Documentary, and Keith Invited a Few of His Musician Friends to "Hang Out". And You're Invited too. But Keep in Mind that it isn't Going to Get any Deeper than...

"I Know it's Only Rock n Roll but I like it, Love it, Yes I Do!"

A brief description of Keith' music & influences, not the story of his life.

[rcf-42234 · 1/10 · 22 August 2022]

An incredibly short-sighted & narrow "documentary" about Keith richards musical beginnings and life.

But the documentary doesn't touch on any of his personal life, ever. At all. For the entire thing.

I just don't know why with that access you would make something so boring & pale about one of the most colorful people in rock history.

The Director Morgan Neville has a history of this kind of fluffy autobiographical film making and he should consider quitting.

A documentary for musicians and music lovers about the musician Keith Richards - not the rock star

[gogoschka-1 · 7 October 2016]

I discovered Keith Richards - the musician, not the rock star - somewhat late in life. I'm a guitar player and I have a passion for blues, especially the raw, unpolished stuff recorded in the fifties and early sixties - but my love for this kind of unfiltered, emotional music only developed over time. As most young guitar players, I was originally far more interested in ultra-fast virtuosos and had little respect for guitarists who didn't engage in extended solos at 10 notes per second. Well, let's just say I'm glad I eventually broadened my horizon a little: because that's how I got into Keith's music.

This documentary will probably disappoint many, because it's all about the music of Keith Richards and the music that inspired - and still inspires - him (which is also what the title refers to). It's not a film about the Stones or drug abuse, orgies and groupies: it's about a man who loves his art and respects and admires his peers. We get to hang out with him as he introduces us to his musical influences and contemplates his musical journey, and we get to see him jam and hang out with friends like Buddy Guy, Waddy Wachtel or Tom Waits, people who all share his passion and treat him like a fellow musician - not like a rock star. I absolutely adored this documentary and I appreciated the fact that it's not about the legendary junkie, but about the gifted songwriter and guitar player who - together with his band - played a key role in making America aware of some of its greatest talents by playing their music: Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Little Walther, John Lee Hooker and many more.

This documentary is great stuff for blues aficionados and musicians; I give the film 9 stars out of 10, but I only recommend it to people who are less interested in Keith the rock star and more in Keith the musician. If you're among the latter, sit back and enjoy, because you're in for a treat. And Keith: stay well and keep rockin', you're the man.