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Rolling Stones quotes: Keith Richards about his tension with Mick Jagger (1988)
KEITH AND MICK: CLASH OF THE STONES By the late ’80s Keith Richards and Mick Jagger weren’t just fighting over riffs—they were clashing over control. Keith admits his drug-fueled 70s left Mick to handle the band’s business, and Jagger got used to running the show. When Keith cleaned up and tried to jump back in, Mick wasn’t ready to share. What Keith saw wasn’t teamwork anymore—it was a power trip. Two old friends, suddenly battling for the driver’s seat.
“If things are perceived as a power struggle, then Mick’s automatically gonna go against anything I propose, ’cause it’s my idea. But to me it’s no power struggle… But I mean, I’m not faultless either. A lot of this perceived struggle is down to me because of the whole thing I went through in the 70s. Dope and getting busted and all that. Mick took an awful lot on his shoulders. I never realized he actually got used to it….
…I left him to deal with all the business, where before we used to work very closely together on it. Then, when I cleaned up and said, Hey, I’m ready to help out again, he saw it as if he’d have to give up something that he had actually enjoyed wielding, not seeing that I had only temporarily forfeited the right to get involved. I ain’t knocking the cat at all. But when I came back, I didn’t want to believe that Mick was enjoying the burden. He could now control the whole thing; it became a power trip. I’ve heard the shit from the john, like, I wish he was a junkie again.“
By 1988, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger weren’t just sparring over songs—they were wrestling with years of baggage. Keith admits that a lot of the so-called “power struggle” was rooted in his own wild 70s. Between the drugs, the busts, and his absence from band business, he left Mick to carry the Stones’ affairs almost entirely on his shoulders. Mick stepped into the role, got used to calling the shots, and—according to Keith—actually enjoyed the burden. When Keith eventually cleaned up and tried to step back into a leadership role, Mick resisted. To him, it wasn’t about sharing again; it felt like losing control of something he’d grown comfortable with.
Looking Back With A Shrug
Keith never framed it as a blame game. He owned up to his part in creating the tension, admitting that his chaotic years forced Mick into a position of power. What stung was that when Keith finally came back, eager to collaborate again, he sensed Mick was on a “power trip.” Instead of seeing Keith’s return as a reunion of equals, Mick acted like it was a threat to his authority. Keith even heard the cruel jokes whispered behind his back—wishing he was still a junkie, because at least then Mick had free rein. It wasn’t about fault, Keith insisted; it was about two lifelong bandmates who once worked side by side suddenly colliding over who held the reins.
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