In a recent interview with Guitar World, Keith Richards clarified the speculations about Jeff Beck’s Rolling Stones audition following the release of his new album, “Hackney Diamonds.” He gave the following explanation for why Beck was not accepted into the band: “We thought Jeff wasn’t a team player; he had his own lane to plow. He was the ultimate soloist. He was quite self-centered. It would have been completely ineffective with the Stones. Our shared value is teamwork. There was friction between Beck and the band members during those years because he chose not to join the group after the audition. Still, Richards had this to say about the late guitarist: Don’t get me wrong, though; he was an excellent player. When we occasionally got together, I was always in awe of the things he could do with his tremolo bar. Man, he was among the finest, and he will be missed.
A year after Mick Taylor left The Rolling Stone in 1974, Jeff Beck thought he would help them with a couple of songs and wanted to take over the guitar parts. In an interview with Classic Rock, the guitarist recalled that he had to wait two days in the studio before he could meet the band to audition. When we eventually found ourselves in the same room, I began to play Bill Wyman’s bass so intensely that dust was flying. The engineer, Glyn Johns, exclaimed, “That’s incredible!” as I strolled off. “One for the archives, mate,” I murmured. I’m heading off tomorrow. Beck said that his rejection was due to creative differences with The Rolling Stones. As the band began working with Ronnie Wood, he released his studio album “Blow By Blow” later that year.
