#nothing will ever be sweeter than the 'big bad junkie guitarist' cuddling his shy jazz drummer on stage

[waugh-bao]

The Most Underrated Stones Friendship: Keith + Charlie

Everyone loves The Glimmer Twins, Keith and Ronnie's weaving partnership, and Mick's 46 year long quest to find out the acceptable limit for molesting a bandmate (Ronnie) on stage, but these two, who seem so different, deserve way more appreciation.

10. According to Ian Stewart, one of the reasons he pushed to have Charlie in the band is that Keith is naturally introverted, and struggled to interact with people, but bonded with Charlie instantly. "I'd watch Keith with other people, and he always seemed to back away a bit. But he and Charlie were a f*ckin' comedy team. They had a dual sense of humor.”

9. Keith is incredibly attentive to Charlie's well being. He takes note of his migraines (even though he's never had so much as a headache himself) and massages his shoulders during the halfway break in shows, to help with pain from sciatica. In Life, he even admitted that part of the reason he was so angry at Mick for starting his solo career the way he did in the '80s was because he saw how hurt Charlie was by it.

8. “Keith never ever offered me anything [drugs], ever.”-Charlie Watts, 2001

7. Charlie was the one who convinced Keith to start a band for himself during the Stones' '80s hiatus, and, though he refused Keith's many offers to make him drummer for that project, he did set him up with Steve Jordan, who became the drummer for all of his non-Stones work. On the flip side, Keith is super supportive of his friend's solo work; he has a part on almost all of Charlie's albums, and often attends his concerts.

6. As Charlie is notoriously shy and humble, and very hesitant to receive any applause/praise, Keith started the tradition of everyone on stage bowing to him during his introduction. He's also in the habit of holding Charlie's hand during final bows, and pushing him out in front of himself so the audience can see him.

5. "I want to be buried next to Charlie Watts."-Keith Richards, 2016

4. That look™, which Keith has been giving Charlie for 59 years.

3. Keith is Charlie's PR manager/hype man/promoter and biggest fan during interviews. "Charlie Watts, who is the best jazz drummer of the goddamn century." And Keith never has a bad word to say about him in Life, and praises all of his eccentricties and strange hobbies. In fact, during the part of the book which concerns the formation of the Stones, he goes on for 20 pages about how badly they wanted Charlie, what an amazing drummer he was and is, how he was the "secret" to the Stones' success, and how much he still loves him now. “We starved ourselves in order to pay for him! Literally. We went shoplifting to get Charlie Watts. We cut down on our rations we wanted him so bad, man. And now we're stuck with him!"

2. They. Never. Stop. Cuddling. Or holding hands, wrapping an arm around each other, leading each other around the stage, smiling at each other, etc.

1. When journalists started to question whether Keith would find a replacement for Charlie, because of old age and how strenuous it is to play the drums, Keith said he would rather "drop" (die) before finding another drummer. His mantra for nearly six decades: "Charlie is The Rolling Stones. Without him we wouldn’t have a group.”

#old married band #stupidly soft for each other #they're life goals #nothing will ever be sweeter than the 'big bad junkie guitarist' cuddling his shy jazz drummer on stage #the rolling stones #mick jagger #ronnie wood #keith richards #charlie watts #the glimmer twins #disgustingly cute