5 Tips for Living Like Keith Richards

Now that he’s in his 70s, Keith Richards is a little mellower than he was in his heyday, and Keith Richards: Under the Influence, the latest documentary from 20 Feet from Stardom director Morgan Neville, finds the aging rocker in something of a nostalgic mood. Following the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist to Chicago, Nashville and New York as he finished up Crosseyed Heart, his first solo album in more than two decades, Under the Influence sees Richards reminiscing about the good old days with the Stones and his wide-ranging musical influences, as he reflects back on a life well-lived.

And since this is a man who’s done more living than most of us combined, when Richards decides to speak about the subject, you tend to listen. Here’s five things we picked up from Under the Influence when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, before dropping on Netflix on September 18th.

You’re only as old as you act:

“I always thought 30 was the end, until I turned 31,” Richards jokes at the beginning of the film. Now, four decades later, he’s still going strong, still smoking, drinking and listening to the blues. But even though Richards is now a grandfather, he doesn’t consider himself grown up; instead he prefers to say he’s “evolved,” becoming a calmer, more relaxed version of the notorious, hard-living rocker he was in his youth. “Nobody wants to get old, but they don’t want to die young either,” says Richards.

Never try to match Richards drink for drink.

Find your own voice:

More than just a crib notes version of Richards’ 2010 autobiography “Life,” Under the Influence finds the rock legend more interested in talking about the music than any of the more salacious details of his life story. And while Richards’ solo ambitions may have created a well-publicized rift between him and Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Richards credits the decision to front his own band in the late ‘80s with helping him find himself, along with teaching him some sorely-needed discipline.

Choose your friends wisely:

Out of all Richards’ famous friends, Neville chose Tom Waits to help provide insight into Richards’ creative process, and the gravel-voiced singer/songwriter definitely makes his friend and former collaborator look good—not just through compliments (including a warning to never try to match Richards drink for drink), but also by making Keef sound, if we’re being frank, a whole lot more coherent than he actually is.

Never retire:

Considering he’s currently at an age when most rock stars choose to just rest on their laurels and keep pumping out “Greatest Hits” albums until they run out of songs in their catalogue, nobody would’ve blamed Richards for deciding to hang up his guitar and coast on the royalties. And as he tells Neville, he seriously considered it after the Stones wrapped their 2007 tour, but his friend and producer Steve Jordan wouldn’t hear it, pushing him to record a new solo album instead. Pretty soon, Richards was feeling the itch to get back on stage (his “first home,” according to Jordan), and is no longer entertaining the idea of retirement. “I’ll play as long as I can get away with it, that’s all I can do,” he tells Neville. And that’s a good mindset for today’s millennials to aspire to as well – especially considering, according to studies, most of them won’t be able to afford to retire anyway. See? They’re already living like Keith and didn’t even know it.

Don’t change for anyone but yourself:

While Richards has still got the snakeskin jackets, the skull ring and decades worth of well-earned creases and wrinkles, if he seems like something of a new man in Under the Influence, it’s not a coincidence. “I ain’t a pop star no more and I don’t wanna be,” he says, before reflecting on the hard-living persona that’s followed him around for decades, saying the image is like “a ball and chain.” At 71, Richards doesn’t have to be that guy anymore, and he’s clearly happy about it, coming across as extremely comfortable in his own skin as he pulls off a rare feat for a rock star: aging gracefully. Relatively, at least.