Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards slams modern music as a ‘one-way toilet’ and too ‘synthesised’ as the band release their new album Hackney Diamonds

If a friend in his late 70s told you he wasn’t impressed with modern music, it might not come as a surprise.

But when the opinion comes from one of the greatest legends in the history of the industry, the argument carries more weight.

So perhaps many will take notice after The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards labeled modern music a “one-way toilet.”

The 79-year-old guitarist, who recently revealed his arthritis forced him to change the way he strums, said today’s hits are too “synthesized.”

His comments come after the band last week released Hackney Diamonds, their first studio album of original material since 2005.

Richards has long spoken out against electronic music, calling it “cheap” and “nonsense”, and says he likes to hear music from people who play instruments

About making the record, Richards said, “The only way to lift a band is to put the guys in a room and play and look each other in the eye.”

‘Don’t get me started on modern music. Drums with push buttons and everything is synthesized. Digital recording is a one-way toilet.”

Richards has spoken out against electronic music, labeling it ‘cheap’ and ‘nonsense’. He said, “I like to hear music from people who play instruments.”

The decision to return to the studio came when frontman Mick Jagger suggested it at the end of the group’s 60th anniversary tour last year. “I have to commend Mick for this push,” Richards told The Independent.

“He said, ‘Come on, we just gotta do something… we gotta make a record.’

The guitarist recently opened up about the osteoarthritis he has been living with for several years and said it has changed his guitar playing

Richards recently opened up about the osteoarthritis he has lived with for years and said it has changed his guitar playing.

“Funnily enough, I don’t doubt it, but I don’t have any pain – it’s kind of a benign version,” the father-of-five told the BBC.

With just two months before he turns 80, Richards added: “I think if I’ve slowed down a bit it’s probably more down to age. And I thought that was interesting too: if I thought, ‘I can’t do that anymore,’ the guitar will show me that there’s another way to do this. A finger goes one place different and a whole new door has just opened here.’

Hackney Diamonds is on course to be crowned number 1 as it outsells the rest of the top 10 combined, according to the Official Charts Company. It sold 55,000 copies this weekend and would be the 14th No. 1 album for the band.