Keith, Keef, The Human Riff etc, etc. What is it about him? Even his haters seem to doff the cap at some point. And which era Keef is your favourite? The 60's moddish scarecrow Keef, the gaunt, haunted, broken-toothed Keef of the 70's, dark, brooding leopard-skin print Keef of the 80's, the too-much-eyeliner Keef of the 90's, the what's-that-in-your-hair Keef of the Noughties or the chumbly old pirate of 2011?
You'd want Keith on your side in a fight: he's known to have carried a variety of knives, packed a shooter and even whacked someone with a Telecaster. He talks the talk, but backs it up with some very large strides. Even now he looks like someone you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. But what is it about him?
The music's a huge part of his charm, from the jangling intros to such classics as Jumpin' Jack Flash, to the weary bar-room blues of later songs, like 'This Place is Empty'. Love 'em or loathe 'em, you can't say that Keith hasn't mastered his craft.
In his auotobiography, Keith reckons that there's one of him in all of us; a raging piratey-type looking to challenge authority and stick two fingers up to 'The Man'. And there's something in that, I think. He's a guy (or 'cat' in rock parlance) who's lived his life according to his rules and no-one else's. Even shaking hands with The Mouse and doing the whole Pirates thing was on his terms; you can't accuse him of not being true to himself.
Maybe that's the attraction: Keith seems to be completely at home in his leathered, weathered skin. He's certainly been on a bit of a journey to get there - as Bill Hicks said " I picture nuclear war and see two things surviving: Keith and cockroaches." But perhaps, behind the layers of kohl, the smoky slur and the steam-train laughter, Keith's just a guy who tapped into himself and got happy. And plays the guitar pretty good.
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