How Keith Richards' Touring Frustration Boiled Over During the 'Dirty Work' Sessions

The 1986 album Dirty Work was recorded during the worst stretch of the Jagger-Richards relationship, and the main rupture wasn’t over music—it was over the road. Keith Richards was itching to tour behind the album, as the Stones always had, but Mick Jagger flatly refused. Instead, Jagger booked a solo tour for his first solo album, She’s the Boss, leaving the band—and especially Keith—stranded.

The sessions themselves were already tense. Jagger would show up to the studio, work on Stones songs, then leave to finish his solo record in another room. Richards later said he felt like Jagger was treating the band as a side project. When Jagger finally told him he wouldn’t support Dirty Work with a tour, Richards felt betrayed. The argument escalated into an open feud that lasted years, with Richards publicly calling Jagger’s solo work “crap” and the two barely speaking. The wound didn’t really heal until the Steel Wheels reunion in 1989.