Why Our Parents' Generation Is Retarded

Keith Richards says he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine

LONDON (AP) - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time.

In comments published Tuesday, he said he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine. "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared. . . . It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards, 63, one of rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and he advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he said.

"I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone . . . just kind of lucky.

"I was number one on the 'Who's Likely To Die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list."