Keith Richards throws some serious shade at Adele for using songwriters

Los Angeles - The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has taken a swipe at Adele for using other songwriters to help her craft her albums.

The 72-year-old rocker is unimpressed that the British singer and other pop stars rely on other people's help when penning their tracks and says they have to because they don't have enough individual talent to create their LPs themselves.

Time Out London magazine asked Keith if he thought it was "crazy that huge artists today like Adele and Rihanna use so many songwriters?"

To which replied: "Well, they can't rely on themselves, can they?"

Adele used 11 other songwriters to help her craft her 11-track third album 25, which has been a worldwide smash hit.

The Satisfaction hitmaker also lambasted the current state of the charts, saying music is currently in a "showbiz period".

Keith criticised TV talent shows like Simon Cowell's X Factor for attracting people who "want to be famous" and have no artistic integrity.

He fumed: "(Music) goes round in cycles. We're in the midst of a heavy duty 'showbiz' period, even stronger than when we killed it last time. The X Factor and all this competition shit. It's just for people who want to be famous. Well, if it's fame you want, good luck. You'd better learn to live with it."

Keith may hate The X Factor but his Rolling Stones bandmates don't feel the same.

Ronnie Wood appeared on the final of the programme in December 2014 playing guitar with One Direction as they performed their song Where Do Broken Hearts Go.

Singer Sir Mick Jagger previously admitted he was ambivalent towards The X Factor and similar shows because there has always been programmes like that on TV.

He said: "I don't approve or disapprove of The X Factor.

"Is X Factor good for music? It's just one part of it, I think X Factor is over-estimated, there's many people who come through music that don't come through X Factor and you know, pop music's always been a very, very odd thing, where people come through somehow from one way or another and X Factor is just one thing and I'm sure it won't last forever. There's always been talent competitions ever since I can remember so I hold nothing particularly against The X Factor."