There are many comparisons made between The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. While there is a subjective debate about which band made better music, there is no denying that The Beatles were the more successful band. There are many ways in which the bands are different, but guitarist Keith Richards perfectly summed up what made the two bands distinct.
Mick Jagger knew The Rolling Stones couldn’t compete with The Beatles
Many U.K. bands, such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, and The Kinks, emerged during the British Invasion. However, none of them were as famous as The Beatles. Beatlemania peaked in the mid-1960s, and the band remained at the top of the charts until they broke up in 1970. In a 1995 Rolling Stone interview, The Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger said it was impossible to compete with The Beatles during the 1960s, and no artist since has reached their popularity.
“The Beatles were so big that it’s hard for people not alive at the time to realize just how big they were,” Jagger said. “There isn’t a real comparison with anyone now. I suppose Michael Jackson at one point, but it still doesn’t seem quite the same. They were so big that to be competitive with them was impossible. I’m talking about in record sales and tours and all this. They were huge.”
Keith Richards identified the main difference between the two bands
The Rolling Stones and The Beatles did have a friendly competition during the 1960s. While the Stones did have several hit records and albums, they couldn’t compete with the Liverpool band. In an interview with Rolling Stone, McCartney said Richards once pointed out a critical difference between the two bands, and McCartney agreed.
“Keith Richards once said to me, ‘Do you know the difference between your band and ours, man? You had four frontmen, and we only had one.’ And I must say, I had never thought of it that way,” McCartney shared. “But he’s right. Any one of us could hold the audience. Ringo would do [the Beatles’ cover of the Shirelles song] ‘Boys’, which was a favorite with the crowd. And it was great — though if you think about it, here’s us doing a song, and it was really a girls’ song.”
No other band has four members that are so recognizable
The Beatles are so unique because all four members are so easily recognizable. If you ask anyone who the four Beatles members were, most people could answer that question, whether they listen to the band or not. The general public can name the frontman or the lead guitarist for other bands, but it’s harder to name every member. For example, everyone knows Jagger, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, or Freddie Mercury of Queen, but not everyone knows Charlie Watts, John Paul Jones, or Roger Taylor.
Part of this is because every member had a chance to shine. While most of the songs were performed by either Paul McCartney or John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison still had many chances to shine. Since the band was so legendary, each member had successful solo careers as they all had built-in fanbases just for being associated with the iconic band.
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