Clash of the Titans

Without a doubt, these two bands are amongst the greatest bands in rock and roll history. The Rolling Stones from London and the Beatles from Liverpool. Both bands with over 300 million albums each sold worldwide. But out of the two who is the better band?

Now in terms of musical ability, I believe the Rolling Stones come out on top here with Charlie Watts being the better drummer out of him and Ringo Star. All of the Stones’ guitarists were better than the Beatles guitarists and Mick Jagger is the better singer compared to The Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney, he’s without a doubt one of the greatest frontmen ever. Don’t get me wrong, the four members of the Beatles John, Paul, George and Ringo are four of the most talented musicians this world has ever and will ever know, but for me the Rolling Stones’ Mick, Keith, Brian, Charlie and Ronnie just edge it mainly due to their abilities when playing live. And just to put their musical ability into more light they are all still playing even today at a top-level, as well as Paul McCartney and Ringo Star also.

No one in music history comes close to the Beatles in terms of innovation; they were ground-breaking when they first arrived on the scene. Before the Beatles many of the top rock and roll artists were American such as Elvis, Chuck Berry etc. this was the beginning of the ‘British Invasion’. From the moment they landed, they broke records and quickly established themselves as one of the greatest bands on the planet, and they did this all in a 10 year period (1960-1970 roughly). At the time the Beatles weren’t massively hyped and had poor marketing compared to artists today however their fan base grew significantly quickly because of their ability to turn up and perform at a top-level. They quickly established themselves as the top band in the North of England and the world; the Rolling Stones simply followed this newfound trend that I believe the Beatles started. With very little push from their record label, EMI the Beatles still managed to grow, down to their incredible talent as musicians. I believe the Beatles were ground-breaking and led a path for bands such as The Rolling Stones to follow; they’re definitely one of the pioneers of rock and roll in the UK.

The Rolling Stones are without a doubt one of the greatest live rock and roll bands ever, definitely overshadowing the Beatles. The Beatles were very good however the Rolling Stones edge it for me. The Rolling Stones have played over 48 tours in their 57 year period three of which are in the top 20 highest-grossing tours of all time. Between the three tours, the Stones’ played 283 shows generating over 14 million dollars. And astonishingly their highest-grossing tour, the ‘No Filter Tour’ was held between 2017-2019 just emphasising how good the band still are over 50 years on. Mick Jagger, in my opinion, is one of the greatest frontmen in rock and roll history and up there with the likes of Freddy Mercury. The Beatles’ live performances were often ruined by constant screaming from the audience most notably at the Shea Stadium where they played in 1965 which eventually led to their decision to stop playing together live. Some of the Stones’ live performances during the Mick Taylor era are considered some of the best concerts in music history and because of that, I put Rolling Stones just above the Beatles in that category.

When it comes to producing music and producing albums the Beatles top it for me, just down to the shear talent in everything they made. The Beatles were only producing music together for roughly 7 years and in that time they released 13 studio albums, 21 Eps, 63 singles and 53 compilation albums. And every single bit of music they’re produced is at worst brilliant, whereas the Rolling Stones have released some albums which can be considered bog standard. The Beatles have always been so consistent, albums such as ‘Abbey Road’, ‘Revolver’, and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’ and so on are amongst the greatest of all time and still to this day are loved by the world. The Rolling Stones do have some insanely good albums such as ‘Sticky Fingers’, ‘Exile on Main St’, ’Let it Bleed’ and so on however the Beatles for me edge it just down to their consistency; I am yet to hear a Beatles song that I don’t like! And the Beatles did all of this in 7 years, truly brilliant. In 2018 ‘YouGov’ did a poll to find out who the UK thought was better, the Stones or the Beatles. 73% voted in favour of the Beatles whilst 61% voted in favour of the Stones. 10% said they disliked the Beatles whilst 12% said they disliked the Stones. It’s very clear from those statistics that it is a close one between the two rock and roll bands, and I think this is a debate that is down to personal preference really.

In my opinion, the Beatles are the better band of the two because of their lack of dislikeable music, and I would like to think I know the Beatles and the Stones fairly well but the Beatles music is to me just another level. The Stones are definitely the better live band but the Beatles live performances were constantly ruined by the audience of screaming girls that attended. The Beatles were innovators and paved the way for bands such as The Rolling Stones; they changed the music industry for the better and I don’t think there will ever be a band like them again. Anyway, my mate reckons the Doors are much better than both XD XD!!!