Paul McCartney has been on a roll in recent interviews, first spilling the beans about why The Beatles broke up, and now sharing his thoughts on the Rolling Stones.
Talking to The New Yorker, the veteran musician opened up about how his former band The Beatles had worked on a lot of music styles — more than their peers Rolling Stones did.
“I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are,” McCartney said. “I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”
However, it doesn’t seem to be a criticism of the Mick Jagger-led rock group, as McCartney has often spoken fondly about them (even if he thinks more highly of the Beatles).
In April 2020, while speaking with radio host Howard Stern, McCartney agreed with Stern’s claim that his iconic band was better that Rolling Stones.
“They are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues. Whereas we had a little more influences,” McCartney said. “There’s a lot of differences, and I love the Stones, but I’m with you. The Beatles were better.”
Jagger got his chance to respond while speaking in an interview the same month with Zane Lowe.
“That’s so funny,” Jagger said with a laugh. “He’s a sweetheart. There’s obviously no competition.”
There was one big different that Jagger pointed out: “The Rolling Stones have been a big concert band in other decades and other eras when the Beatles never even did an arena tour. They broke up before that business started, the touring business for real didn’t start until the end of the 60s… That’s the real big difference between these two bands. One band is unbelievably luckily still playing in stadiums and the other band doesn’t exist.”
Touche!
McCartney, who has been on a media spree, earlier revealed that it was late band member John Lennon that prompted the end of the Beatles in 1970.
“I didn’t instigate the split,” McCartney said on BBC Radio 4’s ‘This Cultural Life’. “That was [Lennon] coming in one day and saying, ‘I’m leaving the group.’”
