The Beatles vs Rolling Stones debate  

I agree with you that the Beatles and the Stones were not enemies. I also agree that it is pointless arguing which band is the best, because it's all a matter of taste at the end of the day.

I am not a Stones fan myself, but I respect the influence the Stones have in music. It's not the Stones themselves that rattle me, after all I like a few of their songs. What I can't stand is that every time I say to people that I like the Beatles, Stones fans turn and say to me "That's lightweight music, the Stones were much better". And when you ask them to support their argument, you find out that all they've heard of the Beatles is some greatest hits album!

I've got no problem with people not liking the Beatles, it just gets on my nerves that people cannot respect my preference as I would respect theirs!

I agree with you that the Beatles and the Stones were not enemies. I also agree that it is pointless arguing which band is the best, because it's all a matter of taste at the end of the day.

I am not a Stones fan myself, but I respect the influence the Stones have in music. It's not the Stones themselves that rattle me, after all I like a few of their songs. What I can't stand is that every time I say to people that I like the Beatles, Stones fans turn and say to me "That's lightweight music, the Stones were much better". And when you ask them to support their argument, you find out that all they've heard of the Beatles is some greatest hits album!

I've got no problem with people not liking the Beatles, it just gets on my nerves that people cannot respect my preference as I would respect theirs!

Same here...as you well know the Bonzos are the second love of my life but I love the Kinks, I like the Who, but Stones... yeah, a few songs that are blatantly Beatles sound alikes! Not to mention that, come to think of it, I would definitely put some bands from the other side of the Atlantic (namely the Byrds and the Beach Boys) and even Pink Floyd of the Barrett era above the Stones!

Same here...as you well know the Bonzos are the second love of my life but I love the Kinks, I like the Who, but Stones... yeah, a few songs that are blatantly Beatles sound alikes! Not to mention that, come to think of it, I would definitely put some bands from the other side of the Atlantic (namely the Byrds and the Beach Boys) and even Pink Floyd of the Barrett era above the Stones!

Oops, I read in a Beatles related book that John Lennon wrote the lyrics of Revolution (so many books, so many years ago, I don't even remember which one it was), so I'd better investigate this further before I stand corrected... but considering that John Lennon went way further than that in his solo career, you may be right! Maybe I should have used "Happiness is a warm gun" as an example! :)

Nice to meet you Piggybank! Anybody who can discuss the Beatles... I do know that Liverpool is in England, and I favor the Beatles because they represented the Queen well!

Yes, of course John did not have a stop sign. It is not a secret for longevity, and I only feel sadness for what could not last though many would have had it so. "Lest a seed fall in to the ground, and die, it abideth alone." There is our hope for when the good die young.

Well, I don't know if that's any consolation, but John Lennon lived a full life and left an impact... very few people who live to be 100 manage to do this.

I love talking about the Beatles, especially with people who were around at the time and experienced their music first hand. In a way, it was unfortunate that I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I still heard the music and love it, so that's a good thing.

I was forbidden to listen to them by my Pentecostal mother until I was 16. She was convinced that the British Invasion was planned by M5 agents to seduce the American teenagers - silly her, she thought of us all as having children's minds regardless of what our bodies were doing :=} At any rate, M5 (is that it, it's M some #) did a pretty decent job of seducing us all to hell. Maybe literally - I hope not. I see you are British, so ya'll never had a chance...

Oh dear... I would go on and on about the bad effects of religion in people's lives, but that would be another discussion all together...

lol, I live in Britain but I'm not British, I'm Greek :) We listen to a lot of British and American music in Greece and the Beatles had a huge impact to that generation - not only in Greece, more or less all over Europe. There was even a rumour that the Beatles would come in Athens for a concert, but it never happened.

Oh well, we were lucky enough to get the Stones in the 80s. I didn't go, of course, but I suppose it was better than nothing :p

Yeh, we got some Greeks that live near here at the OU campus in Norman, Oklahoma. I tried to become one, but "the Greeks don't want no freaks."

My mother's influence wasn't actually bad - in place of the Beatles she had me take classical piano. When I learned to play guitar, there was a lot of American music to learn, including playing along with the "standards". Tough stuff, I'll tell you. And to think that St. Paul didn't know how to read or write music, and yet incorporated all those modulations and transition chords into his melodies. Kudos, I say, kudos.

Oh well, didn't mean to offend your mother in particular, but of what I read the people in the States who were more anti-Beatles were religious groups. Things apparently became even worse after John Lennon was misquoted and people thought he said that the Beatles were better than Jesus...

And as for your experience, I am not surprised, I must be the only Greek I know in Britain who hasn't got many Greek friends (well, most of them finished with their studies and went home and I decided to stay). The majority of my Greek friends were always moaning of lack of opportunity to practice their English, but the moment someone British joined the company, they forgot all about them and spoke Greek to each other! I prefer to mix with all kinds of people, that is the idea anyway, and my English has improved a lot as a result...

OT! My bad. Sororities and fraternities on campus are referred to as Greeks because they are known by their Greek letters. Nevermind...

Lennon was not misquoted, he was misunderstood. Whatever he may have meant to say, it was the use of drugs that offended my mother, who would not even allow aspirin in the house. And that teenagers would fall for the erroneous supposition that by taking drugs, you would somehow or other become as good of a writer as one of the Beatles, rather than the discipline of studying music and a well rounded education. "Religious people" have gotten a bum rap - far from stifling the music of the Beatles and Stones, and rock in general, they served to give them a cause de celibre. [We must overcome these "white shirt-black tie" boogeymen and mad mothers. We'll show them! We'll put out 30 #1 hits!]

Well, some candy floss pop is ok - feeling in a happy clappy mood and wanting to listen to some happy clappy music is not necessarily a bad thing...

But to say that the Beatles did candy floss pop? Especially after 1964? Heck, it must have been the best candy floss pop in the world, since there are people (me included) who heard the music long after the Beatles were over and still going out to buy the records...

Now that I'm calm, all I can say is that I wouldn't have put it better myself :)

I have no problem with that either. My problem is with Stones fans who just state that the Stones are better than the Beatles without even bothering to listen to any of the Beatles albums apart from greatest hits albums. If somebody says to me "you know what, I like the Stones" I'll say to them "yeah, great, but they're not really my cup of tea". I won't go on demeaning the Stones like some Stones fans demean the Beatles!

lol. .you know I came back to this discussion because I had a memory I wanted to share with you. When I was about 13, I was a loyal Beatlemaniac. One of my sister's friends had told her the Beach Boys were great and just had everything over the Beatles. My sister repeated this to me, and I called this girl up and actually cussed her out! hahaha

Yes, it's irritating when people want to lord it all over something you love.

Yeah, I think that has an extra appeal to ladies as well. I think the Beatles are cute too, I would go as far as saying that George Harrison looked great when he was young! Pity the Stones definitely lose on this front...

I don't know, my father likes both the Beatles and the Stones, so I've heard quite a few Stones albums. I just don't like them, whereas I love the Beatles. However, I can't deny that the Stones are one of the most influential groups ever.