Mick Jagger Said The Beatles’ ‘Please Please Me’ Wasn’t the Sort of Song The Rolling Stones Would Play
Mick Jagger said The Rolling Stones would never record a song like The Beatles’ “Please Please Me.” In addition, he revealed what he and Keith Richards thought of the Fab Four. Some of his comments don’t make sense.
Mick Jagger called The Beatles’ ‘Please Please Me’ an ‘adolescent love song’
According to the book 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of The Rolling Stones, Jagger contrasted his band with The Beatles in 1977. “We were not The Beatles,” he said. “The Beatles were a pop band … and, though we liked them … you know … I mean … Keith and Brian sort of liked them, but I didn’t really.”
He said The Beatles made music that was poppier than The Rolling Stones’. “I mean they were sweet and all that, but we were a blues band,” he said. “We played blues and we played in clubs and we didn’t play ballrooms and we just played in clubs and we played blues … we didn’t play that kind of music, pop music. We didn’t play like … what was it … ‘Please Please Me.’ [We didn’t] play adolescent love songs at all … we were doing ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You.'”
The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were more similar than Mick Jagger would admit
Jagger’s comment is unusual. Yes, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are two different bands and The Rolling Stones were much more of a blues band. However, the two groups had more similarities than differences.
For example, The Beatles tackled blues with their album Let It Be and several tracks from their previous albums. In addition, The Rolling Stones proved that — like The Beatles — they could make psychedelic music. Their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request is often seen as an unofficial companion piece to Sgt. Pepper.
How ‘Please Please Me’ and its parent album performed on the pop charts
The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” was a hit in the United States. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 13 weeks. The Beatles included “Please Please Me” on the album of the same name. Please Please Me hit No. 155 on the Billboard 200 for one week.
According to The Official Charts Company, The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and remained on the chart for 18 weeks. The Fab Four’s catalog was rereleased in the 1980s. Then, “Please Please Me” reached No. 29 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for four weeks. Aside from “Love Me Do,” it was the sole rereleased single to reach the top forty. On the other hand, Please Please Me was No. 1 for 30 of its 70 weeks on the U.K. chart.
While “Please Please Me” never became a standard on the level of “Here, There and Everywhere” or “Something,” it inspired some covers here and there. For example, The Crickets, David Cassidy, Blondie, MonaLisa Twins, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and the Italian pop star Fausto Leali all recorded the track.
The Rolling Stones were a great band even if they didn’t sing “Please Please Me.”
