Why The Beatles Were Not the ‘Greatest’ Band Ever, According to Mick Jagger

There is much debate between rock fans about which band is the greatest of all time. Two bands who are often in the discussion are The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger shared one fundamental reason why he doesn’t think it’s The Beatles. However, he doesn’t want people to call the Stones the “greatest” band. 

Mick Jagger said The Beatles weren’t the ‘greatest’ band ever because they were not great performers

Objectively, The Beatles are the “greatest” rock group ever, just going by statistics. They have more record sales than any band and more No. 1 singles than any band. Still, when discussing who the best rock band of all time is, most people remain subjective, going off their personal opinion. 

During the 1960s, the two biggest bands from the U.K. were The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. While the Stones couldn’t compete with The Beatles in popularity, many debated which had the better musical style. However, Mick Jagger said The Beatles couldn’t have been the best because of their boring performing style.

As far as the modern-day world, they were not a great performing band,” Jagger told Rolling Stone. “But do they deserve the fantastic reputation? They were the Beatles. They were this forerunning, breakthrough item, and that’s hard to overestimate.”

Jagger wasn’t wrong that The Beatles didn’t change the game with their performances. The band mainly stayed in place while singing their greatest hits when performing. Jagger had more flair than any of them, prancing around the stage flamboyantly. By the time the fab four got more creative with their style, such as their Sgt. Pepper’s era, they had stopped touring and performing live. The Beatles’ music was a game-changer but didn’t impact other groups’ performing styles. 

Jagger did not want The Rolling Stones to be known as the ‘greatest’

The Beatles and The Rolling Stones did have a competitive rivalry, but they were still friends. They would coordinate release schedules to not interfere with each other, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave the Stones their first hit. The members of each band would like to be in the better band, but Mick Jagger said he didn’t want his group to be known as the “greatest.”

Jagger told Rolling Stone that he saw the label of the “greatest” as a “stupid epithet.” It made The Rolling Stones sound like a “circus act,” rather than a serious rock band.

“It’s just a stupid epithet,” Jagger explained. “It just seems too Barnum and Bailey to me – like it’s some sort of circus act. The first time we heard it said was to introduce us every night. So I used to say, ‘Will you please not use that as your announcement? It’s so embarrassing. And what does that mean? Does it mean the best, the biggest, the most long-lasting.’”

In another Rolling Stone interview in 1978, guitarist Keith Richards expressed a similar sentiment, saying he believes the greatest band constantly changes daily.

“[O]n any given night, it’s a different band that’s the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world,” Richards said.