Jim DeRogatis - The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones: Sound Opinions on the Great Rock n Roll Rivalry

JIM D E ROGATIS & GREG KOT

THE
BEATLES

THE
ROLLING STONES

SOUND OPINIONS ON THE GREAT
ROCK N ROLL RIVALRY

First published in 2010 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

Copyright 2010, 2011 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company

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ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-3813-1

Digital edition: 978-1-61060-5-137

Softcover edition: 978-0-76033-813-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DeRogatis, Jim.
The Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones : sound opinions on the great rock n roll rivalry / Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7603-3813-1 (plc)
1. BeatlesCriticism and interpretation. 2. Rolling StonesCriticism and interpretation. 3. Rock music1961-1970History and criticism. I. Kot, Greg. II. Title.
ML3534.D466 2010
782.42166092241dc22
2010003192

Editor: Dennis Pernu
Design Manager: Katie Sonmor
Cover Design and Layout: John Barnett/4 Eyes Design
Timeline Design: Erin Fahringer and John Barnett/4 Eyes Design

Printed in China

CONTENTS

Mop Tops in Matching Suits vs.
Would You Let Your Sister Go with a Rolling Stone?

The Vocalists

Two Divergent Paths Toward the White Light

The Guitarists

Exile on Main St. vs. the White Album

The Bassists

Charlie and Ringo

The Late Sixties and the Early Seventies

WHOS COOLER, THE BEATLES OR THE ROLLING STONES?

This is a question thats been posed as the start of an always hard-fought but generally good-natured game played by super-geek rock fans around the world for half a century, and it took my colleague Greg Kot and me about one second to answer the first time we were asked by Voyageur Press editor Dennis Pernu.

The Stones, of course! Duh.

Needless to say, we both think the Fab Four was a pretty great band, too, but its all in the way you ask the question. If were talking who was cooler during that legendary rivalry in the Sixties, theres really no contest, as the Stones pretty much defined the termsee Mick Jaggers strut, Keith Richards slouch, Brian Jones sleepy-eyed sneer, the unshakeable stoicism of Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. If, however, you ask which band has had more far-ranging or enduring influence; which was stronger or more innovative in the recording studio versus being more electrifying onstage; which caused the bigger social impact; which boasted the more ambitious songwriters, more effective singers, more virtuosic musicians, or any of a thousand other variations... well, now youve got a championship match, and thats what Dennis really had in mind.

Greg and I already had contributed album-appreciation essays to Voyageurs beautiful coffee-table books on Led Zeppelin and Queen, and I had edited and written the central historical essay for their tome on the Velvet Underground, which also included a contribution from Mr. Kot. When Dennis posed the Beatles or Stones? query to us during a visit to Minneapolis and asked if wed be interested in a book-length response, it made sense that he came to us: In addition to serving as the ever-competitive rock critics at the Chicago Tribune (Greg) and, until early 2010, the Chicago Sun-Times (Jim), we are the consistently contentious co-hosts of Sound Opinions, a public radio program that we proudly call the worlds only rock n roll talk showin the tradition of the Stones as the worlds only rock n roll band or the Lester Bangsera Creem as the worlds only rock n roll magazine. We disagree with one another about myriad musical issues constantly, week in and week out, and even when were on the same page about an artists assets or demerits, its invariably for different reasons.

Truth be told, we didnt instantly embrace Dennis idea. Dedicated students of rock history and avid readers of the canon of rock literature, we were dubious that the world needed another book about either of these bands when so many great ones already have been written. Certainly neither of us wanted to force taking a hard-and-fast anti- position on either of two bands we both deeply love; in the end, the only real answer to the question Beatles or Stones? is Both! But if Dennis betrayed a momentary flash of disappointment that the two of us didnt instantly divide into one pro-Beatles / anti-Stones guy and vice versa, that disappeared as we spent the next hour arguing the finer points of exactly how and why one band had it all over the other on this, that, or the other thing. (Jim: