# The Beatles or the Rolling Stones - Which Side Are You On?



## Guest (Sep 25, 2018)

One last poll which will have to hold you for about 10 days as I shall be in Ottawa...

Pretty simple question really... Are you a Beatles person or a Stones person?

This is an interesting article written about the question which has been asked of everyone -

https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-beatles-or-the-stones-which-side-are-you-on-533c71da0019

Here's Mick Jagger's induction speech for the Beatles into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame -


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2018)

The Beatles or the Stones? 

The Stones...

The Stones or the Kinks?

The Kinks...


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

For lyrics, the Kinks
For pop melodies, the Beatles
For sleazy Rock n roll, the Stones


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

If I were to make my own choice of top20 of songs of these two bands, the Stones would take the #1 spot. The Beatles #2-20.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'd like to see your your top 20 Stones picks, Art Rock. They did have a great run of pop and rock n roll numbers.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Something like this (all worthy of appearing on our car MP3 USB stick). Ranking is reasonably solid for the first 8, becomes fuzzy thereafter.

1 Angie

<insert a few dozen Beatles songs here>

2 Sympathy for the devil
3 Paint it black
4 Satisfaction
5 As tears go by
6 Jumping Jack flash
7 Ruby Tuesday
8 Lady Jane
9 Brown sugar
10 Start me up
11 Under cover of the night
12 Honky tonk woman
13 Under my thumb
14 Beast of burden
15 Get off of my cloud
16 Fool to cry
17 19th nervous breakdown
18 You can't always get what you want
19 It's only rock and roll but I like it
20 Waiting on a friend


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm glad you left off Let's Spend The Night Together. I never dug that one.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Strange how personal all this is.

Gimme Shelter makes my top 10 tracks of all time. Not on your list.

If I never hear Angie again, it will stillbe a shame because I just recalled it.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I like both bands, but I definitely prefer the best songs of the Rolling Stones to the best songs of the Beatles.


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## Guest (Sep 26, 2018)

My duties in Ottawa with resultant increased responsibilities necessitate placing all threads on hiatus...

Best wishes - 

Syd


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I don't care much about either band, but The Beatles, obviously. No comparison in the quality of the writing.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

You really got me.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

As with Belowpar, I must give The Stones an atom width's advantage over The Beatles because of _Gimme Shelter_, one of my Top Ten songs also. Plus a song like _Paint It Black_ has an emotionally convincing resonance that the Fab Four never quite achieve.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

During the time when both bands were together the Beatles painted with a wider harmonic and melodic brush. 

BTW, the truly great Stones songs have yet to be mentioned in this thread.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Room2201974 said:


> During the time when both bands were together the Beatles painted with a wider harmonic and melodic brush.
> 
> BTW, the truly great Stones songs have yet to be mentioned in this thread.


Well? Certainly missing are excellent songs from Sticky Fingers. All we have so far is _Brown Sugar_; There are also _Sway, Wild Horses, Can't You Hear Me?, You Gotta Move, Bitch, Sister Morphine, Dead Flowers, Moonlight Mile _.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Tumbling Dice... my No 2 Stones no.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Whew, I'm feeling better about this thread now that we've added a few great RS songs. However, _You've Got To Move_ isn't one of them.


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## Guest (Sep 27, 2018)

Rolling Stone Magazine - The 100 Greatest Beatles Songs...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-beatles-songs-154008/

Rolling Stone Magazine - The 100 Greatest Rolling Stones Songs...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...-stones-songs-40475/prodigal-son-1968-230547/

Argue amongst yourselves... Strange Magic is in charge of all matters inconsequential until my return...

- Syd


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Room2201974 said:


> Whew, I'm feeling better about this thread now that we've added a few great RS songs. However, _You've Got To Move_ isn't one of them.


Your greatness meter is broken. I can fix it for you--mine works perfectly .


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Strange Magic said:


> Your greatness meter is broken. I can fix it for you--mine works perfectly .


Sorry *Strange* but you're confusing Fred McDowell's great version of a gospel standard with a Rolling Stones song. Not only did the Stones not write it, but their version is a note for note *duplication* of Fred's classic version. How can this be a great Rolling Stone song when they added nothing to the cover? Here, listen for yourself!

Fred McDowell






Rolling Stones






If you've added zero creativity to a song, how can it be your "great" song?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I was around when these bands were in their heyday, and I loved listening to both of them. The Stones had more style and sex appeal - but musically, I think the Beatles top them, and have voted accordingly.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Both great bands and both deserve their positions in the pantheon. Not keen on choosing.:lol:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Room, I will cheerfully affirm that The Stones closely covered a great song and performance by Fred McDowell. But this does not disqualify their cover. Consider this formulation: On a Rolling Stones album, we have a faithful cover of a great song, hence it is a great Rolling Stones song. The alternatives are that it is either not a great song, or not a faithful cover of a great song. But I'll also affirm that a case such as this does not make for what's called good law.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

No vote from me.
Should have included a neither of the above option, if it's not Baroque then maybe big band swing, Basie, Ellington, etc might get a response.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

In the Stones' output, I like Beggar's Banquet the most by far for the raw blues rock. I wish they did more of that. Exile on Main Street next.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Strange Magic said:


> Room, I will cheerfully affirm that The Stones closely covered a great song and performance by Fred McDowell. But this does not disqualify their cover. Consider this formulation: On a Rolling Stones album, we have a faithful cover of a great song, hence it is a great Rolling Stones song. The alternatives are that it is either not a great song, or not a faithful cover of a great song. But I'll also affirm that a case such as this does not make for what's called good law.


*Strange*, your logic is twisted. Just because a great song is faithfully covered does not make it a great RS song. _Chains_ by the Beatles is a great Goffin and King song, not a great Beatles song.

I'm not saying that cover songs can't be great. But in the case of _You've Got To Move_, what makes it great has been provided by Fred McDowell....note for note. And it takes three Stones to cover what one Fred McDowell can do.

Without Fred McDowell's version, the RS version would not exist, hence it can't be a great Stones song.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Room, we can say that it is a faithful cover, sung by the Rolling Stones on a Rolling Stones album. They add a little harmonic richness with their several voices, and also provide a slightly fuller instrumental background. I have my tweezers ready, but hope to put them away unused .


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Some say Wild Horses was written by Townes van Zandt.

I like

Out of Time
It's All Over Now
Waiting on a Friend
Miss You


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## Guest (Sep 28, 2018)

Honestly... I've been gone for like one day - and I have about another 10 or so to go through here in Ottawa...

Here's the official word on this subject - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Gotta_Move_(song)#The_Rolling_Stones_version

"McDowell's rendition inspired many subsequent recordings, including a popular electric-combo version by English rock group the Rolling Stones. The Stones regularly performed "You Gotta Move" during their 1969 US tour. They recorded a version at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama in December 1969, with later recording in England in 1970. It was later included on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers, which credited McDowell as the songwriter.

Mick Jagger sings the song in a Southern black dialect with Mick Taylor's electric slide guitar accompaniment that follows McDowell's. Taylor commented in 2011: "'You Gotta Move' was this great Mississippi Fred McDowell song that we used to play all the time in the studio. I used a slide on that - on an old 1954 Fender Telecaster - and that was the beginning of that slide thing I tried to develop with the Stones." Two different concert versions are included as bonus tracks on the group's Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970) and another on Love You Live (1977). The latter features Billy Preston, who plays on Sam Cooke's version.

Link only - 









Link only - 









If you use the "Love You Live" video as evidence that the Stones transformed the song you have a much stronger case as it is by far the best version ever released - really first-rate guitar work coupled with the addition of Billy Preston's vocals make it a tune that might... just might... crack the 100 best songs list... but that's still kind of a stretch.


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