It’s no secret that a degree of friendly rivalry existed between The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. If you speak to anyone who was alive in the 1960s and enjoyed contemporary pop music, most will side with one or the other. With the comfort of retrospect, however, the younger generations will, by and large, venerate both in their respective fields, which were ultimately disparate.
The two bands remained acquainted for most of the 1960s despite the public’s perception of a fierce, elbow-jabbing feud. In the early ’60s, The Rolling Stones were just another rhythm and blues cover band in a sea of rhythm and blues bands littering London’s genre-friendly venues. One of their earliest leg-ups was incidentally a helping hand from The Beatles.
While inducting The Beatles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, Mick Jagger recalled his band’s early association with the Fab Four. “We were doin’ Chuck Berry songs and blues and things, and we thought that we were totally unique animals,” Jagger noted. “And then we heard there was a group from Liverpool, and they had long hair, scruffy clothes.”
He then described his bitter envy upon hearing ‘Love Me Do’ for the first time. “But they had a record contract. And they had a record on the charts, with a bluesy harmonica on it, called ‘Love Me Do.’ When I heard the combination of all these things, I was almost sick,” Jagger added.
“Later on, they gave us our first big hit in England, which was a song they wrote called ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’,” Jagger continued, noting the vital leg-up. “And we were very grateful for that ’cause that really broke us in England. The example of the way they wrote and the original way that they crafted their songs wasn’t lost on us. And later on, their success in America broke down a lot of doors that helped everyone else from England that followed. And I thank them very much for all those things.”
The Stones released ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ in November 1963 as their second single, just five months before the arrival of their eponymous debut album. The first and second albums, both released in 1964, were created in the infancy of Jagger and Keith Richards’ songwriting ventures and, hence, relied heavily upon covers.
As Jagger sees it, the major turning point was 1965, the year of Out of Our Heads and the album’s hit single, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’. The catchy riff and Jagger’s punchy, assertive lyrics highlighted the band’s turn towards commercial success as a pop group and the beginning of Brian Jones’ downfall as the band’s leader.
Discussing the seismic hit, which became the Stones’ first US number-one single, Jagger noted this turning point. “It was the song that really made the Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band,” he said. “It has a very catchy title. It has a very catchy guitar riff. It has a great guitar sound, which was original at that time. And it captures a spirit of the times, which is very important in those kinds of songs … Which was alienation.”
The Beatles may have set The Rolling Stones on the right track with ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, but ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ was undoubtedly pivotal in lifting the band flush with its rivals, making way for a flourish of ensuing singles and seminal albums.
