When The Beatles hit heavy on the charts with “Love Me Do,” Jagger and Richards had to determine if they would stick with their blues roots or detour toward the pop sounds the power group were delivering.
Jagger stated about this: “Keith, he played The Beatles all the time. Drove me absolutely batty. We were undeniably a blues band, but we knew we had to be a pop band.”
The change had to happen in order for the band to reach the height of their success. Of course, their music was already great, but they really had to take it to the next level in order to captivate even more of a fan base, who, may have not heard of them otherwise if their music wasn’t as digestible as the music of the Beatles was.
Richards then admits to feeling envious about The Beatles’ expanding fame, but also acknowledges the motivation that arose from their rivalry.
He had stated: “Without The Beatles, the Stones would never have been here.”
So, while the Rolling Stones were never an exact copy of the Beatles, it’s very clear and safe to say that they drew a lot of inspiration from the band. Maybe not so sonically, but in terms of getting to the next level. At the time, the Stones were just as great, but their sound didn’t exactly match up with the definition of what would be considered pop music.
When the Stones starting taking some inspiration from the Beatles is when they broke through to the other side of music and were able to really solidify themselves as a class act and an act that is still touring around so many years later. This may have been one of the best moves that the band has been able to pull in order to keep a career going for so long.
Credit USA Today.
