John McMillan recounts an anecdote early on in Beatles vs. Stones, his entertaining history of the epic battle between what many consider the two greatest bands in popular music. In the summer of 1968, Mick Jagger brought an advance copy of Beggars Banquet to the grand opening of a hot new club in London. People were "leaping around," until Paul McCartney strolled in with an advance copy of the single "Hey Jude"/"Revolution." They played it all night long. "Mick looked peeved," McMillan writes. "The Beatles had upstaged him."
McMillan (Smoking Typewriters) lovingly tells the story of the rivalry between the songwriting teams of Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards, between England's north (Liverpool's Beatles) and south (London's Rolling Stones). "The Beatles want to hold your hand," Tom Wolfe once quipped, "but the Stones want to burn down your town."
The Stones, McMillan tells us, marked their success against the Beatles; the latter transformed pop into art, and the Stones were always watching. Early on, they got along fine; less so later. The Beatles didn't feel threatened by the Stones, but there was competition. Rubber Soul came out, then Aftermath; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was followed by Let It Bleed--it was one record counterpunch after another.
In 1975, Mick Jagger said you'd never see him singing "Satisfaction" when he was old. He does, still. The Beatles, on the other hand, never grew old--as McMillan observes, "they didn't have the chance." --Tom Lavoie, former publisher