I was a fan of both but really liked the Stones more.

Beatles fan here. Liked the Stones (early Stones stuff was terrific!), but everything the Beatles did just seemed to work.

The Beatles are/were the most important Rock Band in history.
Musically, they are different most notably from different eras mostly because the Stones continued after 1970.
Neither are my preferred music to listen all the time and can't live without music.
But historically I have nothing but respect for what they have accomplished.

Stones.

The Beatles only lasted around 10 years. That's a flash in the pan compared to The Stones 55+ years of jamming together.

'Stones 100%

Stones hands down. {My preference}. Mick was asked this question. He laughed and said the Beatles were great, but we ere comparing a band that dissolved years ago, to one still in existence. He pointed out that he Beatles did very few stadium concerts and that the Stones continue to perform.

I happen to like blues based music. I love listening to Bessie Smith, Howling Wolf, Buddy Guy and the like. In the early days Howlin Wolf performed with the Stones.

Both will be remembered decades from now.
Unlike many others of their time and today.

n the British invasion days definitely the Stones.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Stones hands down. {My preference}. Mick was asked this question. He laughed and said the Beatles were great, but we ere comparing a band that dissolved years ago, to one still in existence. He pointed out that he Beatles did very few stadium concerts and that the Stones continue to perform.

Mick said this in a Rolling Stone interview, hard to find, got the exact quote from Steve Hoffman:

quote:

The Beatles were so big that it's hard for people not alive at the time to realize just how big they were. There isn't a real comparison with anyone now. I suppose Michael Jackson at one point, but it still doesn't quite seem the same. They were so big that to be competitive with them was impossible. I'm talking about in record sales and tours and all this. They were huge... They certainly were not a great live band. Maybe they were in the days of the Cavern, when they were coming up as a club band. I'm sure they were hilariously funny and all that. And they did have this really good onstage persona. But as far as the modern-day world, they were not a great performing band. But... (t)hey were the Beatles. They were this forerunning, breakthrough item, and that's hard to overestimate. Jagger 1995

Even though they were friends, they were competitive. Jagger lately was responding to Mc Cartney stating the Beatles were better, and Keef has said the opposite in recent years. The Stones always played second fiddle to The Beatles, until they broke up, but even then Jagger was was always a step below in stature to Lennon. It is almost an unfair contest because The Beatles broke up at their peak (Abbey Road) and The Stones marched on today in their 70s. The Beatles last official concert was in 1966, and the Stones were not known as a killer live band at that time either. They didn't really come into their own, live-wise, until Brian Jones was fired and Mick Taylor came on board.

I have always went with The Beatles first, Stones second, even though Exile On Main Street is one of my top 10 albums of all time, with Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed close behind.

But there will be days when I listen to Quadrophenia and think The Who were better than both.

I was never a Stones fan. I find their book of music okay but probably wouldn’t put them in my top 10 favorites. Now the Beatles will always be at the top. Their creations were nothing short of generous. Yes they flamed out early as a group but they weren’t built for touring. They became a recording band.

I saw McCartney a couple of years ago. What's a great concert.

I liked the Beatles—a lot, when I was very young. I rarely listen to Beatles music.

Stones.

I really like both, and although I like the entire catalog of the Stones more, listen to the Stones more and prefer the harder music they play, I still think I’d vote Beatles first. Something in the way (pun intended) their music flows just hits me in the right way.

The Rutles.

Enough said.

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I really didn't warm to the Beatles when they first came out which was when I was in High School. I was more into what is now deemed "oldies," jazz, and blues.

Only LP from either that I bought back in the day when originally released was Sticky Fingers.

In my late 20s - early 30s I started to garner an appreciation for both bands.

^^^^^

Stones

The Ruttles, complete 1978 mockumentary. For your viewing pleasure.

A must see for serious Beatles and Monty Python fans.

The cast/cameos is impressive. See if you can spot them all.

The soundtrack is splendid. I remember at release time some thought one of the songs was the new Lennon´s single cut.

If you are a fan, also check Klaatu´s sound/albums and Beatles too many obvious references.

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quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Yes they flamed out early as a group but they weren’t built for touring. They became a recording band.

I once sat down with my son several years ago to talk music and gave him the example of The Beatles (he's a fan) and noted that they only had a 7 year recording career, from 1963 (Please Please Me) to 1969 (Abbey Road) and they wrote and recorded 13 albums during that time. Compare an extremely musician today like Taylor Swift, who released only 4 albums in the same period.

Despite lasting 1/5th the time, the Beatles have twice as many great songs as the Stones.

That said, I'm a huge Stones fan and probably listen to them more than the Beatles. But the Beatles are the most important thing to happen to music in the last 100 years, no doubt.

I really only listen to 5 Stones records: Beggars Banquet thru Goats Head Soup. Before and after don't appeal to me much. The Beatles still astound me to this day with their musicianship, talent, creativity, production, and songwriting. The Stones are just a blues band.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
They didn't really come into their own, live-wise, until Brian Jones was fired and Mick Taylor came on board.

Though "Little Mick" wasn't with the band that long, he helped them turn a corner and put them on the trajectory that continues through this day. He also co-wrote my favorite Stones song, Time Waits for No One" though he got no credit for it. They haven't played it in a concert since he left the band.