In the early days of the “British Invasion,” there was a sense of rivalry between the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Even today, a semblance of that rivalry remains. The better of the two bands is a question akin to “Coke or Pepsi?” – “Sweet or Salty?” Everyone has their opinion and none is definitively correct.
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Mick Jagger set aside that perceived rivalry for a night while inducting the Beatles into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. He had many kind words to say about his fellow English rockers. Revisit the moment, below.
Remember When: Mick Jagger Inducted The Beatles Into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Ushering the Beatles into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was likely not an easy task. What do you say about one of the greatest rock bands ever? How do you sum up their legendary status in a few paragraphs? Well, it helps if you get an equally as legendary musician to do it.
The Rolling Stones’ history is intrinsically linked to the Beatles’. The Fab Four opened up doors for the Stones in England and America, jumpstarting their lengthy career in the spotlight. That’s a fact Jagger made sure to thank the foursome for in his induction speech.
“When I got here tonight, I saw George [Harrison] and he said, ‘You aren’t going to say anything bad about me are you,’” Jagger opened up his speech. “I couldn’t think of anything, really–on the spur of the moment–bad to say about them.”
“The Stones were playing in these little clubs in London, doing Chuck Berry songs, and blues and things,” he continued. “And we loved doing that. And we were a pretty scruffy lot. And we thought that we were totally unique animals. I mean there was no one like us…Then we heard there was a group from Liverpool…This group had long hair, scruffy clothes, but they had a record contract. When I heard the combination of all these things, I was almost sick.”
Jagger joked about how well the Beatles were perceived in the early days while the Stones were labelled as ne’er-do-wells. While that idea might have irked Jagger in the early days, he looked back on that time with gratitude. He nodded to the fact that the Stones earned their big break with a Beatles penned song, “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
“We were very grateful for that because that really broke us in England,” Jagger continued. “The example of the way they wrote, and the original way that they crafted their songs wasn’t lost on us. Later, their success in America broke down a lot of doors that helped everyone else from England that followed. I thank them very much for all those things.”
Revisit Jagger’s full speech, below.
(Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
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