Mick Jagger Claps Back At Paul McCartney After The Beatle Called The Stones A "Blues Cover Band"

A nice to see that the Beatles, Rolling Stone rivalry is alive and well. Both Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney are coming up on their 80th birthdays. Still at that age they find themselves embroiled in the middle of an age-old rivalry. This new chapter of the rivalry between the Rolling Stones and The Beatles began with McCartney telling The New Yorker that The Rolling Stones were a "Blues cover band". Mick responded to McCartney's comments at concert that the Stones gave at SoFi Stadium recently.

Before we get into who said what in the latest installment in this beef. We have to point out that Paul McCartney has been beating this drumb about the Rolling Stones and blues for a while now. Apparently Sir Paul's biggest criticism of the Rolling Stones has always been that the band is too reliant on blues rhythms. He told Howard Stern in 2020 a similar line to what he recently told the New Yorker that got Mick Jagger rilled up. Paul mentioned at the time,

“They are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues,” McCartney told Stern, “We had a little more influences … There’s a lot of differences and I love the Stones, but I’m with you. The Beatles were better.”

Mick Jagger wasn't necessarily disrespectful to McCartney in his response. Even though the two bands have had a "rivalry" for years it does seem to be an amicable affair more or less. That didn't stop Jagger though from calling out McCartney. Jagger had acknowledged the presence of a couple of stars that were on hand that night to see them perform. With the like of Leo DiCaprio, Megan Fox, and Lady Gaga getting shout-outs from the band. Then he mentioned,

“Paul McCartney is here. He’s gonna join us in the blues cover band.”

For some comparing The Rolling Stones to The Beatles is almost blasphemy. Mick Jagger though has stood his ground when comparisons between the two bands have been brought up to him. He actually has a couple of pretty decent points that happen to fall in his favor. Jagger has pointed out that The Rolling Stones have gone on massive tours and sold out the largest arenas for years. This is something that The Beatles never did.

"The big difference, though, is, and sort of slightly seriously, is that the Rolling Stones is a big concert band in other decades and other areas when the Beatles never even did an arena tour, or Madison Square Garden with a decent sound system,”

Perhaps Paul McCartney's comments aren't exactly what worries the members of The Rolling Stones the most these days. The band is actually censoring some of their songs that may not fit all that well in today's social climate. Recently the retired their song "“Brown Sugar.” which was a song that spoke about slavery. In a recent sit down with the LA Times Keith Richards was also surprised that the band was going through this self-censorship phase. He told the paper,

“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is,” he said. “Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it.”