We’re not talking about The Clash when we tell you lead singer of The Beatles Paul McCartney cast some shade at The Rolling Stones. In an interview with The New Yorker, McCartney called the Stones a “blues cover band.”
“I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are,” said McCartney. “I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”
Notably, the rock legend previously took a shot at the Stones; back in April of 2020, McCartney claimed that he thought the Beatles were better than the Stones when he sat down with Howard Stern. “They are rooted in the blues,” he said. “When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues.”
Taking the high road, Mick Jagger responded to McCartney’s comments a few weeks later when he sat down with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, calling McCartney a “sweetheart” and said that “there’s obviously no competition” between the two renowned music groups.
“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,” continued Jagger. “They broke up before that business started, the touring business for real.”
One thing the Stones do have on The Beatles is the group is still touring, even without their longtime drummer Charlie Watts, who passed away in August.
In a more recent interview with BBC Radio 4, McCartney cleared the air clouding the group’s breakup, clarifying that John Lennon was the bandmate who decided to venture off on their own, ultimately leading to the split of the band. “I’m not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no,” he said. “John walked into a room one day and said, ‘I am leaving The Beatles.’ Is that instigating the split, or not?”