David Crosby once explained why The Beatles are better than The Rolling Stones
In the world of classic rock, there will always be an endless debate about who is better: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Although both bands approached music differently, their impact on rock music cannot be overstated, with the Fab Four making timeless classics and The Stones continuing to release new music and grow into seasoned bluesy legends. While everyone has their own opinion on which band takes top spot, David Crosby doesn’t think it’s any contest.
Before he was a member of The Byrds, Crosby remembers the moment that The Beatles set his world on fire. With America still reeling after the death of President John F. Kennedy, seeing The Beatles descend onto The Ed Sullivan Show marked a turning point in American culture, with everyone wanting to pick up a guitar and play like John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The impact of that one performance left a searing impression on Crosby, telling MusicRadar: “I liked pop music because of The Everly Brothers, but seeing The Beatles made something else click. It changed my life. They changed my life. Let’s be very specific about that.”
Shortly after, Crosby had become a member of The Byrds opposite Roger McGuinn, playing a rock and roll take on folk music influenced by The Beatles. The Fab Four were always friendly with their American friends, counting The Byrds among their favourite American acts and George Harrison eventually penning ‘If I Needed Someone’ in tribute to their signature sound.
When asked what separated The Beatles from acts like The Stones, Crosby pointed to the musical ability being the deciding factor for him, remarking to Rolling Stone, “The Stones did have a fairly wide range that they did, but The Beatles had a much wider range of writing that they could do. And The Beatles could sing harmony. The Stones can’t do that for squat, but The Beatles can do it really well.”
It’s easy to see where Crosby is coming from as well. While The Stones had their penchant for thinking outside the box when crafting their epics, they would always rely on the blues to bring them back home. From day one, every Beatles album was looked at as a way to push music forward, whether that meant delving into psychedelia on Sgt Pepper or structuring the scraps of their final years into a masterpiece on Abbey Road.
That knowledge of harmony would also inform Crosby’s musical decisions later down the line. Once he took time off from working with The Byrds, the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young became well-known for their impeccable chemistry in harmony work, sounding like one distinct voice whenever they harmonised.
As much as Crosby got swept up in the frenzy of Beatlemania when he was younger, that sense of musicality brought him back to The Beatles far more often, going on to say, “I was amazed by the sheer musicality of it and their ability to project what a confident, joyful and beautiful band they were. It’s always about the music. Those guys could really play and sing. They had the goods. And they really had the songs.”
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