Roger Daltrey on the two bands he felt were “beyond” The Who
Arguably, the 1960s was the most important period for rock ‘n’ roll. It was certainly the point at which the genre played its most important role in Western culture. Throughout the decade, bands cropped up all around the world, but the UK became a particularly vibrant epicentre, thanks to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and their neighbours in the British invasion fleet.
As far as most listeners were concerned during this period, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones led the pack as the first two major British acts to enter the US charts. Both bands maintained hitmaking allure throughout the decade while pandering to the oblique and progressive demands of the psychedelic era. Bands like The Who and The Kinks surfed in their wake, building up vast fanbases with their nuanced approaches. For The Who, this meant deafening, destructive concerts and Pete Townshend’s famous rock operas.
Arguments over which band was better than the other are futile, but fans will enter into them all the same. In 2021, Paul McCartney alluded to the idea that The Beatles and Stones had strengths in different areas. However, concluded his appraisal by confirming which band he deems superior. “I’m not sure I should say it, but they are a blues cover band. That’s sort of what the Stones are,” the former Beatle said. “I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”
Despite his provocative comment, McCartney respects The Stones wholeheartedly for their role as enduring showmen. “The Stones are a fantastic group,” he told Howard Stern around a year prior. “They are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues. Whereas we had a little more influences. There’s a lot of differences, and I love The Stones, but The Beatles were better.”
The Beatles were certainly superior in terms of artistic scope as they ventured further from blues-rock roots and with greater success. However, within their field, no band could rival The Stones. “There’s obviously no competition,” Mick Jagger told Zane Lowe shortly after McCartney’s comments. “The Rolling Stones have been a big concert band in other decades and other eras when The Beatles never even did an arena tour. […] That’s the real big difference between these two bands. One band is, unbelievably, luckily, still playing in stadiums, and the other band doesn’t exist.”
The Who’s frontman, Roger Daltrey, also joined the conversation in 2021 after an interview prompt. “I know what [McCartney] means,” he told Music Radar, “The Stones have written some great songs, but they are in the blues. They are in that format. It’s like comparing cheese and apples. So they’re both very tasty, but the cheese does one thing, and the apple does another.”
Daltrey, one of the greatest rock singers of all time in his own right, concurred with Jagger’s point of longevity and showmanship. “I’ve always thought that you cannot take away the fact that Mick Jagger is still the number one rock and roll show,” he asserted. “The only other people I’d put up against him would be perhaps James Brown… maybe Jerry Lee in his day, or Little Richard, but Mick Jagger, you’ve got to take your hat off to.”
After praising Jagger as the “number one rock and roll performer,” Daltrey admitted that the Stones didn’t match the virtuosity of some of their contemporary musicians. “As a band, if you were outside a pub and you heard that music coming out of a pub some nights, you’d think, ‘Well, that’s a mediocre pub band.’ No disrespect. It can be very patchy, but that music can. It’s part of its charm. You have to see The Stones. I love them. I just think they’re great entertainment.”
While Daltrey couldn’t compare cheese to apples, he could say unequivocally where The Who ranks alongside these foodstuffs. “The Beatles were beyond beyond… and the Stones,” he mused. “We supported both of them in 1963 and ‘64. I’ll never forget that ‘64 one with The Beatles.” Daltrey doesn’t remember the gig for anything positive, though, since all he could hear were the screams emanating from the audience. “You couldn’t hear a note they played. What’s the point?” he added, laughing.
While Daltrey seems sure of his humble position, many music fans would place The Who a rung above The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. After all, Pete Townshend is regarded as one of the finest conceptual songwriters and rhythm guitarists of his generation, Keith Moon as one of the finest drummers, and John Entwistle as one of the finest bassists. Famously, The Stones felt The Who had outperformed them at their Rock and Roll Circus concert in 1968.
