When The Beatles and The Rolling Stones almost made music together
For most casual rock fans, the early days of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones looked like an all-out war between the two. Though both bands got along fairly well behind the scenes, the music press at the time was known to pit them against each other, with The Stones serving as the nasty counterpart to the loveable and fresh-faced Fab Four. For all of the supposed bad blood, the personal relationship was quite the opposite, and there was a good chance that both bands could have come together on what would have been a major milestone for the music industry.
As The Beatles began embracing their life as a studio band amid the chaos of Beatlemania, The Stones were also looking to get away from their usual way of recording and sought their old friends for advice. While working on some of their most adventurous projects until that point, a spokesman for The Beatles discussed the idea of both bands creating a studio together, explaining to Melody Maker: “One idea they’re discussing is obtaining a recording studio where they can each make their own records and possibly record other artists”.
The initial idea would be for both bands to bring in some prospective artists they thought had potential, give them access to recording studios, and even put together a label to distribute their records. Mick Jagger even endorsed the idea, saying at the time: “It’s nothing fantastic, just something Paul McCartney and I talked about. We’d like to build the best recording studios in the world. It would be like five years ahead of its time”.
The idea had even garnered support from some of their contemporaries, with Pete Townshend thinking that it would have been the next step forward for rock bands that have gotten to the level of success that The Beatles and Stones had seen. While both acts seemed to be warming up to the idea, those plans quickly went up in smoke when The Beatles started to get into their legal affairs.
After erroneously teaming up with manager Allen Klein, The Beatles slowly started to fall apart over business deals and mounting tensions between group members regarding their creative direction. After The Beatles’ breakup, the plans for a studio quickly folded, with each member going on to solo ventures while The Stones continued to stay the course.
Regardless of the dream team not coming together, both acts did end up using different pieces of the idea, with The Beatles founding their Apple label and signing acts like James Taylor to their roster. The Stones also kept up the idea of a recording studio, using their mobile studio to record their own material and leasing it out to other artists on the rise, such as Deep Purple, who recorded their album Machine Head after their original plan to record went up in smoke.
Both The Beatles and The Stones also remained on friendly terms in the studio during their tenure as well, with Paul McCartney and John Lennon contributing guest vocals to The Stones’ single ‘We Love You’ and Brian Jones playing a few instruments on The Beatles’ comedic recording ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’. While The Beatles and The Stones may serve separate niches in rock and roll, the idea of them actually working together on something would have revolutionised how most rock and roll is made today.
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