Beatles vs. Stones Archives - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Beatles in musical context, 1963-1965

By Nancy Carr|2019-07-18T00:29:10-07:00December 1, 2016|1963, 1964, 1965, Beach Boys, Beatles vs. Stones, Bob Dylan, Guest blogger, Other bands, The Rolling Stones|

Guest Dullblogger Justin McCann, a freelance writer, musician, and self-described “inveterate lurker” on Hey Dullblog, offers these observations on the Beatles’ musical context in 1963-65. Please give him a warm welcome. As innovative as the Beatles were, their rivals — the Stones, The Who, the Kinks, Bob Dylan et. al. — were often just as inventive and you can read about them on this website if you want to know about the greatest legends of the music industry. If other musicians hadn’t been so good, the Beatles wouldn’t have felt the need to compete with them. And if the Beatles — particularly Paul [...]

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Keith Richards on Sgt. Pepper

By Nancy Carr|2015-08-09T22:49:21-07:00August 8, 2015|Beatles vs. Stones, Interviews, Sgt. Pepper|

EMi studios in 1966; the Beatles, working on "Revolver," get a visit from Mick and Keith. NANCY CARR * That headline about Keith Richards calling Sgt. Pepper's "rubbish" in an Esquire interview -- I've finally seen it enough times to post about it. I'm mostly inclined to give Richards' opinion of the album the big shrug. Some people are going to prefer the Beatles, others are going to prefer the Stones, and that's how it's going to remain. But here's the relevant quote, and a few observations about it. [Note: Scott Raab is the interviewer; one of the first things he says [...]

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Book Review: “Beatles vs. Stones”

By Devin McKinney|2014-02-03T05:09:15-08:00November 11, 2013|1968, Beatles vs. Stones, biography, books|

Beatles vs. Stones by John McMillian 288 pp. Simon & Schuster, 2013 Reviewed by Devin McKinney Note: This review was first posted, precipitately, on July 22nd, after review copies of John McMillian's book were sent out; it was difficult for the reviewer to resist reading and responding to it immediately. Now that the book is publicly available, we repost the review, without any changes. A character in Jonathan Lethem’s novel The Fortress of Solitude claims that every small-group dynamic found in fiction or in life is comprehensible via the Beatles model of organizational relationships: “The Beatles thing is an archetype, it’s like [...]

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Book Review: “Beatles vs. Stones”

By Devin McKinney|2016-12-01T17:40:34-08:00July 22, 2013|1968, Beatles vs. Stones, biography, books|

Beatles vs. Stones by John McMillian 288 pp. Simon & Schuster, 2013 Reviewed by Devin McKinney A character in Jonathan Lethem’s novel The Fortress of Solitude claims that every small-group dynamic found in fiction or in life is comprehensible via the Beatles model of organizational relationships: “The Beatles thing is an archetype, it’s like the basic human formation. Everything naturally forms into a Beatles, people can’t help it.” He illustrates this theory by applying it, convincingly, to Star Wars and The Tonight Show. (For the record, the archetypal roles—or “four sides of the circle,” as the title of a Beatles bootleg once [...]

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Beatles, Stones, and serial killers

By Devin McKinney|2013-08-18T01:12:04-07:00July 8, 2013|Beatles vs. Stones|

Midnight Rambler DEVIN McKINNEY • A friend sent this link to a Guardian article titled “31 Songs That Changed My Life,” in which a variety of English creatives (actually, not enough variety—only six are women) name and briefly describe a song they found in some way determinative of their personal development. Per the EW “best album” commented on by Mike, I don’t like such lists yet I almost always look at them. This entry caught me: #15, by Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin: Midnight Rambler by The Rolling Stones I have chosen this from my favourite Rolling Stones album: I’m [...]

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Rolling Stones open thread

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-23T11:59:16-07:00July 12, 2012|1980, Beatles vs. Stones, John Lennon|

I'm taking the occasion of The Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary to declare the first-ever Hey Dullblog open thread. Any thoughts/opinions/stories about The Stones are welcome in the comments, especially if they have some relation to Our Guys, no matter how tangential. This is an experiment; if everybody has fun, we'll do more open threads. I'll start it off with what I immediately thought of this morning, when NPR told me it was 50 years since The Stones' first gig: You know, they're congratulating the Stones on being together 112 years. Whoooopee! At least Charlie and Bill still got their families. In the [...]

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"There’d be no Stones without The Beatles"

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-07T03:25:12-07:00June 2, 2012|Beatles vs. Stones|

Been saying it for years, glad Mr. Richards agrees. Around 2:20 of this interview with Hunter S. Thompson. Just a little something for the next time you're having the old Beatles vs. Stones debate. http://youtu.be/iTq4fEHiJhI

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LIFE Magazine: “The Old Masters and Their Girls”

By Devin McKinney|2014-07-07T14:06:52-07:00December 9, 2009|1965, Beatles vs. Stones, John Lennon|

John, Cyn, and showbiz newcomer Julian in LIFE, 1965. DEVIN McKINNEY • Seems to me I recognized the shot Michael posted below, or one quite like it ... It's evidently from the same session that yielded this shot, part of a pictorial in Life magazine's issue of May 21, 1965. The story, "Hear That Big Sound," is about the current exploding state of pop music and features pix and hype-nuggets on a range of current faves, some mere pan-flashes, others eventual mainstayers: Chuck Berry, Supremes, Herman (sans Hermits), Pacemakers, Righteous Brothers, Wayne Fontana, Dave Clark Five, Dreamers (as in Freddie [...]

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White Album Not All That, Writer Claims

By Devin McKinney|2014-07-07T13:46:38-07:00November 6, 2009|1968, Beatles vs. Stones, The White Album|

Nik Cohn & Ben Ratliff DEVIN McKINNEY • Here, via Rockcritics.com, is a New York Times podcast from September, half of which is devoted to a talk between music critic Ben Ratliff and pop-crit originator Nik Cohn on the remastered version of the White Album (which Ratliff deliciously informs us is currently #16 on the LP charts, "right below Lady Gaga"). Cohn, who was the Times's London correspondent on pop matters circa 1968-70, trashed the Beatles' masterpiece in their pages (see the December 15, 1968, headline bannering this post); now he has softened somewhat, admitting subtleties and qualities precluded at [...]

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New way to look at Beatles vs. Stones…

By Michael Gerber|2014-07-01T21:55:29-07:00April 7, 2008|Beatles vs. Stones|

For as long as there are Boomers... How about this: The Beatles are about the world as it could be. The Stones are about the world as it is. Convincing?

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