The Bob Dylan, Beatles, and Rolling Stones Album That Could Have Been

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan were three of the most, if not the most, popular musical acts of the 1960s. To an extent, all of their music served its own purpose and somewhat juxtaposed each other. However, they all, more or less, shared the same foundation. All three parties were great admirers of each other, but they never ever collaborated. Although they all had the chance to do a supergroup album proposed by Bob Dylan.

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We would certainly listen to an album featuring these three titans of industry. Although just because these are three of the greatest of all time doesn’t necessarily mean the album would be all that good. As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if it were bad. What we are trying to say is that pepperoni, pineapple, and jalapenos are all great toppings, but they just might not belong on the same pizza. You picking up what we’re putting down?

Well, seemingly for this reason, the album never came to fruition, and the two musicians who were strictly against it were Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. On the contrary, the other band members were excited or simply indifferent.

The Inception and Quick Demise of Bob Dylan’s Proposed Album

Studio engineer, Glyn Johns, was a close friend and collaborator of both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That being said, when Dylan proposed this idea for a mega album, he proposed it to Glyn Johns. Regarding the proposition, Johns wrote in his book, Sound Man,  “[Dylan] asked me about The Beatles album I had just finished and was very complimentary about my work with the Stones over the years.

“In turn, I babbled about how much we had all been influenced by his work. He said he had this idea to make a record with The Beatles and The Stones. And he asked me if I would find out whether the others would be interested. I was completely bowled over. Can you imagine the three greatest influences on popular music in the previous decade making an album together?”

In the book, Johns also outlined what band members were in and who was out, as he wrote, “Keith [Richards] and George [Harrison] thought it was fantastic…Ringo [Starr], Charlie [Watts], and Bill [Wyman] were amicable to the idea as long as everyone else was interested. John [Lennon] didn’t say a flat no, but he wasn’t that interested. Paul [McCartney] and Mick [Jagger] both said absolutely not.”

Well, there you have it, folks, this album never saw the light of day because of Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. However, maybe that isn’t such a bad thing…

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