The Beatles and the Rolling Stones have been pitted against one another since they broke through. They both crossed the Atlantic in the same era, bringing with them similar inspirations and influences. It’s a natural comparison, but it didn’t make it any less frustrating for the bands involved. While both bands took their perceived rivalry in stride most of the time, there was some truth to the claims. The bands did feel competition, and it got under their skin. John Lennon reportedly came up with a pretty petty nickname for the Stones that he would use when the tensions were high.
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John Lennon’s Petty Nickname for the Rolling Stones
There is room enough in the world for both the Beatles and the Stones. Fans have proven that. Though the Beatles’ tenure was much shorter than the Stones’ enduring career, the former are still considered revolutionaries and remain just as relevant.
But there’s no doubt it felt like a tug of war at times for these bands. Listeners’ attention spans aren’t infinite, and there was bound to be some fatigue for the “British Invasion” bands. This got into the heads of both bands from time to time, leading to quarrels here and there.
The Beatles’ Lack of Edge
For Lennon, it wasn’t so much about winning over any audience; it was about winning over the right one. The late, great Beatle felt like the Stones got the respect that the Beatles didn’t. They were considered edgy, and people listened to what they had to say. In Lennon’s view, the Beatles were seen as altogether more innocent than their counterparts.
“He felt the Rolling Stones got the kind of adulation and respect that ‘The Mop Tops’ didn’t, and that the Stones were perceived as the revolutionaries because they came forward with ‘Street Fighting Man’ as opposed to ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand,’” Lennon’s close friend, Elliot Mintz once said.
While hindsight tells us Lennon had nothing to worry about, it was a real issue for him at the time. His contemporaries didn’t share the same sentiments. In fact, many of them saw Lennon as the one with the edge.
“Lennon was probably the only one who’d be handy in a fight,” Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson once said. “Mick Jagger always looked too self-conscious to be considered a tough guy; he looked like he’d fall over if you blew on him.”
Nevertheless, it played into Lennon’s fears, leading him to come up with a cutting, albeit kinda silly, nickname for the Stones to use when he got mad.
“He loved Mick Jagger, and the two of them spent countless nights together in London,” Mintz added in the same conversation. “But when he would get really angry about it, he’d called them ‘the Rolling Pebbles.’”
It’s not exactly the worst thing he could’ve called them, but perhaps it did its job in hitting the Rolling Stones where it hurts.
(Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
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