Rock
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The Doobie Brothers are not done celebrating half a century of rockin’ down the highway. On Monday (Feb. 27) the veteran group announced 35 new U.S. dates for their ongoing 50th anniversary tour. The shows, which will run from June through October of this year, extends the outing that has brought founding members guitarists Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and John McFee and singer Michael McDonald back together for the first time in 25 years.
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Tickets for all the new dates will go on sale beginning Friday (March 3) at 10 a.m. local time (with the exception of the shows in Sparks, NV; New Brunswick, NJ; Morristown, NJ; Washington, DC; and Uncasville, CT, which will go on sale beginning March 10 at 10 a.m. local time.)
“We are thrilled to be back on the road in 2023 playing some cities we haven’t gotten to yet on this tour,” said guitarist Johnston in a statement.
The new dates include shows in Kansas City, Des Moines, Louisville, Biloxi, Charleston and Atlantic City. After wrapping the U.S. dates the group is slated to head overseas for shows in Australia, Japan and Singapore.
Check out the dates for the Doobie Brothers’ 50th anniversary extended U.S. tour below.
June 9 — Sparks, NV @ Nugget Event Center*
June 11 — West Valley, UT @ Maverik Center
June 14 — Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre
June 15 — Springfield, MO @ Great Southern Bank Arena
June 17 — Sioux City, IA @ Tyson Events Center
June 18 — Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena
June 20 — Duluth, MN @ AMSOIL Arena
June 21 — Madison, WI @ Breese Stevens Field
June 23 — Fort Wayne, IN @ Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
June 24 — Peoria, IL @ Peoria Civic Center
June 26 — Huber Heights, OH @ Rose Music Center at the Heights
June 28 — Youngstown, OH @ The Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre
June 30 — Pikeville, KY @ Appalachian Wireless Arena
July 1 — Louisville, KY @The Palace Theatre
July 3 — Portsmouth, VA @ Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion
July 6 — Reading, PA @ Santander Performing Arts Center
July 8 — New Brunswick, NJ @ State Theatre New Jersey*
July 9 — New Brunswick, NJ @ State Theatre New Jersey*
July 11 — Morristown, NJ @ Mayo Performing Arts Center*
July 12 — Morristown, NJ @ Mayo Performing Arts Center*
August 18 — Waite Park, MN @ The Ledge Amphitheater
August 20 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinewood Bowl Theater
August 23 — Camdenton, MO @ Ozarks Amphitheater
August 26 — Brandon, MS @ Brandon Amphitheater
August 28 — Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum
August 30 — Huntsville, AL @ The Orion Amphitheater
August 31 — Franklin, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater
Sept. 2 — Macon, GA @ Macon Centreplex
Sept. 3 — Savannah, GA @ Enmarket Arena
Sept. 6 — Simpsonville, SC @ CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park
Sept. 7 — Greensboro, NC @ White Oak Amphitheatre
Sept. 9 — Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium
Oct. 4 — Washington, DC @ MGM National Harbor*
Oct. 6 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena*
Oct. 8 — Atlantic City, NJ @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Five Finger Death Punch adds to its record streak of No. 1s on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay, as “Welcome to the Circus” jumps from No. 2 to the summit on the March 4-dated survey.
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The song is the Ivan Moody-fronted band’s 10th No. 1 in a row, the longest run of leading consecutive entries in the history of Mainstream Rock Airplay, which began in 1981.
Each of the band’s entries has ruled the chart starting with “Sham Pain,” which led for a week in 2018.
In all, Five Finger Death Punch now boasts 14 Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s, giving the group sole possession of the third-most leaders in the chart’s history. Only Shinedown (18) and Three Days Grace (17) have more.
Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:18, Shinedown17, Three Days Grace14, Five Finger Death Punch13, Van Halen12, Godsmack11, Disturbed11, Foo Fighters11, Metallica10, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)10, Volbeat
Five Finger Death Punch first crowned Mainstream Rock Airplay with the two-week No. 1 “Coming Down” in 2012.
Concurrently, “Circus” leaps 13-10 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.8 million audience impressions, up 11%, Feb. 17-23, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s sixth top 10 and first since “Afterlife,” which peaked at No. 8 last July.
“Circus” ranked at No. 14 on the latest multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs survey (dated Feb. 25). In addition to its radio airplay, it earned 714,000 official U.S. streams in the Feb. 10-16 tracking week.
Linkin Park debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, as its recently unearthed track “Lost” bows atop the Feb. 25-dated ranking.
In the Feb. 10-16 tracking week, “Lost” earned 10.3 million radio audience impressions and 9 million official U.S. streams and sold 12,000 downloads in the United States, according to Luminate.
It’s Linkin Park’s second No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, which began in 2020, following “In the End,” which reigned for two weeks in 2021 due to gains sparked by iTunes sale pricing.
“Lost” also begins at No. 2 on Hot Alternative Songs and at No. 4 on both Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs.
On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, “Lost” starts at No. 38, Linkin Park’s highest charting entry since “Burn It Down” reached No. 30 in 2012. It’s the band’s 11th top 40 Hot 100 hit, and fifth to debut in the region. The group hit a No. 2 best with “In the End” in 2002.
As previously reported, “Lost” became the first to debut at No. 1 on the Rock & Alternative Airplay chart in more than a decade on the strength of its radio audience.
The track also tops the Rock Digital Song Sales, Alternative Digital Song Sales and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales surveys, as well as Hard Rock Streaming Songs.
“Lost,” with vocals by Chester Bennington, who died in 2017, was originally recorded for the sessions for Meteora, Linkin Park’s second studio album, released in March 2003. It’s part of a 20th anniversary reissue of the album, due April 7.
Shinedown has the record for the most top 10s on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart all to itself, as “Dead Don’t Die” climbs into the top 10 of the ranking dated Feb. 25.
“Die,” which jumps from No. 13 to No. 9, is Shinedown’s 30th top 10, as the band becomes the first act to cross the threshold in the history of the list, which began in 1981.
Previously, the Brent Smith-fronted outfit was in a three-way tie with Five Finger Death Punch and Foo Fighters for the most top 10s, with 29 apiece.
Most Top 10s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:
30, Shinedown
29, Five Finger Death Punch
29, Foo Fighters
28, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)
27, Godsmack
26, Van Halen
25, Disturbed
25, Metallica
Each of Shinedown’s entries on Mainstream Rock Airplay has reached the top five, dating to its debut entry “Fly From the Inside,” which hit No. 5 in September 2003.
Shinedown is currently riding a streak of eight No. 1s in a row on the chart, a run that began with “How Did You Love” in 2017. The record is held by Five Finger Death Punch, which has notched 10 straight.
Shinedown also boasts the most No. 1s – 18 – of any act in the chart’s history.
Concurrently, “Die” pushes 22-18 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay tally with 1.8 million audience impressions, up 18%, Feb. 10-16, according to Luminate.
The song is the third rock radio single from Planet Zero, Shinedown’s seventh studio album, following the title track and “Daylight.” The set debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated July 16, 2022, and has earned 158,000 equivalent album units to date.
Nearly 18 years after first appearing on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, Fall Out Boy has its first No. 1.
“Love From the Other Side,” from the four-piece’s upcoming eighth studio album So Much (for) Stardust (due March 24), jumps from No. 3 to the top of the chart dated March 4. The band previously rose as high as No. 2 with “Dance, Dance” in 2006.
“Love” became the act’s seventh Alternative Airplay top 10, a run that started with its first entry, “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” (No. 3, 2005). Fall Out Boy had most recently reached the top 10 with the No. 10-peaking “Dear Future Self (Hands Up)” in 2019.
Fall Out Boy’s 17-year, nine-month run from a first charting song (“Sugar” debuted on the June 4, 2005, survey) to first a No. 1 is the longest in the Alternative Airplay survey’s 34-year history, surpassing the 17 years and two weeks it took Stone Temple Pilots between 1993’s “Plush” and 2010’s “Between the Lines.”
It also follows up the similarly lengthy 15 years, six months and two weeks it took Paramore between “Misery Business” and first ruler “This Is Why,” which reigned just a month ago.
Longest Wait Between First Appearance and First No. 1, Alternative Airplay:17 years, nine months: Fall Out Boy, “Love From the Other Side” (2005-23)17 years, two weeks: Stone Temple Pilots, “Between the Lines” (1993-2010)16 years, 10 months, two weeks: Alice in Chains, “Check My Brain” (1992-2009)15 years, six months, two weeks: Paramore, “This Is Why” (2007-23)15 years, five months, two weeks: Nine Inch Nails, “The Hand That Feeds” (1989-2005)
Concurrently, “Love” bullets at No. 31, after reaching No. 30 the previous week, on Mainstream Rock Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, the song rises 3-2 with 4.8 million audience impressions, up 10%, Feb. 17-23, according to Luminate.
On the latest Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart (dated Feb. 25), “Love” placed at No. 31, after rising as high as No. 11 (Feb. 4). In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 1.4 million official U.S. streams in the Feb. 10-16 tracking week.
So Much (for) Stardust marks Fall Out Boy’s first full-length since Mania, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in February 2018, and has earned 558,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated March 4 will refresh on Billboard.com Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Paramore and Pierce the Veil lead Billboard’s rock albums charts dated Feb. 25 with new releases This Is Why and The Jaws of Life, respectively.
Paramore’s sixth studio album and first since 2017’s After Laughter bows atop the Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums tallies with 64,000 equivalent album units earned Feb. 10-16, according to Luminate. That sum includes 47,000 units via album sales.
The set is Paramore’s fourth straight No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, dating to 2009, when Brand New Eyes ruled for a week. Its successors Paramore (2013) and the aforementioned Laughter also led for one frame each.
With four No. 1s, Paramore is tied with Florence + the Machine for the most rulers by a woman or woman-led act since the chart began in 2006. Concurrently, as previously reported, Why starts at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200, the band’s best rank since Paramore debuted at No. 1 in 2013.
All 10 of the new album’s tracks appear on the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs survey, paced by “Running Out of Time,” which debuts at No. 18 with 3.3 million official U.S. streams in the tracking week. The album’s title track and lead single (which ranks at No. 19 on the latest Hot Rock & Alternative Songs list, after rising to No. 15 in October) became the band’s first Alternative Airplay No. 1 when it reigned for one week in February.
Carlos de la Garza, who produced the album, concurrently debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Producers chart for the first time. De la Garza is the sole producer behind all 10 of Paramore’s chart entries on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. De la Garza dethrones Steve Lacy on Rock & Alternative Producers after leading for 30 consecutive weeks (dating to July 30, 2022).
Meanwhile, Pierce the Veil’s Jaws bows at No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums with 27,000 units earned. It’s the band’s third Top Hard Rock Albums leader (and third in a row), following 2012’s Collide With the Sky and 2016’s Misadventures. The new LP also launches at No. 2 on Top Alternative Albums and No. 3 on both Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums.
On the Billboard 200, Jaws starts at No. 14. Multiple songs from the set appear on Hot Hard Rock Songs, paced by “Death of an Executioner,” which premieres at No. 7 (1.8 million streams). The album’s lead single, “Pass the Nirvana,” appeared on Mainstream Rock Airplay for three weeks, peaking at No. 39 in December. Follow-up “Emergency Contact” climbs 27-24 on Alternative Airplay.
It’s rare for a band to reach a point of satisfaction and contentment where it can say “enough” — and then move on to a new era.
But that’s the case for Godsmack as it releases Lighting Up the Sky, which the heavy rock quartet says will be the final album of its 28-year career, on Feb. 24 via BMG.
“There’s a time in everyone’s life where we have to honor what we promised ourselves, when we arrive at what we set as a goal,” frontman Sully Erna explains to Billboard from his home in New Hampshire.
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“We’ve enjoyed decades of doing this and we’ve sacrificed a lot of time. But the reality is — and I say this with zero ego — we’re at 27 top 10 (Mainstream Rock Airplay) singles, 12 No. 1s (including ‘Surrender’ from the new album). We could pull three or four more off this new record — it’s a strong record, we feel. That means we could do back-to-back nights in an arena, play 15 songs each night and never play the same single, let alone deep cuts. That’s a helluva place to get to…so you think, how much more do we need?”
But Erna and his bandmates — Tony Rombola on guitar, Robbie Merrill on bass and drummer Shannon Larkin — are quick to add that while the albums may be over, Godsmack is far from it.
“This isn’t ending,” Erna says. “We’re just ending one chapter in our lives, but we’re opening a whole new chapter for our sunset years: to be able to create, now, a greatest hits show, and enjoy the rest of our career playing live, which is really what the reward is for all the work that we do in the studio.”
Larkin, who’s been with Godsmack since 2002, concurs. “We don’t want to break up the band. The whole band has never been on more greased wheels. Everything’s just right. But, being honest, we’ve always felt like making records was more of a chore. Our reward and what we really love about this life we’ve chosen is to play live. We pride ourselves on that, and it’s what we’re going to dedicate ourselves to from now on.”
There’s no question Godsmack has done the record thing well since its debut, All Wound Up, in 1997. In addition to the impressive run of singles, nine of the band’s releases have been certified gold or better and two (1998’s Godsmack and its followup, Awake, in 2000) are multi-platinum. The group has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards and has won 16 of its hometown Boston Music Awards as well as a Billboard Music Award for rock artist of the year in 2001.
“Proud, that’s the best word that I can use,” Erna, who’s released two solo albums and overcame some acknowledged substance abuse issues, says of Godsmack’s legacy. “We’ve been through so much and so many challenges, so many hurdles, so many mountains we’ve had to climb. These guys have been there for me when, literally, I’ve fallen on my face. They’ve been my rock and trusted me and allowed me to lead and capture a dream all of us always wanted since we were kids. So, I’m grateful. And I’m so proud of us ’cause we didn’t do the selfish thing when things got really bad and break up and disappoint the fans and disappoint the work. That’s the best part of it.”
With the members all in their mid- and late 50s, Larkin says age was also a factor in Godsmack’s planning. “The elephant in the room is age,” the 55-year-old drummer says. “We’ve all agreed that we’d like to remain a band until we feel like we’re too old to be cool and perform our songs right and we look like a bunch of old farts or something. I won’t mention any names, but we’ve all seen bands that are probably past their shelf life, and they should wrap it up ’cause they have such a great history. We don’t want to leave a weak impression, like the old and gray Godsmack 10 years from now or whatever.”
An air of finality is palpable throughout Lighting Up the Sky‘s 11 tracks — right up to a riff from “Moon Baby,” the first song on their self-titled major label debut, on the new album’s title track at the end. “That made me think this could really feel complete if we bring people back to the beginning as they finish this one,” Erna, 55, notes. “I think that what you get on this record is really a montage of all things Godsmack. There’s stuff for the old fans like ‘Red White & Blue.’ There’s stuff for the newer fans that echo, like, (2018’s) ‘Bulletproof.’ And then there’s stuff in there I just love myself and wanted to stretch these songs out, ’cause I’m such a fan of the old classic rock sound and arrangements that Peter Frampton and Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and those kind of bands brought us. So when you hear songs like ‘You and I’ and ‘Let’s Go’ and there’s these really great, tricky middle sections, that’s just me being inspired by the people who paved the way and wanting to create that atmosphere and a full-album journey for the listeners.”
“He doesn’t write singles,” Larkin says of Erna. “He’s looking at the record as a body of work that has a 45-, 50-minute listening time and takes you on a journey, like the records all the bands we loved made. It’s the same with this one.”
Erna and company also reached back to the past in choosing a co-producer for Lighting Up the Sky — Andrew “Mudrock” Murdock, who had the same role on the Godsmack and Awake albums.
“It just made sense that if this was gonna be the last one, why not end it where we began and bring back the original team that helped us have success in the first place?” Erna says. “It just felt like the right thing to do. He’s such a great guy and as soon as we saw each other it’s like we picked up right where we left off. Godsmack changed his life in so many ways and I know he’s grateful for that — as we are for him to give us the opportunity in the first stages to be able to make our first record for 2,600 bucks over a weekend. That was a big favor. We’re both part of each other’s success stories.”
Erna and Larkin acknowledge that making Lighting Up the Sky was “very emotional” throughout the process — so much so that guitarist Rombola “was there every step of the way,” according to Erna. “He even looked at me at one point and said, ‘Y’know what, Sully — I want to be here because this is the last one and I don’t want to miss any of it.’ We sat in the studio a few different times and shared tears.”
Larkin, meanwhile, recalls a profound moment when the band members and a longtime assistant, “drills in hand,” spent a full day together dismantling the band’s studio, which was first built in New England and then migrated to Los Angeles and Nashville before being set up in Florida, where three of the four now reside, for Lighting Up the Sky.
“We even took the soundproofing off the walls and we stacked it all up against the back wall,” Larkin says. “The four of us were just standing there looking at this big pile of our studio and…it was a touching moment, a personal moment when the finality hit us that this is the last time we’ll do that as a band.”
Another resonant moment for the band was “Best of Times,” which Larkin refers to as “a love letter from Sully to Tony and Robbie and me.” Erna composed the lyrics around an idea that had been around since 2014’s 1000HP album and wouldn’t allow the band in the studio while he was recording his vocals, “which they were very confused about,” the frontman notes. “Once I had a pretty good rough (vocal) laid out, they came in and I gave them all the lyrics, and I will tell you it was a really emotional moment — caught on camera. A couple of the guys broke down.
“I mean, how can you not love guys that you’ve spent 30 years of your life with and not have a true brotherhood and care and respect for. It was just a tip of my hat to say, ‘Thank you for being with me the whole way and tolerating me even when I didn’t know how to manage myself.’ They’ve been my rock.”
The band is now turning its attention toward touring. Their trek begins April 21 in Santiago, Chile, and the group has announced a May run of U.S. shows with I Prevail opening, starting May 4 in Denver. Godsmack plans to cover North America primarily this year, then eyeball other territories during 2024. After that cycle for the album, Godsmack plans on “playing live shows whenever we want,” according to Erna.
“We’re looking forward to that,” he says. “We’re gonna build the show as big and beautiful as we can and play the best of the songs we’ve written that had the most success and the ones the fans have chosen to be their favorites. What feels right is for us to honor our career and end this strong — whenever we decide it’s the right time to end it.”
Woody Harrelson and Jack White will both join the five-timers club when they appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend. But before they hit the stage, the pair had to clear up a few things with cast member Chloe Fineman in this week’s promo for Saturday’s (Feb. 25) show.
In the first of two bits the trio shot, Harrelson does his job and hypes up White’s appearance, while a thirsty Fineman tries to get something going on the side with the Woodman. “Woody and Chloe back at it again,” she says with sass, snapping her fingers over her head, as White interjects, “Oh, I didn’t know you guys worked together before.”
“Oh, it’s a figure of speech, like ‘Woody and Chloe back at it,’ or ‘Woody and Chloe starring in a hit movie,’” Fineman adds nervously as Harrelson reminds the feature player to stop asking him to cast her in his next movie.
In the second promo Fineman tries to get her groove back and tells Harrelson he’s “the best” host. “Am I?,” he wonders, noting that considering that White is the musical guest, a better pairing might have balanced things out a bit. “Wouldn’t the best host be Jack Black?” he asks.
“You know, white-black, yin-yang, you know I think it could really help bring America together,” he suggests, as Fineman just double-checks to make sure the famously toke-loving actor understands that he does actually have to host this week.
“Stop tearing this country apart, Chloe!,” White implores her.
Harrelson — who appears in the upcoming basketball drama Champions and the HBO political series White House Plumbers — previously hosted Saturday Night Live in 1989, 1992, 2014 and 2019. White who dropped two albums in 2022, April’s Fear of the Dawn and July’s Entering Heaven Alive, has performed on the show five times as well, dating back to his White Stripes days.
The show airs every Saturday live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT. For those without cable, the broadcast will also stream on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans on demand access to previous SNL episodes as well.
Check out this week’s SNL promo below.
Depeche Mode becomes one of just two acts to appear on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart in each decade of the list’s existence thanks to “Ghosts Again,” which debuts at No. 27 on the Feb. 25-dated survey.
The song is the act’s 21st appearance on Alternative Airplay, which began in 1988, and first since “Where’s the Revolution,” which hit No. 40 in 2017.
Depeche Mode has made at least one appearance on Alternative Airplay in the 1980s, ‘90s, 2000s, ‘10s and now the ‘20s, making it the second act to do so, following Red Hot Chili Peppers, which accomplished the feat last year.
The No. 27 entrance of “Ghosts” gives Depeche Mode its best-charting Alternative Airplay hit since “Soothe My Soul” reached No. 27 in 2013, as well as the band’s top debut since “Wrong” started at No. 27 in 2009.
Among its 21 entries, Depeche Mode boasts four No. 1s: 1990’s “Enjoy the Silence” and “Policy of Truth,” and 1993’s “I Feel You” and “Walking in My Shoes.”
Concurrently, “Ghosts” opens at No. 30 on Adult Alternative Airplay, where it’s Depeche Mode’s first song to chart since “Wrong” reached No. 15 in 2009.
On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, “Ghosts” bows at No. 24 with 1.5 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s best rank on the survey, which began in 2009.
“Ghosts” is the first single from Depeche Mode’s 15th studio album, Memento Mori, due March 24.
It’s been more than half a century since The Beatles and Rolling Stones reinvented the idea of rock and roll in their own unique styles. And while they have always remained cordial, there is one thing the British icons have never done: collaborate in the studio.
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That streak looks to end on the Stones’ upcoming studio album. A spokesperson for the Stones confirmed to Billboard in an email on Thursday (Feb. 23) that Sir Paul McCartney is “playing bass on a song” on the Mick Jagger-led group’s upcoming album; CNN was first in an on-the-record confirmation of the collaboration.
The exciting news came as the rep also threw cold water on a previous Variety report that cited unnamed sources claiming fellow surviving Beatle drummer Ringo Starr might make the long-awaited superstar summit as well.
“Ringo isn’t appearing,” the rep tells Billboard.
At press time there was no additional information on the album the Stones have reportedly been wrapping work on in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt (Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber); the untitled collection will be the veteran band’s first new studio album of new songs since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.
In addition to McCartney, the Stones album is likely to feature drumming from the group’s late timekeeper Charlie Watts, who died in 2021 at 80. Longtime group friend and touring drummer Steve Jordan told the L.A. Times that Watts had recorded his drum parts for a handful of songs before his passing. At press time neither the Stones nor McCartney had responded to the reports of their collaboration and a spokesperson for Sir Paul had no comment.
The debate about rock supremacy and friendly rivalry between the bands continues to this day, with McCartney telling Howard Stern in a 2020 interview that, “The Stones are a fantastic group, I go to see them every time they come out because they’re a great, great band and Mick can really do it, the singing and the moves, and Keith and now Ronnie and Charlie. They’re great.”
But, as “really, really” great as McCartney thinks they are, he confidently added, “I love ’em… I love The Stones, but I’m with you: The Beatles are better.” Jagger responded a week later in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that, “[Paul’s] a sweetheart. There’s obviously no competition. He’s a sweetheart.” Jagger noted that the Stones have continued to tour consistently into their sixth decade, while the Beatles quit the road in 1966.
“One band is a… unbelievably luckily still playing in stadiums and then the other band doesn’t exist,” Jagger said. The decadeslong back-and-forth continued a year later when McCartney took a polite swipe at the Stones in a New Yorker profile, describing them as a “blues cover band.”
Though the groups never collaborated on any studio recordings in their prime — or since — McCartney and late Beatle John Lennon wrote the Stones’ first hit, 1963’s “I Wanna Be Your Man” and Jagger was in the studio when the Beatles tracked 1967’s “All You Need Is Love.”