Tomorrow night, at the rockin’ Rialto Theater, that age-old question—Beatles or Stones—will be emphatically asked again and then answered to no one’s satisfaction. (You see what I did there?) The show, which the Los Angeles Times calls “the most unique tribute show in decades,” features the Beatles tribute band, Abbey Road, in an on-stage throwdown with Stones tribute band, Satisfaction.
That discussion has been raging since my formative years. Radio was king back then. It was on at home; it was on in the car. People walked around with big ol’ biceps from holding brick-sized transistor radios up to their ears. There was some TV back then. American Bandstand was on the in the afternoons. For a while, there was Shindig on primetime. And there was Soul Train, which was Bandstand for people who could actually dance.
Still, radio ruled. Looking back, one of the great things about it was that all of the stations pretty much played the same stuff. There was no day-parting (segregating songs by the time of day that they could be played) or programming based on ethnicity or gender. You could listen to any station for an hour and you would hear The Beatles, followed by The Temptations, then Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, the Stones, Dusty Springfield, the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, Van Morrison, and on and on.
What differentiated people back then was to which deejay we were most loyal. I preferred Humble Harve, who had a deep, pimp-daddy voice and a slow, casual delivery. I listened to him all the time, then he killed his adulterous wife. He went to prison for a couple years and then he was back on the radio again, all Humble and sh-tuff.
Other people preferred The Real Don Steele, the coked-out freak who was the basis for the Dr. Johnny Fever character on WKRP in Cincinnati. There was also a choice of among Robert W. Morgan, Sam Riddle, Dave Diamond and Charlie Tuna. (I’ve always said that one of the great disappointments in life—the one just below the time when, despite your best efforts, you find out your kids think you’re lame—is the time that you first see your favorite deejay. Tom Hanks nailed the physical depiction of deejays in his film That Thing You Do.)
One of the standouts was Dave Hull, the Hullaballooer. Hull had begun his career with Armed Forces Radio, then worked in Roswell, New Mexico before landing in L.A. at the perfect time. He somehow got himself named as the President of the Southern California Chapter of the Beatles Fan Club, so he was on stage when The Beatles did their legendary Hollywood Bowl concert.
I was watching a documentary on PBS a while back and Ron Howard’s company had managed to find footage of a 14-year-old Sigourney Weaver in the crowd at that concert. It’s cool.
It’s strange: While people generally preferred one band over the other, it was never an either/or situation. We’d listen to everything, but the difference was clear. When I try to explain it to young people these days, I point out that The Beatles sang “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” while the Rolling Stones complained “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Big difference.
You can probably guess which group is favored by certain celebrities. Doug Ducey is obviously a Beatles guy. At the same time, it’s possible that Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, might also prefer the Beatles. Bernie Sanders is obviously a Stones fan, as is Rachel Maddow. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan prefers Up With People.
From the jump, I was a Soul Kid. My friends and I would hang out outside of a blues joint in a ramshackle storefront on Van Nuys Boulevard at the edge of The Projects. The grittiness of the music just appealed to our circumstances. It’s like what the character Jimmy Rabbitte says in The Commitments when explaining why his Irish band will play soul music. “Soul is the music people understand ’cause it’s honest. It grabs you by the balls and lifts you above the shite.” I can honestly say that no Beatles music has ever been near my scrotum.
But it wasn’t just those two bands. For a ghetto kid, it wasn’t all that hard to choose the Animals singing “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” over Herman’s Hermits’ “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.” However, I always listened to the Beatles, although they almost lost me with Sgt. Pepper’s, which I considered the greatest anti-drug PSA of all time. Every time I hear anything from that album, I think of the old Richard Pryor line, “You need to stay off that narcotic. That stuff done made you null and void.”
Then, while the Beatles were stumbling through Strawberry Fields, the Stones released the funk classic “Honky Tonk Women.” To be fair, the Beatles brought me back with the White Album and I loved Abbey Road. But what seals the deal for me is that the Stones managed to be mostly true to each other and totally true to their music for more than a half-century.
Tickets for the show are $46 and $26. I’ll be there tomorrow night, sitting in the $26 section with all of my fellow Stones fans.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2018.
Tom,
As a card carrying (truth be told, I lost my card sometime in the late 60’s, but not my allegiance to his wit!) member of Hudson’s Commandos, I feel somewhat slighted that “Emperor” Bob Hudson of KRLA was not even mentioned among D.J. “royalty.” Sure KHJ and KRLA were rivals in L.A., much like KTKT and KIKX in Tucson back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. But preferring the wonderful KHJ crew is no reason to ignore his Emperor-ness.
That said, thanks for the memories. Yes, due to the hysteria of “Beatlemania” and shrieking, teary teeny-boppers who went for the celebrity-ness of it all and not to hear the music, I drifted to the Animals, the Kinks, and the Stones–more noteworthy in their day for their rebellious streak–the essence of rock–and social consciousness lyrics than the acceptance/bourgeois-conscious Beatles whose backers wanted to sell a wholesome image along with hit records.
Still, “it takes all kinds, etc.”
Be well.
I might be biased by having played Stones’ songs like “Honky Tonk Women” and “Start Me Up” what seems like a million times in various bar bands over the last thirty or so years, but those songs and others (“Satisfaction”) just wear on me. Speaking of radio, if a classic Stones’ song comes on, I generally change the station out of boredom. Conversely, I have never tuned out “A Day in the Life,” or “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Admittedly, “Get Back” is getting rather tiresome. Abbey Road might be my favorite album ever. Maybe second. Probably no surprise that my favorite Stones’ songs are “Ruby Tuesday,” “She Smiled Sweetly,” and “Dead Flowers.”
We’ve had this conversation, Tom. I don’t need to go to the Rialto for confirmation. Beatles.
p.s. – Weird Al was fantastic at The Fox last weekend. Played almost entirely originals.
Gotta go with you on this one. Tom. I got to see both bands live. The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965 and the Stones in Madison Square Garden in 1972. It’s not really fair to compare them based on that. At Shea the Beatles were way under amped. Even if they had an adequate sound system you couldn’t hear anything with all the screaming. I was deaf for 3 days. The Stones put on a show and a half. It was the last show of their Summer 1972 U.S. tour. It was also Jagger’s 29th birthday. They started with Brown Sugar. After the first 2 notes we were out of our seats and never used them again.
Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the Beatles ( except Paul) Great song writer and musician, ass hole as a person. Nowhere man, Rain and You’ve got to hide your love away among my favorites.
Bottom line is the Beatles couldn’t hold a candle to the showmanship of the Stones. Tom said it best, 50 years later the Stones are still true to their music and themselves.
Sorry, Brad. I’m with Tom this time so you can’t fact check me. But, I’m sure you’ll try !!
The article is full of memories for me as I am also a transplant from L.A. to Tucson and I remember all the DJ’s you spoke of. I too listened to them at some point in those days. THANKS!
Complete agreement from me on live performances. The Beatles were not great live. The YouTube link of the 1965 NME concert below is mindblowing. The Moody Blues are ridiculous right off the bat and everyone, and I do mean everyone (shaking my hand in the air a la Lavell Crawford) outperforms The Beatles, especially The Animals, Donovan, The Stones, and even Herman’s Hermits. And, as much as I love live music, great songs are still the measure. The Beatles wrote more great songs in just over ten years than all the groups I just mentioned put together.
One “fact check” on “50 years later the Stones are still true to their music and themselves.” True. But a rather unfair debate point for the thesis of the column. The Stones might be less “true” if Richards died in 1980. Or Jagger. You pick.
Love “Hide Your Love Away.” One of the highlights of my concert-going was seeing Daniel Johnston perform it at the 2009 ACL Festival.
Lastly, you and Tom both being wrong is not something that is hard to wrap my mind around! 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93HYF8uuT3…
Also, one of my favorite saw-it-on-HBO-when-I-was-young-and-impressionable-guilty-pleasure-cult-favorite films is Robert Zemeckis’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” I still can’t get Nancy Allen out of my head!
Hell has officially frozen over. CW13 agrees with Danehy.
They are talking music. It is more important than all the rest of the crap.
Brad makes a good point. The true measure of a band’s worth is it’s music. The reason I didn’t get into that with you is it would be an exercise in futility. I’d say Moonlight Mile, you’d say Get Back. I’d say Wild Horses, you’d say Dear Prudence. And on and on. At the end of the day all we would have accomplished is competed in the world’s biggest pissing contest. Music is in the ear of the beholder and we are all entitled to our opinion. I love the Beatles music, but prefer the Stones. That doesn’t make the Stones better, just my opinion.
As far as Keith Richards dying, I doubt it. They don’t call him the who’ll never die for nothing. Between the booze, drugs and cigarettes after all these years I can’t help but wonder.
Nancy Allen in Dressed to Kill. I’ll say no more. WOW!!
Retrorv. You probably won’t believe this but Tom and I have a like/dislike relationship. Maybe one day he’ll take a minute and confirm that.
To the 2 people who hit dislike. I’m fine with that but how about showing a little guts and tell me what I said that was so wrong.
Beatles or Stones is like asking which is better, coffee or bourbon.
So, Tom Are you going to tell us about the show or what?
I guess Tom’s not in a sharing mood.