Mick Jagger Admitted The Beatles Made Him ‘Almost Sick’ With Jealousy — Before Revealing the Lennon-McCartney Gift That Helped Launch The Rolling Stones
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones would become two of the biggest bands in music history, but when Mick Jagger first saw what John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were achieving, admiration wasn’t the only emotion he felt.
There was jealousy too.
Years later, Jagger admitted that hearing about the Liverpool band’s early success made him feel “almost sick.”
Yet the story didn’t end with two rival groups trying to defeat each other on the charts.
Behind the famous competition was a friendship — and, according to Jagger, The Beatles ultimately gave The Rolling Stones something that helped change their career.
‘We Had a Lot of Rivalry’
By 1988, the bitterness of their early competition had largely faded.
That year, Jagger was given the unusual honor of inducting his old rivals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He couldn’t resist beginning with a joke.
“When I got here tonight, I saw George and he said: ‘You aren’t going to say anything bad about me are you?’” Jagger recalled.
But his speech soon became surprisingly affectionate.
“We went through some pretty strange times,” he said. “We had a lot of rivalry in those early years, and a little bit of friction.”
Despite that tension, Jagger insisted the relationship between the bands was never simply hostile.
They “always ended up friends,” he said.
“I like to think we still are, ’cause they were some of the greatest times of our lives.”
Jagger then added: “I’m really proud to be the one that leads them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
The Beatles’ Success Made Jagger ‘Almost Sick’
Jagger’s speech also revealed how dramatically The Beatles changed the landscape for young British musicians.
Before their breakthrough, he described the music industry as a “wasteland.”
The Stones were playing Chuck Berry numbers, blues and other American-influenced material and believed they were doing something highly distinctive.
Then word arrived about four young musicians from Liverpool.
“We thought that we were totally unique animals,” Jagger recalled. “And then we heard there was a group from Liverpool and they had long hair, scruffy clothes.”
That alone wasn’t the problem.
The Liverpool group already had something The Rolling Stones desperately wanted.
“They had a record contract,” Jagger said.
Even worse for the ambitious London musicians, The Beatles had started appearing on the charts.
“And they had a record on the charts, with a bluesy harmonica on it, called ‘Love Me Do.’”
Jagger’s reaction was brutally candid.
“When I heard the combination of all these things, I was almost sick.”
Rivalry Didn’t Stop The Beatles From Helping Them
It would have been easy for the two bands to treat each other purely as competitors.
Instead, Lennon and McCartney eventually offered The Rolling Stones a song.
That song was “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
The Stones released it as their second single, and it reached No. 12 on the British singles chart, providing an important early breakthrough.
McCartney later explained that there was little mystery behind the gesture.
“We were friends with them, and I just thought ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ would be good for them,” he said.
“I knew they did Bo Diddley stuff. And they made a good job of it.”
For a rivalry that would later become legendary, it was a remarkable act of cooperation.
And Jagger never forgot it.
Jagger Gave Lennon and McCartney Credit
During his Hall of Fame speech, Jagger openly acknowledged how important the Lennon-McCartney song had been for The Rolling Stones.
“We were very grateful for that,” he said. “‘Cause that really broke us in England.”
But the influence went beyond one successful single.
Jagger said the Stones were paying attention to how Lennon and McCartney constructed their own material.
“The example of the way they wrote, and the original way that they crafted their songs wasn’t lost on us.”
It was an unusually generous acknowledgment from the frontman of the band routinely presented as The Beatles’ great 1960s rival.
The competition was real.
So was the influence.
The Beatles Opened Doors in America Too
Jagger also credited The Beatles with accomplishing something that benefited far more than The Rolling Stones.
When the Fab Four conquered America, their success dramatically expanded opportunities for British musicians following behind them.
“Later on,” Jagger recalled, “their success in America broke down a lot of doors that helped everyone else from England that followed.”
He finished simply:
“And I thank them very much for all those things.”
It was a striking tribute considering how often popular culture has framed The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as opposite sides of one enormous musical battle.
The Rivalry Was Only Half the Story
The Beatles versus The Rolling Stones became one of rock’s most enduring rivalries.
Liverpool against London.
The polished Fab Four against the supposedly more dangerous Stones.
Two groups fighting for records, headlines and cultural dominance.
But Jagger’s own memories reveal something more complicated.
Yes, there was jealousy.
Yes, there was “friction.”
And yes, hearing that another scruffy young British band already had a record contract and a charting single left him feeling “almost sick.”
Yet Lennon and McCartney still handed their rivals a song.
The Rolling Stones turned it into an early hit.
And decades later, when it was time for The Beatles to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was Mick Jagger who stood there to welcome them in.
The rivalry helped define an era.
But behind it were two bands who competed, influenced each other — and, when it mattered, helped one another make rock history.