Robert Plant Had A Brilliantly Simple Solution To Paul McCartney’s Rolling Stones Feud — Put Down The Rivalry, Pick Up The Bass And Join Mick Jagger Onstage
Rock fans have spent decades debating The Beatles versus The Rolling Stones, but Robert Plant once offered a wonderfully simple solution to the supposed rivalry.
Forget the arguments. Forget deciding which legendary British band was better.
Just put Paul McCartney on bass with The Rolling Stones.
The Led Zeppelin frontman floated the unlikely idea during an appearance on Rolling Stone‘s Music Now, after McCartney reignited one of rock’s oldest debates by describing The Stones as essentially a “blues cover band.”
Rather than taking sides, Plant suggested McCartney might see things differently if he simply picked up his bass and played alongside Mick Jagger and company.
But Plant also poured cold water on the idea that there was any genuine bitterness behind the public exchanges.
“I don’t think there’s any fighting,” he said, pointing to the extraordinary history shared by the musicians.
“They’ve known each other since 1963. They love each other desperately.”
That long relationship is easy to forget whenever another provocative Beatles-versus-Stones quote begins circulating.
Both bands emerged during the explosive British music scene of the early 1960s, becoming cultural giants while fans and journalists repeatedly positioned them as rivals. Their musical approaches were different, but their careers remained intertwined as they transformed popular music on both sides of the Atlantic.
McCartney wasn’t the only British rock veteran to take a swipe at The Stones.
The Who frontman Roger Daltrey also generated headlines after describing the group as a “mediocre pub band,” although Plant didn’t weigh in on that particular remark.
Plant had plenty to say about his own extraordinary career, however.
The Led Zeppelin icon spoke about spending decades trying to escape the enormous shadow cast by the band that made him famous between 1968 and 1980.
Rather than endlessly recreating Zeppelin’s sound, Plant deliberately explored different styles — even when doing so risked alienating listeners who wanted him to remain musically frozen in the past.
“I made good music and I made questionable music,” he admitted, joking that some questionable hairstyles may be among the few lingering embarrassments.
Plant appeared on the program alongside longtime collaborator Alison Krauss, with whom he continued exploring music far removed from Led Zeppelin’s thunderous hard-rock legacy.
But amid conversations about careers, experimentation and Britain’s rock aristocracy, his McCartney suggestion remains irresistible.
Imagine one of The Beatles’ greatest musicians standing alongside The Rolling Stones, bass in hand, while Mick Jagger prowls the stage.
After more than 60 years of supposed rivalry, Robert Plant’s answer was gloriously uncomplicated: stop arguing about The Beatles and The Stones — and let Paul McCartney play with them.