Beatles vs. Stones

August 12, 2013
An assistant professor of history at Georgia State University, McMillian has created what amounts to an extended compare-and-contrast essay by juxtaposing the careers of the two greatest rock ’n’ roll bands of the 20th century. He hopes to uncover whether these two bands were rivals or allies, and whether the Beatles were truly the good boys and the Stones were really the bad boys as each was respectively portrayed. McMillian builds a case for both sides of each argument, using existing interviews, an impressive bibliography, and some little-known sources. While the history of both bands is oft-covered territory, the author turns up some great nuggets, like the true origins of the Beatles’ name; police information about one of the Stones’ famous drug busts; and how Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote their first song together. In the end, McMillian has written an informative look at music’s image machine—a powerful combination of media, marketing, and celebrity.

September 15, 2013
A history professor makes a case for a professional and artistic rivalry between the two bands but presents no new evidence and reaches no absolute verdict. "Who wants yesterday's papers?" Mick Jagger sang with the Rolling Stones and then answered his own question: "Nobody in the world." The framing of this book's title requires the analysis by McMillian (History/Georgia State Univ.; Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America, 2011) to end with the disbanding of the Beatles in 1970, before dismissing the Stones' "outlandishly undignified" money grab as an oldies band and concluding abruptly with the murder of John Lennon. The author's tone balances the academic ("Rock 'n' roll had always been a popular and performative art") with the colloquial ("At least the Beatles didn't break up because they started to suck"). But what the author describes as "a joint biography" offers little except for occasionally misguided opinion and unsupported conjecture that far more exhaustive and deeply reported biographies of each band (and its individual members) have illuminated. Readers won't be surprised to learn that the Beatles weren't the lovable, cuddly mop tops of their popular image and that the Stones were more patrician than naughty in comparison with their purported rivals (who usually appeared to be pretty good friends, or at least foxhole buddies). It isn't much of a critical stretch to show that the Stones often seemed to follow a Beatle template in terms of their creative progression. What skews the parallel analysis is that the Stones reached their peak as recording artists after (though not because of) the Beatles' breakup, leading to speculation such as, "even if the Beatles had stayed together, some find it hard to imagine that their output in the very early 1970s would have matched what the Stones accomplished. Of course we'll never know." Nothing new or particularly provocative in this retelling of well-known stories.

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October 15, 2013

This carefully researched book uses the supposed rivalry between the Beatles and Rolling Stones as a jumping-off point to compare and contrast the two bands and place both in their sociohistorical context. McMillian (history, Georgia State Univ.; Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America) dispels both the idea that the groups were engaged in a tense and bitter competition and the concept that their enmity was entirely manufactured by the press, instead carving out a far more nuanced middle ground. Readers will delight in this narrative, which relies heavily on revealing--often humorous--quotes and colorful anecdotes. However, this is no light band biography; the author turns his critical historian's eye on his subjects, carefully evaluating evidence for the accuracy of various stories related by the key players. McMillian sheds new light on many old chestnuts (for instance, the enduring myth that Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a kitchen in an attempt to spark their songwriting career) by analyzing them through this intriguing framework. VERDICT Casual and serious pop music fans, as well as readers of history, will enjoy this intelligent and original work.--Mahnaz Dar, Library Journal

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2013
It was the greatest rivalry in popular music: in one corner, the eclectic pop of the amiable Beatles; in the other, the raunchy blues-based rock of the sullen Rolling Stones. But the truth lies somewhere in between, as McMillian notes, since the Beatles were not as nice as they were supposed to be, nor were the Stones as thuggish as their reputation seemed to indicate. McMillian maintains that the gap between private reality and public facade was humongous. In this pleasurable romp through popular-music history, McMillian discusses what set the two groups apart and what brought them together. The rivalry between the two groups was real enough, but so was their mutual respect. And despite appearances to the contrary (Sgt. Pepper vs. Their Satanic Majesties Request, or Revolution vs. Street Fighting Man ), their recording output wasn't always tit for tat either. Eventually each band went its own way. The Beatles broke up while at the top of their game while the Stones continue to tour. Fans of both groups will enjoy this musical duel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)