Beatles/Stones Face Off Part 2

Reviewing the rules:


Dates of single release in the U.S. are shown in (parens).

Singles reaching #1 on the Billboard Charts are shown in boldface.

Singles not reaching #1 but charting in the Top 5 are underlined.

Singles peaking between #6 and #10 are in italics.
 

As Tears Go By (12/18/65):   The Stones show their “sensitive” side as they try to imitate Yesterday. Strings on a Stones song??

19^th Nervous Breakdown (2/4/66):   Stones quickly decide to “man up”. Another surprising choice of topic and lyric.  "You better stop, and look around".   And you have the bass thing at the end.

Nowhere Man (2/15/66):  Not released as single in the UK. One of my least favorite Beatles singles but great sounding guitar and soaring harmonies.

Paint It Black (5/7/66):  Awesome, unusual, brooding, dark.  One of my favorite Stones singles.

Paperback Writer/Rain (5/30/66):  Definitely the first song ever about paperback writers! First Beatles single where you could hear the bass on the AM radio. Rain was the first single about whatever it was about as the Beatles began their drift away from reality. The backwards ending was a first.  This is the promo video for Rain:

Mothers’ Little Helper (7/2/66):   First single about housewives pill popping, for whatever it’s worth. About as “snappy” as the Stones got.

Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby (8/8/66): Although I don’t like it, Yellow Submarine had a unique sound but is way too silly for me. Eleanor Rigby: poignant, succinct and perfect pop.

Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadows? (9/24/66):  Is this just bad production or did the Stones do it on purpose? It sounds like every once in a while there are some horns and a drum on the track but all I can really hear is that THUNDERING bass.  I really liked this when it came out; loved the chaos.  Here's what the mess sounded like:

  
Ruby Tuesday/Let’s Spend the Night Together (1/14/67): After a long (for the 60s) hiatus the Stones hit the top again. This single is much better produced than earlier Stones singles – although on Ruby Tuesday it sounds like Charlie is playing the drums down the street. Let’s Spend the Night was a #3 hit in the UK.

Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever (2/13/67): After a six month hiatus (and four months before Sgt Pepper is released) the new era starts. This was the most avidly awaited Beatles single ever because of the lengthy silence from the band.  Everyone knows both songs.  They are embedded in our brains.  I still prefer Strawberry Fields ("no one I think is in my tree").

With that both bands were on to new territory but the great hit singles competition was over.  The Stones got diverted into trying to imitate the Beatles with His Satanic Majesty's Request and then jumping on the "Summer of Love" fad with Flowers but it just wasn't them. They didn’t have another major U.S. hit till the summer of 1968 (Jumpin’ Jack Flash) when they came to their senses and realized they needed to stop dabbling in that psychedelic peace stuff and get back to the basics; rebelliousness, dissolute behavior and girls.  They only had one other hit single, though it was a huge smash, Honky Tonk Women (summer 1969) before The Beatles dissolved in 1970.

As for The Beatles during this same period (spring 67 to spring 70) they released nine more singles of which seven hit #1, including their best selling single ever, Hey Jude, and the other two made it to the Top 5.

Final scorecard (Nov 64 - Feb 67)

Beatles:  10 Singles, 9 #1, 1 Top 5, 2 B sides Top 5, 2 B sides Top 10

Stones:  10 Singles, 4 #1, 1 Top 5, 4 Top 10