The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, or the Who?

The 3 bands most consider to be the best 3 rock bands of the sixties. Which are the best, your favorite, ranked?

Let's keep it to these 3, don't tell me Cream or Credence Clearwater is better. I might even agree, and I personally favor the Buffalo Springfield, and Love. But for the 3 in question...

1. Rolling Stones
2. The Who
3. Beatles


I play the Who more than the others. If I cut the year off at 1982, they would be #1. But their recorded output sucked after that. I'll take Entwistle on Bass, slightly ahead of McCartney, Moon by a mile over Ringo, less so over Charlie Watts. And Townshend plays and writes better than any Beatle or Stone. Daltrey is a better rock singer as well.

The Stones stayed intact longer, their rhythm section is un-equalled. Jagger un-matched as a frontman, and they are slightly better ''live'' than the Who. And they have some good material into the 1990's.

The Beatles bother me. I love Abbey Road, but that is an outlier. They were the first boy band, catchy melodies, jangly guitars, and... Well, a boy band. George Martin brought them past that, his production and sound effects aided them greatly, post 1965. Their records were mostly solo songs within a band context. The White Album is all over the place, unfocused, 4 solo efforts thrown together over a double album.

My unpopular belief: The Beatles are history’s most overrated band. Horribly overrated.

Of your three, overall the Stones get my vote, much for the same reasons you stated.

Teenage Wasteland

One item I always loved about the Stones is they would show up randomly at a local dive bar abd play. I had aot of respect for a band at that level to be so active with their fans.

Rolling Stones, no question about it. World’s greatest rock & roll band.

To answer your specific question, Stones.
To add my twist: If I had to pick one complete catalog of works by a rock group as my favorite it would be ZEP!!! They had only 2 in the sixties.

I f'ing love the Stones, but have to give the edge to the Beatles. Their music matured thru the years (probably due to "experiences" as Hendrix would say) from " I wanna hold your hand" basic stuff to such delicate songs like Norweigan Wood, Michelle, and While my guitar gently weeped. Drive my car is one of my favorite, although not exactly a work of art. The Stones are the Stones and great, but personally don't think their range of expression is as great. Envious of some Mick fucked though.

Off topic, but check out little known Baby It's You by A Group Called Smith. Gayle McCormick (dead) could be both sultry and wail. Believe it or not, she played at my HS Junior prom before cutting an album.

I am 70. My first rock album was Out of our heads, Stones. It came out in 1965. These guys are still playing. Compare the songs on that album to the bubble gummer shit on the Beatles first album.
The Who was not a sell out band either but I prefer the Stones.

I wouldn’t say these bands were the best rock bands but they were the most popular throughout the 60’s.

You can’t deny the songwriting duo John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I’m sure they didn’t write every song the Beatles recorded but they wrote the most of their major hits. Their catalog was serious enough to make Michael Jackson buy it(it was rumored that Paul McCartney bought it back).

The Stones just happened to be the longest rock band going. They have a serious catalog of hits as well. Eddie Murphy once said that Mick Jagger was an ugly muthafucka with big ass lips but since he fronts a rock band he was getting ALL the pussy!

Now The Who, shit they were the most destructive rock band. Smashing guitars, kicking over their amps, kicking over drums, just fucking up stages everywhere they played. The mastermind behind their music is Pete Townshend, who basically has written a huge majority of their music. And the original drummer Keith Moon was one of the craziest musicians ever. But the guitar destruction phenomenon goes to the originator Pete Townshend and it became a trend in rock music.

Just some trivia, somewhat related. Until Dustys death in 2021 ZZ Top was the longest-running American band that original members remained constant throughout its existence. 52 years together.

Led Zeppelin!

I f'ing love the Stones, but have to give the edge to the Beatles. Their music matured thru the years (probably due to "experiences" as Hendrix would say) from " I wanna hold your hand" basic stuff to such delicate songs like Norweigan Wood, Michelle, and While my guitar gently weeped. Drive my car is one of my favorite, although not exactly a work of art. The Stones are the Stones and great, but personally don't think their range of expression is as great. Envious of some Mick fucked though.

Off topic, but check out little known Baby It's You by A Group Called Smith. Gayle McCormick (dead) could be both sultry and wail. Believe it or not, she played at my HS Junior prom before cutting an album. Originally Posted by reddog1951

The Beatles showed amazing maturation, but... The Stones and Who matured a lot, too, and it is less amazing only because they didn't begin as Boy Bands singing little pop songs.

Gayle McCormick? Yeah, I know her better for her modest solo hit ''it's a crying shame''. She was easy on the eyes too.

Led Zeppelin! Originally Posted by Ericka xoxo

I don't remember their name listed in my original post

But yeah, they aren't included simply because the other bands got a 4 year head start. Even keeping to the 60's, I'll listen to Dazed and Confusion as fast as anything from the other bands.

Kerwil….empty your PM’s….got some info for you

To answer your specific question, Stones.
To add my twist: If I had to pick one complete catalog of works by a rock group as my favorite it would be ZEP!!! They had only 2 in the sixties. Originally Posted by majorjones

When I saw the 3 candidates my immediate thought was that maybe Zepplin should have been in there.

When I saw the 3 candidates my immediate thought was that maybe Zepplin should have been in there. Originally Posted by NordicJag

No, because they only had 2 albums in the 1960's. They will be included if I ask about 1970's bands.

Funny, since this thread started, I got 2 Beatles and 2 Stones albums. And one Who, a box set sampler of their box set. Looked (and is) cool, even thought I had all the songs already.

The Beatles are both Giles (George's Son) Martin mixes that sound incredible. The 2 Stones are audiophile out-of-print CD's. I'm really big on great sound, and it took these specific mixes/masterings to entice me to buy.

Led Zeppelin!