Not long after The Beatles broke through with their first two hit albums of 1963, a talented rhythm and blues covers band named The Rolling Stones sprouted up in the burgeoning London scene. While Brian Jones led the band through its foundational years, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began to incubate a knack for songwriting.
Despite rumours of a rivalry stoked by the press, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were on friendly terms with one another. Notably, the lads from Liverpool gifted their London counterparts the Lennon-McCartney composition ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ for one of their early breakthrough hits.
Without a singular frontman, The Beatles’ four-piece dynamic differed from that of The Rolling Stones, a five-piece formation with Jagger front and centre. Although Jagger didn’t have a counterpart in The Beatles, Richards felt an affinity with lead guitarist George Harrison. As it transpired, this feeling was mutual.
“You know, really, I think he’s probably one of the best rock ‘n’ roll rhythm guitar players,” Harrison once said of Richards via George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. “I don’t think he’s very good at lead, but he’s played … this is the thing you see, what I feel about Keith and myself too, it’s not a comparison, but in some ways, what we do is we make records, and the records have some good guitar parts on them, or have some good songs, or good lyrics or whatever, but basically you make records.”
“He’s not, to me, like a guitar player who that’s all he does is go out and play guitar,” Harrison continued. “He writes songs, and he makes records and within that — you know, like, you can’t beat the riff to ‘Satisfaction’, you know what I mean? It’s the simple little things like that, and I think he’s — you know, I like Keith enormously.”
Richards and Harrison would never be classed among the most technically gifted guitarists of their time, but as Harrison pointed out, virtuosity didn’t matter much when one’s writing iconic, generation-defining hits.
In a touching return of praise, Richards once commented on Harrison’s altruistic approach to lead guitar. “The thing is, you’ve got your Jimi Hendrix, you’ve got your Eric Clapton, and then you’ve got guys who can play with bands,” Richards said. “George was a band and a team player.”
“People get carried away with lead guitars […] and feedbacks, and it’s all histrionics when it comes down to it. George was an artist, but he was also a fucking craftsman,” Richards concluded enthusiastically.
Watch The Rolling Stones perform ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ live in 1964 below.
