Roger Daltrey names the four greatest performers ever: “Still the number one”
As the US handed the baton to the Brits in the early 1960s, rock ‘n’ roll struck a pleasingly commercial rhythm, facilitating an unstoppable countercultural wave. Among the bands to seize this musically fertile decade were The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and The Who. Over half a century later, these bands remain among the most cherished and iconic of all time, with the latter two of them still active to this day.
The classic rock period brought some of the greatest music to grace our ears amid strides of effervescent creative evolution. They built upon the sterling work of originators like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Little Richard by introducing immersive lyrical themes and abstract compositional methods. For The Who, this entailed rock operas like Tommy and for The Beatles, it meant dragging a post-war youth into the rollercoaster world of psychedelia.
During the late 1960s, The Rolling Stones struggled to find a niche of their own, following The Beatles into the psychedelic era with an uneven answer to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Their Satanic Majesties Request. Following this digression, the band returned to its roots in blues rock and entered their most successful chapter, highlighted by several masterpiece albums between 1968’s Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main St.
In 2021, Paul McCartney stirred a few ripples in the media when comparing The Rolling Stones to The Beatles. “I’m not sure I should say it, but they are a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are,” he said. “I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”
Although the comment seemed provocative, McCartney has long maintained this position and still respects the Stones deeply. “The Stones are a fantastic group,” he told Howard Stern in 2020. “They are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues. Whereas we had a little more influences. There’s a lot of differences, and I love the Stones, but The Beatles were better.”
Of course, the Stones recorded numerous covers early on, but Jagger and Richards became hugely successful songwriters. Ostensibly, McCartney exaggerated for comic effect, which Jagger seemed to forgive. “There’s obviously no competition,” Jagger told Zane Lowe shortly after, noting huge differences between the two bands. “The Rolling Stones have been a big concert band in other decades and other eras when The Beatles never even did an arena tour. […] That’s the real big difference between these two bands. One band is, unbelievably, luckily, still playing in stadiums, and the other band doesn’t exist.”
Roger Daltrey, vocalist of The Who, also joined the discourse in 2021. “I know what [McCartney] means,” he told Music Radar, “The Stones have written some great songs, but they are in the blues. They are in that format. It’s like comparing cheese and apples. So They’re both very tasty, but the cheese does one thing and the apple does another.”
Concurring with Jagger’s position that The Roling Stones are distinguished by their performance value, Daltrey revealed his thoughts on the frontman’s legacy. “I’ve always thought that you cannot take away the fact that Mick Jagger is still the number one rock and roll show,” he continued. “The only other people I’d put up against him would be perhaps James Brown. Maybe Jerry Lee in his day, or Little Richard, but Mick Jagger, you’ve got to take your hat off to.”
Despite praising Jagger as the “number one rock and roll performer,” Daltrey admitted that the Stones were musically derivative and merely satisfactory musicians. “As a band, if you were outside a pub and you heard that music coming out of a pub some nights, you’d think, ‘Well, that’s a mediocre pub band.’ No disrespect. You’re looking at me very patchy. But that music can. It’s part of its charm. Like I say. You have to see the Stones. I love them. I just think they’re great entertainment.”
The Who frontman shows great taste in the four names listed below, but one can’t help feeling Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant deserve a mention. Perhaps Daltrey himself would appear on some people’s lists of the best showmen of all time.
The greatest performers, according to Roger Daltrey:
- Mick Jagger
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- James Brown
- Little Richard