Do YOU personally consider The Rolling Stones to be your #1 favorite band/music artist

Cafe Society
1

I have no doubt at all that there are many people who would count The Rolling Stones as their favorite band, but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered any. I’m sure many of the music fans I’ve known might count The Rolling Stones among their personal top 5 or top 10, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone ever say “The Rolling Stones are my favorite band!”

The reason it strikes me as odd is that they are probably one of the bands in rock history who have the greatest number of fans overall, so I’d think I’d have encountered a few people who place them in the #1 spot (to clarify, I’m talking about people listing their personal favorites, not talking about people trying to somehow objectively list the greatest rock acts).

Other “obvious favorite” choices? The Bealtes, I’ve known plenty of people who count The Beatles as their favorite. Elvis Presley, I’ve known people who are #1 Elvis fans. Led Zeppelin, sure. U2, yeah, I have heard plenty of people call U2 their favorite band. Michael Jackson, less so in the past two decades but I’ve definitely had people tell me Michael Jackson was their favorite.

Then, of course, for many people their favorite is not one of the “biggest artists of all time!!!” but instead it’s someone who the fan has a personal great connection with. Alice Cooper, The Cure, Prince, Elvis Costello, The Grateful Dead, Aimee Mann, Tom Waits, The Kinks, Kate Bush, Ani DiFranco …I have at one time or another heard people call any one of these artists their own personal favorite band/music artist. Hell, I knew a guy who was so passionate that The Stray Cats were the greatest band ever he could convince you to agree!

Still, although many people will count The Rolling Stones as one of the greatest rock bands ever, for some reason it seems (from my own personal anecdotal experience) that music fans just don’t count The Rolling Stones as their #1 favorite.

So, first of all: Do you personally count The Rolling Stones as your #1 favorite?

Second of all, as to my perspective laid out in the OP:
[ul]
[li]Is this just a fluke of my personal experience? (probably the most likely explanation)[/li][li]Do you agree with the perspective of the OP and have some reason as to why it may be the case?[/li][li]Do you agree with the perspective of the OP but can think of no reason as to why it may be the case?[/li][/ul]

2

The Stones have been in my top 3, hands down, since I “discovered” them at age nine. There have been several multi-year periods in my life when I would have called them my #1, for sure. They’ll always be, for me, the best musical act that existed between January 1967 and April 1971. That is, the Beatles were the best through the release of Revolver (August 1966), then the Stones took over with Between the Buttons, and stayed at the top through Sticky Fingers, when they relinquished their top spot in favor of other great acts who released their best albums during the latter half in 1971 (Led Zeppelin with IV, Jethro Tull with Aqualung…)

Also, I think the Stones’ Get Yer Ya-yas Out is the best live rock album ever, closely rivaled only by The Who’s Live at Leeds (recorded only three months later).

3

I’d probably say the Stones are my favourite band if asked, as an easy answer to a slightly silly question. If you really like music, it seems ludicrous to rate one band above all others. And it makes me slightly tearful to think that U2 would ever be rated above all others.

4

No. I’m not a Stones fan. I like their rendition of “You Gotta Move” (not written by them). I love the Indigo Girls’ cover version of “Wild Horses”—they make it sound like it was meant for them all along. I concede that “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Gimme Shelter” are well-crafted songs. Otherwise I have no use for 'em at all, really.

5

No, and actually I’ve come to like them less and less over the years.

6

I respect their important place in the Rock n Roll firmament, but I doubt I could name a song of theirs made since, like, 1980 or a great one since maybe 1970. I’d probably remember them with greater fondness if they’d disbanded after Some Girls.

But the old stuff…!

7

they are my favorite
perhaps if the clash had had a longer career i would like them better… but the stones are #1 for me

8

This. If the Stones had broken up in 1974, say, we wouldn’t have missed much. And I’m experiencing Classic Rock Fatigue with most of their stuff before then. If for instance I don’t hear “Wild Horses” again in my life, it’ll be all to the good.

So I’m not in a position to fairly judge their music, but clearly my answer to the OP is: no, they’re not my #1 favorite band/artist. Not even close.

ETA: I’m gonna go heretical here and say that Blood, Sweat & Tears’ cover of “Sympathy for the Devil” is better than the original. Mick Jagger’s just not believable as Satan; David Clayton-Thomas is.

ETA2: And “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” had been worn out by The Big Chill.

9

They were never one of my favorites. But I do recognize that they have made some of the best Rock songs in history. My favorite is probably Gimme Shelter but there are a few others. But as a band they wouldn’t even make my top ten.

I think of them as being part of the big three of the British Invasion along with The Who and The Beatles. For personal likes I rank it this way:

[ol]
[li]The Who[/li][li]The Beatles[/li][li]The Rolling Stones[/li][/ol]

In order of musical importance:

[ol]
[li]The Beatles[/li][li]The Stones[/li][li]The Who[/li][/ol]

10

The Stones were never in my top 5 bands. I liked some of their hit singles and thats about all. I much preferred CCR, Chicago, Beatles, and Buffalo Springfield…

11

The Stones were never in my top five, though I certainly liked a lot of their work. But I preferred the Beatles, the Who, the Bonzo Dog Band, the Kinks, the Band, the Allman Brothers, and many others of that era to them.

12

Nope, great band, but definitely not my favorite, and have had literally decade-long stretches with no good new music. Hot Rocks 1964-1971 has 90% of the Stones songs I need.

13

No. Important to the history of rock, but I don’t enjoy them.

14

No, but I’ve gone the opposite path. I appreciate them more and more as I get older. I don’t have any in my collection, but they got a cool vibe to their music that is just right for certain moods. I used to absolutely dislike their music.

15

No. Not even in my top 50.

I don’t think I have a top 50.

16

I’m old enough to have remember them forming :eek: and have enjoyed almost all their music.
I think they are both a durable band and great live, as their two massive Hyde Park concerts 44 years apart :cool: (in 1969 and 2013) proved.

The interviews after the 2013 concert were interesting. Each time they performed:

  • Mick Jagger wanted to arouse the crowd
  • Keith Richards wanted to do the best song versions ever
  • Charlie Watts wasn’t interested in the crowd, just getting his timing right
  • Ronnie Wood was listening for Charlie Watts so he came in correctly
17

Well, let’s see. My top five personal favorite musical artists of all time are as follows:

[ol]
[li]The Beatles[/li][li]Prince[/li][li]R.E.M.[/li][li]Johnny Cash[/li][li]Led Zeppelin[/li][/ol]

So, no, the Rolling Stones are not, in fact, my favorite artists of all time. Further, I agree with your assessment (I know/have known an awful lot of people in my 44 years on this big, blue marble, and NOT ONE of them has ever made the declaration that the Rolling Stones are their favorite band or act of all time), but I haven’t the slightest clue as to why this is.

(That is not to say, however, that “Thru and Thru” is not a modern masterpiece. Because it is.)

18

I tend to rebel at the idea of *the *best/greatest anything. I occasionally use it as shorthand to call attention to its greatness, but the next day I might have a different candidate because I’m thinking about the issue in a different way.

The Stones were a great band in the 1960s. I liked their early singles in the U.S. *Aftermath *was the album that hooked me. When they put out, back-to-back, “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Gimme Shelter” they staked a claim for best band in the world with two of the all-time greatest songs in rock history.

The Beatles were still miles above them, untouchable, in another category. The White Album stopped time in my dorm. We gathered around a radio when a station played it beginning to end, arguing about every song. In hindsight, it’s not all that good. Didn’t matter. We didn’t do that for Beggars Banquet or Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers, as good as they were. The Beatles had the mystique. If I have to give a personal favorite, it will always be the Beatles for that reason. I think that’s what sways a lot of people my age.

19

If forced to make a choice, I would probably rate the Stones #1. Since I was a teenager/college student in the 60s and 70s, there are just so many of their songs that are personally evocative to me. The only other contender would be Hendrix.

I have to confess that the Beatles never did much for me. I prefer music with a harder edge than most of what the Beatles did. Even if they might have been musically more innovative, the Stones were far more appealing personally.

20

No.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say “They’re the worst band that ever existed!” because they’ve obviously one of the most successful bands ever, but personally I don’t care for them at all.