I’d probably say top five, but I’m approaching it through a classic rock lens. I grew up with all of the music from that era (thanks Dad!), but I didn’t live through it. Zeppelin is kind of similar, and I love both of them, but I never had that connection with either. So while those are probably the two best artists that I really like (or maybe Queen!), stuff that’s more contemporary to me like Tool or Nine Inch Nails would rank ahead as “favorite”.
Also, this. That’s the band that surprises the Average Person when I say that they wouldn’t sniff my top 50.
The Rolling Stones have never been a favorite of mine; I only like a relative handful of their songs (“Gimme Shelter” first and foremost). My faves have always been the Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra and Alan Parsons Project.
Not so much. I recognize and appreciate their influence on music. I enjoy some of their songs if I’m in the right mood. Iconic, sure. But I’d never classify them as anywhere near my list of favourites.
Me I never considered them my favorite, but I do appreciate them more than before. Very influential and legendary rock band. I never really have absolute favorites. Only band I considered a my number 1 in my late teens was Queen.
They aren’t in my top 5, but I genuinely enjoy their music (I’d rate them in my top 10, maybe) and find them much easier to listen to than the Beatles. The Stones have less pretence and more bite than the Beatles, and I can get behind that.
A lot of times, I’ll get fascinated with a lower-tier band from the 60s or 70s whose work I didn’t really appreciate at the time, and they’ll spend a few months as my “favorite ever.” I’ll drift back to the Beatles and the Stones from time to time. Right now I’m on kind of an Allman Brothers kick, though. Next month it might be Queen.
Love them, but no, not my favorite. Keith Richards is one of my top 3 or so guitar players and their Hot Rocks/Big 5 albums (I include Some Girls with the usual Big 4) are great.
Interesting OP. I do know people who put them as their favorite, but compared to the heyday when “Beatles vs. Stones” seemed a bit more even as a discussion, the Beatles seem to have pulled much further ahead over time in the general consciousness.
It really does seem that decades from now, there will be Elvis (wouldn’t it be great if Chuck Berry edged him out as THE early rocker, but I don’t see it), The Beatles and Dylan. Maybe Zep, Hendrix, maybe Stones. Maybe freakin’ Nirvana…
ETA: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s is great, but their long-bootlegged, now available The Belgian Affair is even better. Seriously. Great versions of Gimme Shelter and Happy (or as Mick announces it: ‘appy), and pretty much THE definitive version of Tumblin’ Dice. Mick Taylor’s lead on this version is one of the best leads I have ever heard, period. Lyrical and just an amazing tone…
I don’t have a #1 favorite band. At any given time, I have a favorite musician … no, wait, not even that, right now I’m equally obsessed with Andrew Bird and Thelonious Monk. In a year, who knows?
Do I adore the Stones? Yes, of course – they are, in fact, the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ever.
I think this thread illustrates your point well, OP. Although there have been a couple in this thread who said, “yes,” your subject should have attracted everyone whose favorite band is the Stones.
I like them, but they’re not mine. Don’t know that I have one, but the Rolling Stones wouldn’t even make a desert island list for me.
Definitely. Right now I’m in the midst of a Thin Lizzy kick. Previously, it was Heart, then Suzi Quatro,* and then Renaissance. Next up might be Joni Mitchell, or Fanny, or Siouxsie and the Banshees, or Willie Nelson, or somebody, I don’t know. Every so often I get into this crazy 1970s mood and binge away. But I always come back to the Beatles. And David Bowie, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Bob Marley, Yes…