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For decades fans have debated who is the greatest rock band of all time. Despite what some of today’s youth may believe, the vast majority of bands who should even be considered in this discussion were first introduced in the’60s and’70s, and many of them were part of the British invasion. When you talk about the greatest rock bands ever some of the most common bands in the discussion are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, AC/DC and The Byrds. In the end, though, the debate always comes down to the big two, The Beatles vs. The Stones.

For many, the band even eclipses the Beatles as the greatest band ever. While that may be up to debate and I wouldn’t consider it the case because of the influence and originality and popularity of The Beatles, the Stones are still a very influential and important band.

For argument sake, let’s just agree that The Stones is the second best rock band of all time. For arguments sake at least, we will say that. Regardless of where they are on your personal list, virtually everybody can agree that the band has a ton of great songs in their catalog. Admittedly, most of their greatest music was written before’70, but they strung out a few gems through the seventies and eighties and even into the nineties.

Most prolific and influential with their early writing, they performed with flair and without inhibition, unlike anything else at the time. They mixed a British rock sound, with a grittier jazz and American southern rock sound all mixed together. They took the inner city sounds of the big city and infused all kinds of music together, even some reggae and island sounds. In the seventies they even stayed relevant by mixing in some disco sounds that were so popular at the time. Even though disco has long since been nearly unlistenable, the Stones music from the time have enough rock sounds that they still hold up today.

Unfortunately the Rolling Stones never knew when to quit, and to me this is their downfall. The Beatles made a choice to end their careers while they were still on top. This left their fans wanting more, and kept them popular over the last four decades. The Rolling Stones, however, decided to take a different path. They continued to make albums and tour, well past their prime, and it just did not work well. When you are a mega fan you want to see your band at 100% and insisted the Rolling Stones were only able to give us 50% as they got older in age. So although you were still able to see the band, it was not as great of a show, as the ones that were witnessed back in the day.