Paul McCartney on why he thinks The Beatles were "better" than the Rolling Stones

Paul McCartney has revealed why he believes The Beatles were “better” than The Rolling Stones during the height of their fame.

Speaking to Howard Stern on SiriusXM, McCartney agreed when Stern said the Fab Four were the better of the two groups – and said they leaned on wider influences in their music.

“You know you’re going to persuade me to agree with that one,” McCartney told Stern.

“They are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues. We had a little more influences. … There’s a lot of differences, and I love the Stones, but I’m with you. The Beatles were better.”

Stern then suggested that the Mick Jagger led band’s 1967 album ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ was an attempt to emulate The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Peppers…’

“We started to notice that whatever we did, the Stones sort of did it shortly thereafter,” McCartney explained.

“We went to America and we had huge success. Then the Stones went to America. We did Sgt. Pepper, the Stones did a psychedelic album. There’s a lot of that. We were great friends, still are kind of. We admire each other. … The Stones are a fantastic group. I go see them every time they’re out. They’re a great, great band.”

In the same interview with Stern, McCartney also opened up on his love of Billie Eilish and called for China’s controversial wet markets to be banned in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month (April 3), McCartney was one of several high-profile musicians, including Elton John and Stormzy, to contribute to a video thanking NHS workers for their work during the coronavirus crisis