After The Beatles went mainstream, most of the music industry began trying to emulate them in one way or another.
As the primary songwriters for the Fab Four, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were approached by countless bands to help them pen chart-topping hits over the years.
But Lennon noticed their professional rivals, The Rolling Stones, were trying to keep up with them more than anyone else.
And eventually, he called the band’s frontman, Mick Jagger, out for mimicking their work.
Lennon told Rolling Stone magazine: “I would like to just list what we did and what the Stones did two months after on every f****ng album.”
READ MORE: John Lennon wanted to drastically change Beatles’ number one single
Lennon went on to add: “Every f****ng thing we did, Mick does exactly the same – he imitates us.”
The Imagine singer was not the only person in The Beatles to have noticed the apparent similarities between the two bands.
George Harrison once commented: “Mick Jagger was also there. He was always lurking around in the background, trying to find out what was happening. Mick never wanted to miss out on what the Fabs were doing.”
It’s no wonder Jagger wanted to keep a close eye on The Beatles, especially after they had helped The Rolling Stones find a new brand of success.
In the early 1960s, Jagger became acquainted with the Fab Four and eventually got a massive song from them: I Wanna Be Your Man.
“We knew [the Beatles] by then,” Jagger remembered. “And we were rehearsing and Andrew brought Paul and John down to the rehearsal. They said they had this tune, they were really hustlers then. I mean, the way they used to hustle tunes was great.”
Lennon and McCartney told the frontman: “Hey Mick, we’ve got this great song.” Jagger continued: “So they played it and we thought it sounded pretty commercial, which is what we were looking for, so we did it like Elmore James or something.
“I haven’t heard it for ages but it must be pretty freaky ’cause nobody really produced it. It was completely crackers, but it was a hit and sounded great onstage.”
I Wanna Be Your Man reached number 12 in the UK singles charts, making it their highest-charting track ever.
