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In 1988 The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were placed into the legendary museum after decades of incredible contributions to the music industry. Their tenure in the industry saw them sell more than 1.5 billion singles, 600 million albums and achieving more than 20 number one hits. The band were inducted into the Hall of Fame by The Rolling Stones lead singer, Mick Jagger, who couldn’t help but give a cheeky jab at the Fab Four.
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The Beatles and the Stones had a long history of being pitted against one another in the press.
Although the two entities were friendly towards one another, comparing the two vastly different bands always seemed to be happening.
Jagger gave a touching speech about the band during the ceremony, but he also said: “Anyway, this group, they had long hair, scruffy clothes, but they had a record contract.
“They had a record in the charts with a bluesy harmonica on it called Love Me Do.”
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The Beatles: Mick Jagger spoke out about the band’s first single (Image: GETTY)
The Beatles: Mick joked about the band on stage (Image: GETTY)
Love Me Do was the band’s debut single and was first released on October 5, 1962.
Although the track has gone down in history as one of the band’s most iconic songs, it only reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart.
Two years later, in 1964, it was released in the USA, where it reached number one.
On this single, Jagger said: “When I heard the combination of all these things, I was almost sick.”
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The Beatles were inducted in 1988 (Image: GETTY)
Years later, McCartney spoke about writing the track, saying: “Love Me Do was completely co-written … It was just Lennon and McCartney sitting down without either of us having a particularly original idea. We loved doing it.
“It was a very interesting thing to try and learn to do, to become songwriters. I think why we eventually got so strong was we wrote so much through our formative period. Love Me Do was our first hit.”
Jagger went on at the ceremony: “A little later on, we were playing a little club in Richmond [London], and I was doing this song, and suddenly there they were, right in front of me, The Fab Four.
“They never went anywhere alone at this point. And they had on these beautiful long, black leather trench coats. I could really die for one of those, I thought, even if I have to learn to write songs.”
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Jagger then praised the legendary band, adding: “Later on, they gave us our first big hit in England, which was a song they wrote called I Wanna Be Your Man. And we were very grateful for that ’cause that really broke us in England.
“But the example of the way they wrote, and the original way that they crafted their songs wasn’t lost on us. And later on their success in America broke down a lot of doors that helped everyone else from England that followed. And I thank them very much for all those things.”
Jagger also spoke up about the supposed rivalry the two bands were subjected to.
He continued: “We went through some pretty strange times. We had a lot of rivalry in those early years, and a little bit of friction, but we always ended up friends.”
Jagger continued: “And I like to think we still are, ’cause they were some of the greatest times of our lives, and I’m really proud to be the one that leads them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Just one year later, in 1989, The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Beatles did not attend their ceremony.
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