AceShowbiz - Sir Mick Jagger has branded The Beatles "just a blues cover band." The Rolling Stones frontman made the remark after Sir Paul McCartney made a similar comment about Jagger's group, but Jagger is adamant almost every famous band will have started off playing cover tracks in the early days of their careers.

In an interview with The Times newspaper, Jagger explained, "He said the Beatles were better than the Stones because the Stones were really just a blues cover band. Well, the Beatles were also really just a blues cover band when they started out. Every band is a cover band at the beginning, because that’s how it goes."

McCartney previously insisted the Beatles were better during an interview with shock jock Howard Stern in 2020. He said, "[The Stones] 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."

It comes after McCartney opened up about the Beatles recording sessions, insisting Yoko Ono's presence was an "interference in the workplace." The 81-year-old musician admitted bringing John Lennon's decision to bring his partner to the studio effected the dynamic of the group, but the bandmembers didn't confront their pal and instead "bottled it up" and got on with the job.

Speaking on new podcast series "McCartney: A Life In Lyrics", Paul explained, "John and Yoko had got together and that was bound to have an effect on the dynamics of the group. Things like Yoko being literally in the middle of the recording session [were] something you had to deal with. The idea was that if John wanted this to happen, then it should happen. There’s no reason why not."

He added, "Anything that disturbs us, is disturbing. We would allow this and not make a fuss. And yet at the same time, I don’t think any of us particularly liked it. It was an interference in the workplace. We had a way we worked. The four of us worked with George Martin. And that was basically it. And we’d always done it like that. So not being very confrontational, I think we just bottled it up and just got on with it."

John and Yoko met in 1966 and they went on to marry in 1969. They remained together until his death in 1980. In a previous interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2016, Paul revealed Yoko's presence at the studio was different because she didn't stay in the control room - instead she was sitting among the bandmembers in the studio while they were working.

He explained, "We handled it, but not amazingly well, because we were so tight. We weren’t sexist, but girls didn’t come to the studio - they tended to leave us to it. When John got with Yoko, she wasn’t in the control room or to the side. It was in the middle of the four of us."