The Who’s Roger Daltrey Compares the Rolling Stones to ‘A Mediocre Pub Band’ in Coda Collection Interview

Online rock and roll fan communities, get ready to argue: In a new interview with the Coda Collection, The Who front man Roger Daltrey is quoted as saying something pretty colorful regarding The Rolling Stones.

As reported by the NME, Roger Daltrey is asked about some of the Who’s musical contemporaries, a list that obviously includes the Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the like. After referring to Stones front man Mick Jagger by saying, “You’ve got to take your hat off to him. He’s the number one rock ‘n’ roll performer,” Daltrey then peppers in the comment that set off headlines around the world over the past few days.

“I managed to get the short straw of all the singers in all the bands.” Even Roger Daltrey was jealous of other singers in other bands. Which band? Don’t miss the full interview https://t.co/tbWJaNK0H4 @officialthewho #thewho #rogerdaltrey #petetownshend #amazingjourney pic.twitter.com/4vss3sxa3p

— The Coda Collection (@Coda_Collection) November 12, 2021

When discussing the Stones’ musicianship as a creative force:

“But as a band, if you were outside a pub and you heard that music coming out of a pub some night, you’d think, ‘Well, that’s a mediocre pub band!’”

Of course, a key point of interest in the Stones’ music over the years has been their “everyman” musical attitude and how approachable their music is across all corners, adding to their influence to multiple genres of music as the decades have rolled on.

And also, all of these classic rock acts from decades back were deeply rooted in the blues standards that existed before them in the first place, so it’s probably worth keeping that in mind when reading these retrospective sound byte interviews.

The NME was quick to recall that Roger Daltrey’s comments echoed those of Sir Paul McCartney, who also referred to the group as a “blues cover band” in a New Yorker piece:

“I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are. I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”