Roger Daltrey Calls Rolling Stones a ‘Mediocre Pub Band’

Who frontman Roger Daltrey described the Rolling Stones as a "mediocre pub band" in a recent interview.

His comments follow those of Paul McCartney, who reignited the Beatles-vs.-Stones argument when he called Mick Jagger's group a "covers band" — leading to a lighthearted response from Jagger during a concert.

In conversation with the Coda Collection, Daltrey offered his own views, saying: "Mick Jagger, you've got to take your hat off to him. He's the number one rock 'n' roll performer." He continued with a laugh: "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!'"

Elsewhere in the interview, Daltrey revealed his envy toward Robert Plant, whose experience fronting Led Zeppelin was very different from Daltrey's own experience fronting the Who. “I managed to get the short straw of all the singers in all the bands," he reflected. "No solos! Who songs are all lyrics. Robert Plant — Percy, as we call him — he's a very good friend of mine, and we do joke about it. He said you could go off and read a book when [Jimmy] Page started up on a guitar solo or [John] Bonham stated on a drum solo. And I suddenly thought, 'I wonder what it would have been like being in a band like that!'"

Daltrey also said he was a "hater of the internet," explaining: "I never thought any good would come of it, and I still don't think anything good's come of it. I think if we're not careful it's probably the end of our civilization."