Remember when the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were tagged as the future of rock 'n roll during the 1960s?
A book I read titled The British Invasion That Wasn't by Sarah Ferguson devoted a chapter to The Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan show which was the lowest rated in that show's history. My take is that of the four members of the band, only Richard Starkey went by the nickname of "Ringo Starr". I mean, why would some mop haired Englishman call himself Ringo? Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison had the good sense to use their real names. Needless to say, the Beatles returned home with their tails between their legs and broke up just before Christmas of 1965.
On the other hand, the Rolling Stones appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was controversial. When you look at the group, you wonder how they can manage tolerate each other. I am not surprised that Sullivan ordered them thrown out of the building after they finished their set.
Take Charlie Watts, for example. After the Stones broke up in 1964, he pursued a successful career in architecture. Watts defined the art deco movement of the 1970s and even designed the interior of the Concorde. Bill Wyman grew up listening to jazz and was never comfortable with the rock 'n roll genre. He would achieve greater success as a producer whose biggest discovery was Mitch Winehouse. Brian Jones died of a drug overdose in 1968. Keith Richards joined an obscure band called Fleetwood Mac (broke up in 1970 in the wake of Peter Green's drug problems) and spent many years as a prominent studio guitarist.
And of course, the biggest success story turned out to be Sir Michael "Mick" Jagger. He became an economics professor at Oxford and befriended Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. In the academic world, he was known for his several theses on macroeconomics (his speeches at the annual Hayek Lectures were standing room only). In 1974, Jagger was elected to the House of Commons as a Tory and quickly rose up through the leadership. When Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in 1979, Jagger became Chancellor of the Exchequer. After Thatcher's tragic death, Jagger became Prime Minister and vowed to exact revenge on those IRA terrorists. Jagger appointed Enoch Powell as Defense Secretary and ordered him to spare no expense in putting the IRA out of business.
It would take several pages to describe how Powell carried that out (Jagger ordered the Protestant paramilitaries to stand down and let the army do its work). But peace was achieved in Northern Ireland by 1987.
The other highlight of Jagger's Prime Ministry was the Nobel Prize in Economics that he received in 1986. By 1993, Prime Minister Jagger announced his retirement from politics and stepped down.
Had the Beatles and Rolling Stones succeeded in America during the 1960s, would they have paved the way for other British bands to succeed here in the USA?
If so, this would obviously butterfly away Jagger's career in academia and politics.