Speaking with The Coda Collection, Daltrey said when asked about the Stones, “You’ve got to take your hat off to [Mick Jagger.] He’s the number one rock ‘n’ roll performer. 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!'”
Daltrey’s words seem to reflect Paul McCartney’s similar thoughts about The Rolling Stones. Sir Paul said in an interview with The New Yorker last month, “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 [The Beatles’] net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”
Of course, The Rolling Stones don’t seem to care about what their contemporaries think of them. After all, when you’re on average making $10 million per tour stop, you tend not to hear the haters over the “Cha Ching” sound of metaphorical cash registers.