Five stars reflects the quality of the debate around this one, not a stated preferance for one over the other. This is the Boxers vs. Briefs of music, it will never be resolved.

The Beatles have to rate high for originality, versatility, quality of craft, cultural impact and damn enjoyable records. They broke ground that everyone, especially the Stones, were able to travel on. They were greeted with the most incredible success ever experienced by a popular music act but instead of just riding it to the bank, they used it as artistic springboard to push limits and expose their audience to music that they would never in their lifetime have come across.

The Stones score for a song book that pound for pound contains more classics of the Rock and Roll canon than Chuck Berry, and that's saying a lot. The Stones have mined the blues, soul, psychedlia, folk, country and even disco and struck gold with each. They have also survived against all their best efforts to do themselves in. There's an integrity to that that can only come with almost 50 years of playing for the love of music.

Impossible choice for me, fortunately I live in a world where I can enjoy both.