Absolutely true. There were black radio stations and there were white radio stations. Alan Freed combined the two on his show, but the music itself didn’t start to be combined until the Rolling Stones. Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis did pretty well before that. I think someone said about Jerry Lee Lewis he had a black left hand and a white right hand on the piano.
Whereas the Beatles did covers of Chuck Berry songs, the Stones immersed themselves in all the great black American musicians and came up with their own amazing blend.
The Beatles did covers of Chuck Berry, the Stones took ownership (listen to Down the Road Apiece, while not Berry’s tune, he did a cover, while the Stones recorded the best version of all.)
Yes, it is evident in the music of the early stones that the music is very much black music updated with electronic instruments and an ensemble. I have a large collection of early 78’s with black musicians from the thirties on, the influence is unmistakable.
Have you have ever heard of any music from the 20s to the 40s? Any jazz?
The Beatles never pretended to be a blues or rb band, and their covers of black rb hits were their worst recordings. They could have skipped any of their covers of blues/rb recordings (Matchbox, etc), and it wouldn’t have affected their popularity one bit. That’s all right, I never for once thought the Stones sounded black either. I liked the Stones because they had a unique sound, that’s all. They could do songs like Angie as well.