The Rolling Stones and the Beatles were very similar in their musical styles in their early years. For both of their first US tours they covered multiple R&B songs, though the Rolling Stones used covers for essentially their entire lineup during their first US tour. 

But the reception of the two bands and the way they were described in media differed greatly. The Rolling Stones were described in one newspaper article as "dirtier, wilder, and freakier than the Beatles." The Beatles in many newspapers were described as extremely popular and as good for the whole family, describing the band as the cause for the phenomenon "Beatlemania." Even in terms of the sheer amount of articles written on each band in 1964 were noticeable, the Beatles articles were plentiful, while the Rolling Stones articles were sparse and less complimentary. The Rolling Stones also had some trouble in appearances on certain TV shows. When the Stones performed on the Hollywood Palace, Dean Martin ridiculed the band's appearances, saying "Their hair is not that long, it's just their small foreheads." 

In their first US tour, the Rolling Stones had some fanbase, but in places like Omaha, Nebraska only 600 people showed up to a 15,000 seat arena. While the Beatles in their first tour had 9,000 fans awaiting them at their US arrival and performed to fully packed auditoriums at almost every show. 

The Rolling Stones were far more disliked because of the raunchier persona which contrasted with the Beatles more clean cut one. In the US there was a far greater conservative culture which impacted the negative views of the Stones within classic media outlets, but this helped make the Stones popular with the younger generation in the first place.