Bono and Michael Stipe both have a tendency to be preachy and tended to give a sense that their ideals were better than yours. The Stones were simply a rock n roll band. As much of a jerk as he could be, I don't think anybody ever thought Jaeger was very preachy or cared about your ideals in any way.I was about to say U2 and REM both have people that I think unfairly judge them as a band that hung on for 40 years and played massive tours. For whatever reason the Stones never seemed to get the same dislike for that even though they really didn't put out popular new music the past 40 years.
REM's late "comeback" album Accelerate was kind of shocking how good it was though. I don't feel U2 has ever had an album like that where it made me think it was as good as the early/prime stuff.