Why is everybody so ga-ga over the Beatles? Besides being the first group from England in a long time to come over here, what did they do that hadn't already been done? I always hear about what a great poet/thinker Lennon was. I must be missing something, because I don't think he's anything to rave about. I prefer McCartney without the other three, and Starr and Harrison don't really mean anything to me. I ask because you can't turn on an oldies station anymore without having the Beatles crammed down your throat. I think their music is okay, but I can't stand the steady diet. Maybe if I could get a new perspective besides the raving of a DJ who thinks he's funnier than he is, or the aging hippies (and their offspring) who want to pretend it's still the 60's, I could find a new appreciation. If it helps, here are the songs they force-feed the public on the radio on an almost daily basis: Paperback Writer She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah) I Want To Hold Your Hand All You Need Is Love Back In the USSR Anytime At All Birthday Can't Buy Me Love Come Together Day Tripper Do You Want To Know A Secret? Drive My Car Eight Days a Week Here Comes The Sun I Saw Her Standing There I'll Follow the Sun I'm Happy Just to Dance With You Taxman We Can Work It Out Yesterday You've Got To Hide Your Love Away Now, I'm not saying these are bad songs, but I just don't see what's so great about them. What merits making gods out of the Beatles, and if they're so great, why not carve their faces into the White Cliffs of Dover a la Mount Rushmore? (Okay, that was a little sarcastic. I'm sorry. Either that or someone just went "Hey, what a GREAT idea!" Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! )
Those songs are from the pop years of the Beatles. If you want real music listen to some of these songs: Elenor Rigby Love You To For No One Your Mother Should Know I Am the Walrus Hello Goodbye Strawberry Fields Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite Within You Without Me A Day In the Life (my personal favorite) Dear Prudence Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da While My Guitar Gently Weeps Happiness is a Warm Gun I'm So Tired Black Bird Rocky Raccoon Yer Blues Revolution Come Together Oh Darling I Want You (She's So Heavy) Because You Never Give Me Your Money Across the Universe I Me Mine Let It Be A lot of those are never played on the radio but should be. Most people listen to the Beatles because of the hype, and because they grew up with it. Thats why you always hear those songs that aren't nearly as good as the ones listed above. Granted they are still good songs and better than a lot of the stuff from back then, the Beatles did a lot of better stuff that what is usually played on the radio.
Some of those get played once in a blue moon. They're good songs (and the ones that I generally prefer over the ones from my list), but I still don't see them as anything to canonize the Beatles over. I just reminded myself about another question I'd overheard while working at a San Jose oldies station: "What did Elvis have that nobody else had?" When you think about it, his voice wasn't all that spectacular. Good, yes. Great? Not really. The hip-wiggle was just publicity. His hair style was normal for kids of the day. His guitar playing was average. So, what did Elvis have that the others didn't? Colonel Tom Parker. Who was pushing the Beatles? PS: I really like "Let It Be". I'd heard a story that everybody thought that the "Mother Mary" he sings about was the Virgin Mary, but that he actually wrote it referring to his mother, Mary. Any word on this?
the thing about the beatles and about elvis is that they were pioneers in music and entertainment. their music was really progressive compared to most of the other bands around. they were coming up with songs like no one had ever heard before. the reason it sounds bland now is because so many people have tried to copy their style since, and its branched off into many new genres. its like when you watch an old movie and the acting seems so dull compared to the drama today. its only because of all the other movies in between then and now that have done the same thing.
The Beatles music also evolved whereas most just stick to their same ol' same ol' style, and all of it sounds great too. Heck, their cover songs are also better than the originals too, heh. On all their albums, there's maybe one or two songs that are "okay", not "horrible", and the rest are awesome whereas with other groups, especially of today, you buy a whole CD for one or two songs and the rest suck. You can also hear a Beatles song that wasn't a hit, and for some reason, you've heard it before and it's a good song. They have SO many songs that were never officially on the charts yet are awesome. Also in regards to their evolution, what makes them so great is that they've brought in so many sounds not ever heard before in rock 'n roll. They played stuff backwards, mixed in weird sounds, really tweaked with a lot of stuff to come up with non-conventional sounds that really paved the way for later music. I can see why you wouldn't like some of those because especially with their earlier rock stuff, you have to like that kind of oldies music in the first place. But on a lot of those, it doesn't matter what genre you prefer, people from various styles will like em. What also makes em so great is their lyrics. The way they're written, they're about general things so everyone can relate to em as opposed to a select group of people, so this also helps make a song more popular. But the main reason why some may not like em or understand why they're so great, you have to look at what kind of music was out at the time. They were revolutionary. You can hear songs today and say "oh, they're just copying so-and-so" and may not think they're great. But they pioneered SO much stuff, and it's actually others copying them, heh. So yeah, what you gotta do is take some music that was out at the time and compare it to the Beatles CD, and it's so crazy. It's like taking Hendrix or the Doors and comparing it to the stuff that came out at the same time. Their sounds are so new and different, it blew everyone away and the same with the Beatles. But with the Beatles, the songwork of Lennon and McCarthy is the main part. They're the best songwriting team ever. Anyways, I used to think the same as you. I'd wonder why the Beatles are so popular, etc. The problem I was making? I was basing it off all their pop chick songs from their early years. I didn't even listen to their evolved stuff after those pop years and man, there's a crap load of good stuff. Not only that, but after hearing "1", I knew almost all those songs and didn't even realize it was the Beatles that sung em. I'd suggest listening to Rubber Soul, Help!, Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour, and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band first, or you can also buy their "1" album with their #1 hits. I'd start with #1, Rubber Soul, and Help first though. Rubber Soul is an awesome album all the way through and HELP has a lot of good songs and it's in a trasintional period from old pop to more rock, so it'll give you a taste of their earlier stuff without so much pop and it'll be a good bridge if ever you wanna hear their earlier stuff. Those are my favorite albums, in that order of theirs. Here's more songs that aren't listed in this thread yet that are real good yet weren't even hits. Seriously, they could have owned the whole charts if all their songs were released, heh. These are mostly in chronological order: It Won't Be Long Don't Bother Me Please Mr. Postman Twist and Shout No Reply Loser Every Little Thing Long Tall Sally I'm Down I Feel Fine I Should Have Known Better And I Love Her Things We Said Today I'll Be Back Help The Night Before Act Naturally It's Only Love I've Just Seen a Face Norweigian Wood Nowhere Man Think for Yourself The Word Girl I'm Looking Through You Wait Run For Your Life I'm Only Sleeping She Said, She Said Doctor Robert Fool on the Hill Glass Onion Helter Skelter Savoy Truffle Polythene Pam As you can see, people can make quite a huge list of good songs. And these are all songs not listed yet. Although with my list, the ones you mentioned, and Roy's, this outta cover all of the awesome ones. If you want, go ahead and download all these selective songs and let us know whatcha think. I can list em all in chronological order too so you can see how they've progressed and evolved over the years. Although I won't have anything to compare em against to show you have new and crazy it all sounds during those years. Let me just sum it all up with: there's a reason why the Beatles is the most popular band ever -- they're just flat out awesome. Try and listen to their other stuff and not just their old pop rock 'n roll as I did as that'll surely turn you away if your ear isn't ready for it as mine wasn't. You'll soon grow to liking it though. - N
they bring good carma and tell stories in their songs which trigger emotional state. they ''were'' poets of their time and help the ''older'' generation with metanoia and memories. i don't know their lyrics, but probably they still have political influence. good x-factor they have. i am not a person who likes only one kind of music. i am more a cross-over person, like my state of yin-yang. loki
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Well if you don't like the old style pop rock 'n roll, McChartney (haha, I just noticed this typo, but it's PERFECT, rofl, I gotta use this more often now) should be your least favorite as he was the pop guy of the group. Ringo is awesome because his drumming is just always spot on. Sure, there's no crazy drum solos or anything, but just like Harrison, they know how to work themselves into the songs. And Harrison, man, he has some catchy riffs. He's like the Edge in U2. Nothing special if you compare them to skilled guitarists, but when you put them in a group, nothing can touch em as they come up with the most perfect riffs that fit songs and again, are catchy as hell. So simplistic yet so tasteful. Also in regards to Harrison, he and Lennon were the ones to change the sound of the Beatles the most away from McCartney's pop sounds. Harrison brought in outside musical influences from other cultures to really change their sound. All the acid-trip sounds you hear, that's all from him. And mix that in with Lennon's studio sound tweaking and other experimentation and lyrics, that's a crazy combination. If not for those two, you'd still be hearing pop girl songs. Yeah, that's what kicked em off and got em famous, but they'd be long gone if they didn't evolve from that style. That's what's so great about the lyrical combination of McCartney and Lennon as they balace each other out. You have the pop mixed in with the "what the hell is he thinkin or talkin about", lol. Most definitly. Heck, in the "What's on the turntable (CD)" thread, I posted some of their political songs along with some Bob Dylan. It outta be the last couple pages. - N
The genral consensus here is that I don't seem to like oldies. (I'm also a chick...) Au contraire, I love oldies. I have to get to work right now, but I'll come back and address the deeper aspect a little later. But for one example of "what did they do that hadn't already been done", "Day Tripper" referring to drugs. It was done in the fifties on the rock-a-billy play lists as "Dixie-Fried" (Carl Perkins, I think). I'll be back with more later.
Well as for the "what hasn't they already done before" in regards to rock 'n roll, it's not that they did anything new in that style, but it's that they did it so much better (all their cover songs blow the others away except for Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven"), or at least is more friendlier to the people at the time to adapt. They were the perfect transitional band, but as opposed to other trasitional bands, their songs can at least stand on their own rather than just being "the band" that ushered in a new era such as Nirvana mentioned below. Take Bob Dylan in my case. If it weren't for him, there would be no way in hell that I would have liked country, folk, bluegrass, etc. He was the perfect bridge to that gap and made me appreciate the lyrics of those other kinds of music whereas before the sound was just blech to me. The same thing with Nirvana for the younger generation. Sure, they're not too special when you compare them to past greats, but at the time they arrived, it was during the whole Glam Rock and Rap era. They were the ones to bring Rock back and ushered in a new era. Again, nothing too special about them, but they sure did change the style of music for the better, even if it still sucks, heh. - N
Okay. I can see the "bridge" thing. I took a little bit to think about it, like what bands have I linked from one type of music or what-not to another. But I have to disagree with you that all but one of their covers were better than the originals. I really prefer the original "You're Sixteen" to their version. I just think theirs is overdone. I'm not too familiar with what other covers they did, but I did hear a cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that was, IMHO, better because it had a slower, more mournful feel. It was performed, of all places, on "The Muppet Show". (Remember their all-purpose rock band, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem? The bassist "Sgt. Floyd Pepper" played it as as a solo. That little muppet was good...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!)
Well, I shouldn't have said all their covers, but tons of em are. Many of the songs on their early albums are covers of their favorite rock 'n rollers. Heck, of their first five albums and their other singles, they have 24 cover songs. That's also not including their even earlier stuff like what they did live at the BBC and for the Queen, heh, which is oh god, about 70 songs, and only 25 or so are their own. Heh, of all places, lol. I've never seen that performance. I used to watch the Muppet Show when I was a kid, but again, I was a kid back then. I bet it would have been amusing. However, the original version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" actually is slower and more mournful and played acoustic by George and Paul on a mellotron (I wonder if that was what you heard on the Muppets). It's on their 3rd Anthology disc. The album version you hear is actually Eric Clapton playing the lead. So blame it on him for being so good that made everyone wanna use his version of it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! So.. what else ya got? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! - N
Well, maybe you can help with this. You see, now I'm waiting for tomorrow because the oldies station has it's "Beatles Wednesday". EVERY FRIGGIN' OLDIES STATION HAS "BEATLES WEDNESDAY! This is thanks to the Clear Channel conglomerate that seems out to homogenize radio so that you hear the same stuff from town to town. They also all do "Mo-Town Monday". Now, I can make the Mo-Town connection. Mo-Town Monday. Why connect the Beatles to Wednesday?
One of my favourite Beatles songs ever, that nobody here has mentioned and is virtually never played on radio is 'Rain'; beautiful. While I agree with most of the positive comments regarding the fab four, nobody has mentioned the real reasons they became so huge and why they were so innovative. The driving force that created their original fame and great success was their manager, Brian Epstein, without him, they might never have made it. The second link in the chain and the man mainly responsible for their studio sound and production techniques was their full time producer (Sir) George Martin who is a classically trained musician, arranger and producer and who was way ahead of his time in studio technique, he proved to be the perfect foil to the band's incredible creativity and song writing prowess. I think, with the Beatles, it was a case of pure serendipity; the right band, at the right time, in the right place and with the right people behind them, with all that you can't help but to create true magic.
Well, Wednesday is called "hump day", so it could be a play on words of all the girls in the past that wanted to hump em? Lol, no idea. - N
