The Beatles Appreciation Thread

[Globetrotter]

What song is that?

Birthday. Greatest song ever recorded.

 

[Omeletpants]

What song is that?

yesterday

 

[Crystallas]

Pedestals tend to be there for a reason.

-When virtually every great rock star after them attributes them as their influence there is a reason
-When Sinatra calls one of their songs the greatest ever written there is a reason
-When Hendrix is performing your entire album live 3 days after release there is a reason
-When you set record sales and are still a dominant sales force 50 years later there is a reason
-When some of the greatest musicians in CA listen to your record for 48 hours straight on it's release holed up in a hotel room there is a reason
-When you are the most covered band in history and one of your songs has been recorded more than 2000 times there is a reason
-When you have as much cultural influence that's why they put you on a pedestal

So you're saying that we're going to have this discussion about Scooter in the near future?

 

[Dogstar]

I think with art in general and music in particular its always hard to say someone "invented" something, because if you go back far enough and deep enough you can usually find someone else who had the same sound or used the same technique.

I think the Beatles greatness is their ability to weave a lot of different musical elements into pop music songs. Yeah, electic guitar distortion had been around since the invention of the electric guitar...but the Beatles made it popular in mainstream music. I think to some degree the Beatles' success was due to their timing, but they also made such great songs that the music audience was more receptive to the "new" ideas the Beatles put out on each subsequent record.

Even the high and mighty Beatles had inspirations: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, etc. The Beatles had a huge part in refining & redefining the sound, but like you said... thanks to the British invasion, timing was everything.

 

[Crystallas]

yesterday

And every guitarist to attempt Stairway to Heaven. Every singer Auld Lang Syne, and every dancer moonwalks at some point. We can put up these pedestals for nearly anything interesting and popular.


Is this the real life..........

 

[dabynsky]

[video=youtube;Zl-N2JleNeU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl-N2JleNeU[/video]

I love that part of the film.

 

[Omeletpants]

And every guitarist to attempt Stairway to Heaven. Every singer Auld Lang Syne, and every dancer moonwalks at some point. We can put up these pedestals for nearly anything interesting and popular.


Is this the real life..........

Stairway to heaven hasnt been recorded 2000 times. You may not like Yesterday but apparently professional musicians dip

 

[Crystallas]

Stairway to heaven hasnt been recorded 2000 times. You may not like Yesterday but apparently professional musicians dip

I never said I didn't like it. As I clearly said in my prior post, my remarks aren't against the Beatles, but the automatic hype they get. Just because someone else likes something, doesn't mean I need to like it. If by such a proxy, you must like all of the things I like. Or you must love Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Backstreet Boys, and you love to cuddle up and read Twilight novels.

 

[Omeletpants]

Agree that popularity doesn't always mean good. Otherwise Kiss and Rsh would be considered good bands.

For all the adulation, no band has faced more scorn than the Beatles either. Critics were ripping them since 1964. In the early 70s, Mott the Hopple made millions and a career on one song hating on the Beatles. To this day the Beatles are ripped more than other bands are adored.

 

[Crystallas]

Agree that popularity doesn't always mean good. Otherwise Kiss and Rsh would be considered good bands.

For all the adulation, no band has faced more scorn than the Beatles either. Critics were ripping them since 1964. In the early 70s, Mott the Hopple made millions and a career on one song hating on the Beatles. To this day the Beatles are ripped more than other bands are adored.

I can live with this comment.

 

[Tjodalv]

I think with art in general and music in particular its always hard to say someone "invented" something, because if you go back far enough and deep enough you can usually find someone else who had the same sound or used the same technique.

Yes and no. There are musicologists that specialize specifically in tracking musical phenomena back to their sources (both geographically and within the context of earliest historical appearance). It may be virtually impossible to guarantee that a given progenitor is the actual "inventor" of something or not, but we can generally say that X person's piece (Y) is the first recorded or written example of technique Z. Within the era of recording this is much simpler than, say, translating Baroque treatises found in a Guatemalan monastery to learn about keyboard techniques of the 1500s (yes, things like this happen; this was the head of my department's ongoing project/specialization when I was in grad school). With recordings on hand (rather than relying on finding written music or treatises describing something) it may be difficult to prove that X invented Z, but it's much simpler to prove that X didn't come up with Z since all you have to do is find a recording of that phenomenon that predates the recording of X by a significant margin.

 

[Dogstar]

Agree that popularity doesn't always mean good. Otherwise Kiss and Rsh would be considered good bands.

For all the adulation, no band has faced more scorn than the Beatles either. Critics were ripping them since 1964. In the early 70s, Mott the Hopple made millions and a career on one song hating on the Beatles. To this day the Beatles are ripped more than other bands are adored.

I'd find that offensive and quite hypocritical if your self-limited taste in music wasn't a running joke on this forum.

But then again, I have to remember that music is personal. I admire a wide range of musical genres, but I don't go around calling people fuckin' idiots because they don't have the same interests that I do. If someone doesn't like the Beatles, that's their choice and I wouldn't expect them to have a lot of knowledge or appreciation about Beatles music.

I don't know much about Kiss, other than Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley, but you'd be hard pressed to find a top ten greatest bass or drummer list without seeing Rush's Geddy Lee or Neil Peart on it. You may not like their collective sound, but both have made a huge wake of inspirations in their 40+ years of music. And lets be truly honest... you don't tour or sell out four decades worth of arena sized concerts because your less than good. Popular doesn't always mean bad either.

 

[Omeletpants]

I'd find that offensive and quite hypocritical if your self-limited taste in music wasn't a running joke on this forum.

But then again, I have to remember that music is personal. I admire a wide range of musical genres, but I don't go around calling people fuckin' idiots because they don't have the same interests that I do. If someone doesn't like the Beatles, that's their choice and I wouldn't expect them to have a lot of knowledge or appreciation about Beatles music.

I don't know much about Kiss, other than Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley, but you'd be hard pressed to find a top ten greatest bass or drummer list without seeing Rush's Geddy Lee or Neil Peart on it. You may not like their collective sound, but both have made a huge wake of inspirations in their 40+ years of music. And lets be truly honest... you don't tour or sell out four decades worth of arena sized concerts because your less than good. Popular doesn't always mean bad either.

Saying the Beatles are bubblegum or they suck is akin to saying Walter Payton was an average RB or Babe Ruth is a hack. Makes that speaker a fukin idiot. You can tout free speech and opinion all you want which is why I retain the right to label him a fukin idiot.

 

[Les Grossman]

Omeletpants is slowly turning into dbears54, you can see it in all the typos he's making... lol

 

[Omeletpants]

Omeletpants is slowly turning into dbears54, you can see it in all the typos he's making... lol

Not a typo it's the way all the kids are spelling it

 

[Dogstar]

Saying the Beatles are bubblegum or they suck is akin to saying Walter Payton was an average RB or Babe Ruth is a hack. Makes that speaker a fukin idiot. You can tout free speech and opinion all you want which is why I retain the right to label him a fukin idiot.

The Monkees are bubblegum.

... and I never questioned your right to call anyone a fuckin idiot, I just don't see the point.

When my wife listens to music, she doesn't give two shits about the performer, the history or what instruments are being played. To her, she either likes what she's hearing or she doesn't. When I listen to music, I listen to it as a whole, but also I "visually" separate it... from the vocals, to the lyrics... the instruments down to the notes. I have a passion for music an appreciation for its history. My wife not sharing that passion doesn't make her a fuckin' idiot... unappreciative perhaps, but again, music is personal and subjective.

Same situation here. You're looking a tad bit goofy expecting everyone here to appreciate things the way you do. Doubly so when you add generational gaps to the mix. Shit. I can't listen to something from ten years ago without hearing "change the channel" from the back seat. Despite my attempts, all they want to hear is layered and synthesized. Welcome to the under 30 ear.... "She Loves Me" or "Paperback Writer" don't stand a chance.

 

[Globetrotter]

Saying the Beatles are bubblegum or they suck is akin to saying Walter Payton was an average RB or Babe Ruth is a hack. Makes that speaker a fukin idiot. You can tout free speech and opinion all you want which is why I retain the right to label him a fukin idiot.

 

[kchicub08]

Respect the Beatles bigtime...

But no band could ever and will ever touch Led Zeppelin.....

 

[Les Grossman]

Not a typo it's the way all the kids are spelling it

They spell 'Rush" without a 'u' ?

Agree that popularity doesn't always mean good. Otherwise Kiss and Rsh would be considered good bands.

 

[Stapler]

Respect the Beatles bigtime...

But no band could ever and will ever touch Led Zeppelin.....

WHAT? Zeppelin has like two good songs, three if you do drugs...the rest is all crap that sounds exactly like all their other crap.

Sugar Ray has a better catalog than Zep.