It can't just be me...can it?

Got a hard hard head

I realise that I’m putting myself into a minority here and (maybe) into the firing line for ridicule and abuse, but that’s life.

See, the thing is, I just don’t get The Beatles. I have given them a fair try and listened to their material and can’t hear what has earned these incredible accolades from far and wide, why this very average sounding boy-band are heralded as “the best ever”.

I think they had an incredible stroke of luck that their rise in popularity was around the time that there was, perhaps, a lull in music and they were seen as fresh-faced, new and exciting. Just what was needed. Okay, I’m prepared to accept that. But then, people say “never been bettered.” I’m sorry, what? In the forty-something years since, no band has improved upon, what is essentially, throw-away pop lyrics and simplistic melodies?

If they were so good, why are there countless imitation bands playing pubs and clubs who are able so easily to recreate their sound?

They aren’t relevant anymore, I’m sorry but they’re not. When albums like “The Bends” and “10” get comments like “sounds a bit dated now”, yet Abbey Road gets 10 out of 10 it's absurd.

If bands are going to continue to be influenced by The Beatles then music is never going to change. Up and coming bands should be looking at the last 15-20 years for influences, not delving back twice their lifespan! I'm trying to think of a band that has really broken through in the last few year's

The Rolling Stones produced a far higher, far more consistent level of music and yet they aren’t revered in anything like the same way. Lennon and McCartney had incredibly average vocals and as musicians none of them were hardly groundbreaking. Would any of them make it into a top ten of guitarists, bassists or drummers? Not a chance.

I think in some instances, people only like them for fear of being excluded from social circles as it's pretty much seen as the norm to be a Beatles fanatic. I’m not trolling or trying to start up an argument, I just don’t get it.

Cue the Beatles police….

mrvedderson

I think the problem is that you are alive now and you have heard so many other bands that kick ass. Back when the beatles were coming around. There wasnt all that. its like being forced to listen to country music because that is the only thing there is, Then a new louder and wilder group comes out. A new sound for yearning ears. You have to be able to put yourself there when it was happening.

riCotokYo

man, other than a few key tracks, I'm not really there either....I get it! Homeboy is right though, If we were there when they came out, it would've been massive relatively!!

DarthSpacegrass

4 friends + 1 tab each &/or shrooms (depending on how you roll) + Yellow Submarine = All your questions about this band answered.

Got a hard hard head

Like I said in my thread, I do understand that it might have been fantastic at the time, people thinking "wow, shit - this sound so different" - all that I understand and it must have been great at the time.

But that was then and this is now.

philthehip

I would say they were very important for popular music, Im not a huge fan of the pop based stuff but I would say that Sgt Pepper and The magical mystery tour albums are amongst the best ever released. Im not a fan of the white album as a whole but love certain tracks. When they were recording Sgt Peppers, Pink Floyd would rush down to the studio whenever possible to watch them record. They are sighted as a huge influence on the early Pink Floyd sound and I can get that.

Overall I feel it was the sound that was new at the time, I agree with other responses here about if we had been there. My father was there and he was a massive fan for his entire life.

As for other pub/tribute bands being able to play the music. I have seen the Ausie Pink Floyd quite a few times. I have seen Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour and post Waters Pink Floyd and Ausie Floyd are still pretty amazing but they did not create the sound in the first place. I can play Voodoo Chile to a pretty high standard but I dont feel I could ever have created the sound.

pandora

I was a little girl when they hit America- I was 8- I remember watching them on Ed Sullivan- it was huge- the girls all over the country totally freaking out- nothing like it before.People of all ages loved them and it really was a revolution. Then I grew up with them and for me their music is awesome.Abbey Road & Let It Be (Across the Universe beautiful song) being my favorite albums. I went on to love them individually all so very talented. They are a big part of what I still listen to. If you haven't really tried to get into them its worth giving it a second chance - they are The Beatles!

philthehip

pandora wrote:

I was a little girl when they hit America- I was 8- I remember watching them on Ed Sullivan- it was huge- the girls all over the country totally freaking out- nothing like it before.People of all ages loved them and it really was a revolution. Then I grew up with them and for me their music is awesome.Abbey Road & Let It Be (Across the Universe beautiful song) being my favorite albums. I went on to love them individually all so very talented. They are a big part of what I still listen to. If you haven't really tried to get into them its worth giving it a second chance - they are The Beatles!

Actually I forgot about Abbey Road, there were some great tunes on the album

Wolf At Bay

Early Beatles, not so special. So in a way, you're right, they did get lucky with their initial fame. But then they got really great.

Its in the songwriting, man. Yeah they set a new standard for studio production, but the real magic is in the songwriting, the melodies and the HUGE array of styles the incorporated into their work.

I used to be down on the Beatles too, because of their ubiquity and the blind worship some lavish on them. Paul rubs me the wrong way, too.

But if you get past that, its a different listening experience.
Also, you have to listen to the albums, not any greatest hits or anything.

To the person who said "That was then, this is now" -- what's so great about now? If you take it from a parallel perspective, comparing a huge band from "then" to a huge band from "now" you end comparing people like Coldplay, Jay-Z and Kings of Leon to the Beatles. Sorry, but the Beatles were WAY more creative. If you want to talk about indie/underground bands, its a safe bet that your favorites learned how to do what they do by listening to the Beatles. Unless you're into like death metal or noise-rock or something; that would be an entirely different debate

BG255979

Man the Beatles really are something special..it took me a while to get on board with them but once I did I really saw what all the fuss was about. Their music is simple but that is what is so great about it. No band before or since has been able to capture such simplicity so well. Their vocal timing and harmonies are incredible, especially sung over the right chord progression with a little lead thrown in here and there and some very underrated drumming. There was also so much technological change in the recording studio going on during the latter part of their career and they were at the forefront of using that technology. Bands of today SHOULD still be influenced by what they accomplished in the studio. Look, I love the old skool..Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Stones, jimi, the who, the doors, they all brought something different to the table that should definitely still be influencing bands of today. The Beatles just happen to have that something that some people just get and latch onto. I think because its simple, their simplicity makes their music more accessible, especially the early stuff, they were havin so much fun then. Hey if you dont like their music thats fine, but I can tell you that I love their music and its not because I'm afraid of being ridiculed.

intodeep

I like some of what they did but i don't see what all the fuss is about either. So you are not alone, but when you say that some people look at you like..."hand over your music card... you obviosly don't deserve to be taken seriously for anything you say about music moving forward"

Again i think they were good, but they never hit me like they seem to so many others who go ga ga over them.

Got a hard hard head

Thanks for your replies (and for not slating me! )

Nice to find somewhere where you can actually have an opinion.

AndySlash

mrvedderson wrote:

I think the problem is that you are alive now and you have heard so many other bands that kick ass. Back when the beatles were coming around. There wasnt all that. its like being forced to listen to country music because that is the only thing there is, Then a new louder and wilder group comes out. A new sound for yearning ears. You have to be able to put yourself there when it was happening.

this.

it took me a long time to appreciate the beatles. it wasn't until i had a better understanding of the real history of music and was able to place into historical context the songs i had been hearing for so many years that i truly understood how much they changed the landscape.

i used to believe it was complete hyperbole when someone said the beatles changed music. but the bottom line is that hyperbole was truth.

the "that was then, this is now" stuff- there would be no now without then. until you can grasp that concept, yeah, you'll probably dislike the beatles.

facepollution

I'm not a fan either. I don't mind some of their songs, but it tends to be covers of those songs that I prefer. I can respect them for what they did for music, but I would take the Stones or Led Zep any day over the Beatles. I also find Paul McCartney really irritating.

blondieblue227

i don't GET elvis.

and i'm not a beatle fan but i think back then they were groundbreaking. that might be it. or part of it. they changed the sound of music for that day.
i read somewhere even to this day they are in the top five in every age group for favorite bands.

pearljgirl2010

I'm with you...While I understand the impact their music has/had, I just can't get into it....not for lack of trying either.

musicismylife78

For me, the beatles are the best band in history. The most important band in history. And all 4 of the beatles, are modern day heroes of biblical importance. Selling over a billion records worldwide is a feat that deserves recognition.

There was a line from the Nick and Norah movie, about how simple the songs were, yet how they describe perfectly the human experience.

I am in love with the world they created. The atmosphere of it all. Father Mackenzie. Mean Mr Mustard. Polythylene Pam. Octapus' Garden.

Along with the words of Dylan, as I said, the Beatles lyrics, are biblical in importance.

So I dont really understand those, like the OP who dont get the beatles.

goldrush

I grew up in the 70s listening to my Dad's Beatles and Stones LPs and I've never thought of The Beatles as anything more than a pretty good band that I quite liked. I like The Beatles in the same way that I like CSNY, Mamas & Papas, the Stones etc, I don't worship them but I can appreciate them. They've all got some really great songs but the've also released their fair share of shit over the years.

I don't get the crazy obsession over them but I guess one way of looking a it is by asking "What would music be like today if we didn't have The Beatles?" It would certainly be a different musical landscape. The Woodstock generation would never have been influenced by their way of songwriting, the 70s punk scene wouldn't have had them to react against and the late 80s/early 90s 'alternative' scene wouldn't have been able to combine the two.

I don't think you necessarily have to love them, or even like them, to appreciate how much they've influenced the generations that followed them.

youngster

I have listened to the Beatles box set a few times over since it came out, and out of all the albums, A Hard Days Night is my favorite. I keep going back to that one. More than half the album is phenomenal songs: A Hard Days Night, I should have known better, If I Fell, And I love her, Can't Buy Me Love, Things we said today, I'll Cry Instead. Just awesome. As for them collectively: They were trendsetters. They did it first so anyone else will take a backseat. Sure there have been some bands that could be considered better than the Beatles, but to the people who grew up in their heyday, there will be no one better. My dad was in his late 20's in the mid 60's and he said he has never seen that much attention directed at one band since.

Cosmo

I guess my best comment would be... you had to have been there.

Get_Right

I dont think you had to be there to appreciate the beatles

it really comes down to two things in my mind
1. Lennon and McCartney were the two best song writers ever-only Dylan can give them a run for the money
2. the evolution of the music from the rock n roll yeah yeah yeah to the later material marks the greatest evolution of any band in history-not many bands have produced fine records of so many different styles

and you need to listen to the complete records to appreciate them-not just what you hear on the radio, or what McCartney is playing on TV

musicismylife78

i also think partly, this anti beatles fest on this board, and maybe from others elsewhere, stems from the idea, engrained in many, that if something gets that big, as I said, the beatles sold over 1 billion records worldwide, that there is something superficial, or dumbed down, or crap about it. Whenever something gets big or reaches such a massive cultural level, you have a number of folks who hate it, not neccesarily because they hate the band or the music, but because they think that whatever is popular is crap (which is not altogether unfounded)

The musical landscape without the beatles, if the 4 lads from liverpool never were born, music would be an awful black abyss. The post a few back is correct. The Beatles cultural impact, really can only be matched by Dylan, or Elvis or something like that.

red mos

It all had to do with timing and marketing. The Beatles were doing something new and fresh at the time. the whole "British invasion" can be looked at just like "disco", "New wave" "grunge" ect.

Personally I am a Beatles fan merely for two reasons: My parents listened to them, so I was exposed to their music alot growing up; and I think their music is catchy, too. Just Great rock and roll pure and simple.

Now I have the problem the OP has with the Beatles with the Stones. I like a handful of songs. BUT, the Stones wrote some beautiful lyrics in some of the songs I like: "Angie", "wild horses", "As tears go by" just to name a few of my faves. Brilliant song writing for sure.

Music just hits people in certain ways and some bands move people more than others. It's all good.

skippybrew

I'm not a great fan myself, but I do get it.

To say they're not relevant anymore because their sound is old is like saying Nirvana isn't relevant anymore because Puddle of Mudd (and countless other bands) was able to rip them off. Or that Jimi Hendrix is old hat because everybody is making noise on the guitar these days.

Their music was simplistic and poppy, but how easy is that, really, to pull off? And do it well? I'm not a very big fan and I could name you 10 Beatles songs right now. There aren't many bands that have that sort of accessibility.

Thoughts_Arrive

The Doors ARE the 60's band!
Doors > Beatles.

Black Diamond

cropduster82 wrote:

I have listened to the Beatles box set a few times over since it came out, and out of all the albums, A Hard Days Night is my favorite. I keep going back to that one. More than half the album is phenomenal songs: A Hard Days Night, I should have known better, If I Fell, And I love her, Can't Buy Me Love, Things we said today, I'll Cry Instead. Just awesome. As for them collectively: They were trendsetters. They did it first so anyone else will take a backseat. Sure there have been some bands that could be considered better than the Beatles, but to the people who grew up in their heyday, there will be no one better. My dad was in his late 20's in the mid 60's and he said he has never seen that much attention directed at one band since.

I just got this too. I agree with the OP. I never got into them. Was into the Who, Led Zep and the Stones.

As I am going through the collection, I am amazed that I know most if not all the songs. It is really interesting to listen to it chronologically as the changes in all aspects are amazing. As a friend from here pointed out, the album where it all changes is Revolver and it's quite interesting to listen to. I am enjoying it and realizing that I don't LOVE it like PJ and others it is quite impressive and enjoyable.

Claireack

Don't own any of their records, sing along if they're on the radio. But not really that fussed.