This seems to be a subject that ruffles feathers when I mention it in certain circles, but......

After being 'force-fed' the Beatles' output almost all my life, I've tried to keep an open mind but, the bottom line is that I think they were nothing more than a pretty average bar band that got lucky.

Discuss

Right look, right sound, right place, right time....

Never been that fussed. Alway seemed like the nice boys to the more edgy Rolling Stones, Animals etc. That said that kind of "soft" sound they had has been hugely influencial in a lot of music I do like - Spoon, Elliot Smith etc. Also they came from an era a long time ago when even they mustve seen pretty rebellious.

Don't get me wrong I've nothing against them as people (though McCartney comes across as a bit of a knob) and George Harrison's support for the then ailing British film industry is very laudable.
It's just that I can't see why, even today, their features grace(/disgrace) the cover of every other edition of Mojo, Uncut etc.

GeordieLes wrote:

Right look, right sound, right place, right time....

That's pretty much it. They weren't spectacular musicians or anything. Hell, when they came into the business, the guitar-band was going out of style. Most people thought saxophones were the wave of the future. When the Beatles booked Carnegie hall, they had to book as a "string quartet". They weren't special. They were a bar band that got lucky, as Shakers said. However, if it weren't for them, Rock & Roll could have been very different. Everyone wanted to be like the Beatles after the Beatles blew up, especially after we lost Buddy Holly (who the Beatles imitated) and Ritchie Vallens. They were trendsetters. Absolutely massive trendsetters.

i have to admit i'm a fan.

consider 'a day in the life', 'strawberry fields' 'penny lane' and many others to be absolute classic singles.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Beatles fan as well. I just recognize that they aren't the gods that people make them out to be.

aliceb wrote:

i have to admit i'm a fan. consider 'a day in the life', 'strawberry fields' 'penny lane' and many others to be absolute classic singles.

...but such horrors as "Yellow Submarine", "Octopus's Garden", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "I Am The Walrus" are hardly anything to make Dylan want to 'up his game' are they?

i'm not too up on all this really (being a major fan of "metallica" & "belle and sebastian" however i recently heard someone point out that:

beatles - release SGT PEPPER - never played live again
beach boys - released PET SOUNDS - continued to gig live playing that level of "difficult" music

signifigant? i should co-co.....

DIMITRI

stoned out of his gourd one afternoon john lennon is lying flat on his back contemplating the clarity that only top drawer LSD brings, when a small flying beatle lands on his chest ...... lennon looks down and observes: maaaaaaaaaaaaan - i'm in a band named after you!

the beatle looks up, puzzled, and replies: what? you're in a band......

CALLED GEOFFREY!

booom-tsssh!

Geoffrey were seriously over rated. First two singles were good if a touch derivative and they were ok live if you were pissed, but name one decent album - or even album track....

Have to say i disagree with a few of you! I dont think it was about being in the right place at the right time (which, admitedly, they undoubtably were) I think its more to do with genius song writing and their unrivaled ability to write a good pop tune. They had a better grasp of melody than nearly any band ever in my opinion and I honestly believe they would have become the biggest pop band in the world at any given time.

Having said all this, im not actually the biggest Beatles fan ever but I just think there song writing skills are unquestionable, which in my book makes them spectacular musicians (sorry Graf!)

Ohh, and I actually quite like Octopus's Garden! Didn't find that strange untill now!!

i like 'i am the walrus' and most bands with more than a few albums usually have a few stinkers.

don't need to convince me re beach boys even bigger fans of them!

Music is always down to individual taste.

At least Paul is a top musician, what he did on bass (especially melody-wise and in relation to his singing) is still an inspiration for many many bass players.
For sure they are not gods, but very talented and yes: right time, right place etc.

And a band that says "we were born in Liverpool but grew up in Hamburg" must be grand

They wrote and played many great songs - Yesterday, Norwegian Wood, Come Together, Got to get You into my Life etc, etc.

Paul McCartney returned to Hamburg about 15 years go, went into the Gretel & Alfons bar in the Grosse Freiheit, went up to the barmaid and placed an unpaid bar-bill from the 60s on the bar, paid the 12 DM outstanding, then left without speaking. It's never too late to pay your debts.

I've not been in this bar, so don't know what it's like. The only one I've been in on the GF is Rasputin - and that was a shock to the system. I've never seen so many men wearing frocks in one place!

sounds right up my street.
the most "men in frocks" i've seen has to be around 250 at one time (or should that be 249)