Music

The Beatles more than a band

The world is conspiring to get us to think more about The Beatles. The band’s music is now being made available on iTunes. Television seems to be flooded with four-minute commercial breaks to their tunes while we wait for

Imagine all The Beatles walking down this road; it’s easy if you try. No Mini in front of us, only an empty road. Imagine all The Beatles on iTunes today. | Wikimedia Commons

our programs to come back.

Before that, there was last year’s release of “The Beatles: Rock Band.” All this is really just adding insult to injury because anyone who has wanted to play the guitar in the last 40 years has had to learn at least one of the group’s songs, and now people don’t have to stare at the tabs for “Yesterday” to feel like they accomplished something.

As bands go, they will always be in the canons as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time. There is nothing that can be done about that simple fact; no new band can take that away from them.

Everyone — no matter what age — will hold the lasting image of them frozen in 1964 playing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” Even as the Beatles’ Billboard records get broken, they will always have a nostalgic factor to them for all of us.

The band is so popular that I don’t have to look up how to spell Lennon’s girlfriend’s name, Yoko Ono. And that’s not your usual all-American name. Another great thing about that is that I can put her name into a paragraph by itself.

Yoko Ono.

And it can be synonymous with irritating girlfriends who destroy friendships. You see, besides being known for groundbreaking music, there is also the arguing factor that they bring to culture.

Maybe it started with the break up between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

At the end of their friendship, they even fought over how their names would be written: Lennon/McCartney or Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

But the founding members are not the only ones who get to join in on the fun of quarrelling over the foursome.

Some people really hate the Beatles; with events like bass player Glen Matlock getting kicked out of the Sex Pistols for going on too much about McCartney and the Beatles.

Sid Vicious would later replace Matlock. Now Vicious offers his own arguments: Did he kill his girlfriend? Could he even play the bass?

But people obviously care more about the Beatles than the Sex Pistols.

If money translates to likeability and putting records sales aside, you can look to the number of movies made with the band as the next selling point to expand this argument.

“Across the Universe” made more money during its opening week ($3,824,988) than “Sid and Nancy” has made since 1986 ($2,826,523). Even with Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, Harry Potter) giving a breath-taking performance, the Pistols just don’t stand up.

Of course, you’re not supposed to make such comparisons of money with matters of art. If you like a band, it is supposed to have this indefinable reason that just grabs you. I get this when I hear some of the Beatles’ songs. But others like “Octopus’s Garden” make me want to eat calamari with the hope that the sea creature that inspired this song has been deep-fried so it can never do that again.

You see, as arguments go, the band is more in the arena of major social issues than musical taste. I’ve seen people argue that “ A Day in the Life” is better than “Come Together” with a tenacity that would scare Navy Seals.

It no longer has to do anything with music; it has to do with something that’s way too confusing. I wish I could find an explanation, but when the ads for iTunes started playing, it didn’t make me want to hear their music. It made me want to do the opposite.

That was until I realized one thing. I like the “White Album.” I was in a really bad car accident with that album playing. While it’s not my favorite album, to be honest, I can’t think of one I would rather be listening to — even during a big wreck during rush hour traffic in the middle of one of the most traffic jammed cities in the world.

And that is what’s missing from these arguments over taste. Who cares. If you like the music, then it’s good. Take this aspect to other areas in your life, don’t let anyone’s opinion overrun yours and don’t try to beat down your friend’s opinions. It is what makes us individuals.

36 Comments

  • What about the town that said NO Beatles?
    Back in 1963 a 20 yr old promoter booked Rolling Stones for $80 for his church hall in Horsham, England.
    Hundreds turned up, so he phoned Brian Epstein and booked the Beatles for $390 (!), but Horsham said NO ! nobody would hire him a hall.
    Rolling Stones – yes, please (three of them even went to the Chinese restaurant in town). Beatles – No thank you !
    That great story forms the basis of a fact to fiction novel – the Beatles saga, blackmail, 60s music, 2010 music and comment, a daughter's abuse and a granddaughter's abuse all in 'Tear My Heart' by Vincent.
    Published in America and available from barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com

    • On Last FM. The Rolling Stones only had 80 members of their fan group in 2007, The Beatles had over 2,000 which is now over 12,000 and the average age of fans is 22 more guys than girls and they are from all over the world!

      In 2006,2007 and 2008 The Beatles were the # 1 most listened music artists on Last.FM and they are very popular on YouTube and Rate Your Music where many male and female fans in their teens and 20's call them The Greatest Rock Band Ever!

      • The Beatles are still rightfully regarded by most people,most rock critics,and many other music and rock artists as The most creative,innovative,and prolific rock band ever! In 1995 25 years after they broke up their Anthology CD's went straight to # 1 around the world and I heard a rock DJ say that 40% of the people buying them were teenagers,the same exact thing when their 1CD came out in 2000 30 years after they broke,up and in 2009,39 years after they broke up,they were the second biggest selling artists in the last decade,and their 1CD was the biggest selling album!

        The Beatles wrote *plenty* of great rock songs including hard rock on The White Album and Abbey Road and as many have rightfully pointed out Paul invented heavy metal with his 1968 song Helter Skelter and people have also said John's I Want You She's So Heavy on Abbey road was also one of the first heavy metal songs.

        • Even in their early days they wrote some great rockers that were very rocky for the times, as The All Music Guide said,in their very good review of Past Masters Volume 1 that they proved they could rock really really hard,with John's I Feel Fine from late 1964 which featured the very recorded feedback guitar on a rock song,and Paul's great blues rocker,She's A Woman also from late 1964,and what they called the peerless I'm Down which is Paul's screaming rocker from mid 1965 which they performed even harder rocking, and screaming in August 1965 at Shea Stadium.

          Also John's You Can't Do That from early 1964,is a great rock song, so is Day Dripper,Paperback Writer, And You're Bird Can Sing,Oh Darling,Hey Bulldog, She Said She Said,Taxman, Revolution,Get Back,Come Together etc!

    • Not only did The Beatles give The Rolling Stones one of their first hits with their rock n roll song I Wanna Be Your Man,and they wrote it right in front of them and Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were impressed and like wow how can you write a song just like that and it motivated them to start writing their own songs.

      And as I already said The Rolling Stones were good friends with and fans of The Beatles.

      Mick Jagger was at 4 Beatles recording sessions and Keith Richards was at 2 of them with him.Also Mick Jagger was such a big Beatles fan that in May 1967 when The Beatles were redording their song Baby You're A Rich Man he came there and stood on the sidelines to watch and listen to them recording it. His name is also on the tape box and he likely sang at the end verses.

      • The Beatles remastered albums sold much more 40 years after their break up than The Rolling Stones remastered albums and they are still together! The Beatles have the best selling album of the last decade with their CD 1.

        And Brian Jones played the saxaphone on the strange Beatles song, You Know My Name Look Up The Number and he and Mick Jagger's girlfriend at the time Marriane Faithful contributed sound effects on the song Yellow Submarine.

        • As this guy Sal66 who is a musician who has also posted on sites debunking ignorant cr*p about The Beatles has rightfully pointed out, The Beatles wrote,played and recorded I Feel Fine (which The All Music Guide says has brilliant,active ,difficult guitar leads and riffs) in the Fall of 1964 which was the first use of feedback guitar on a pop rock record and it also had a prominent guitar riff throughout this very good song almost a year *before* The Rolling Stones's Satisfaction came out.

          • And on John's great Norwegian Wood recorded in the Fall of 1965,George Harrison was the first to play a sitar on a pop rock song and it was released on their great album Rubber Soul in December and then in May 1966 The Rolling Stones song Paint It Black came out with Brian Jones playing a sitar!

            And in Paul McCartney's authorized biography Many Years From Now, Mick Jagger's former girlfriend singer Marriane Faithful says that she and Mick used to go over to Paul's house a lot and hang out in his music room. She said he never went to see them at their house they always went to visit him because he was Paul McCartney.She also said that Mick was intimidated by Paul but that Paul was totally oblivious to this.

            • Paul also says in this book that he turned Mick on to pot in his music room and he said which is funny because a lot of people would assume it was the other way around.

              Also Mick Jagger is quoted on a Rolling Stones fan site,timeisonourside.com saying that Keith Richards liked The Beatles because he was quite interested in their chord sequences and he says he also liked their harmonies which he said were always a slight problem for The Rolling Stones.He said Keith always tried to get the harmonies off the ground but they always seemed messy.Mick then says,that what they never really got together were Keith and Brian singing backup vocals and he said it didn't work because Keith was a better singer and to keep going,oooh,ooh,ooh(he laughs) and he said Brian liked all of those oohs which Keith had to put up with.He also said Keith was capable of much stronger vocals than ooh,ooh,ooh.

              • On this same fan site Keith Richards is quoted from 1971 saying that The Beatles were perfect for opening doors,when they went to America they left it wide open for them and he said that The Rolling Stones could never have gone to America without them.He also said that The Beatles are so f****g good at what they did.

    • It's most of The Beatles songs and albums that are GREAT AND TIMELESS! And as a smart Beatles fan poster Ed Sullivan said on PopMatters:Meet The Beatles Again in The Fall of 2009,"I don't know anyone who has ever considered the Stones version of "Man" (he means The Beatles song The Rolling Stones covered, I Wanna Be Your Man) to be on the same level as The Beatles recording." " Played back-to-back and he says as it is on The Beatles Anthology DVD,probably just to prove this point, Mick Brian and Keith are utterly laughable compared with the polish and energy of Ringo and his musical brothers." " This comparison becomes doubly true for the distinction between The Beach Boys version of "Rock & Roll Music and what is presented on Beatles for Sale. The Beatles are obviously in a class by themselves.''

      • On You Tube most of the posters said The Rolling Stones didn't sound good playing The Beatles, I Wanna Be You're Man,one poster said they were piss poor here,and another who said he's a big Rolling Stones fan said he had to admit that The Beatles version is better.Quite a few posters pointed out correctly that The Rolling Stones version is slower and that THe Beatles version is faster and more rocking.One 28 year old guy from France said The Rolling Stones version put him to sleep and that The Beatles version is more rocking and faster.

    • The Beatles wrote, played and recorded so many great critically acclaimed, popular songs and albums of all different styles of music and wrote about 50 or more years worth of mostly great music in just an 8 year recording career.

      When The Beatles were playing live in 63,64, 65& 66 they had very limited primitive sound systems at the time,only 100 watt amplifiers,(and George Harrison says in the excellent video series,The Beatles Anthology that special 100 watt amplifiers were made for their August 1965 Shea Stadium concetts,and he said they went up from the only 30 watts before!) no feedback monitors so they couldn't even hear themselves play and sing(yet they amazingly managed to sing and play in sync and in tune with each other anyway!) plus all of the screaming from the crowds.

    • In their January 1969 live rooftop concert they sounded great, the sound systems had improved some by then ,although still pretty primitive compared to today's, and there were no screaming crowds anymore. When I was a teenager I met 3 people who saw The Beatles in concert, 2 saw them in 1966 and 1 saw them in 1964, they all told me they could see and hear them and that they were great. On the site Artist Facts in The Rolling Stones section a guy Steve from Canada said he saw The Beatles in concert in 1966 and The Rolling Stones in 1996(and the sound systems by then were a million tines better!) and he said don't get me wrong,The Stones were great but they were no match for The Beatles and he said The Beatles were The *GREATEST* Band ever!__ __ ____ __

    • As The All Music Guide says in their excellent Beatles biography "That it's difficult to summarize their career without restating cliches that have already been digested by tens of millions of rock fans, to start with the obvious,they were the greatest and most influential act of the rock era and introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century."

      "Moreover they were among the few artists of *any* discipline that were simultaneously the best at what they did *and* the most popular at what they did." THey also say as singers John Lennon and Paul McCartney were among the best and most expressive in rock.

      Also on an excellent site,The Evolution of Rock Bass Playing McCartney Style by Dennnis Alstrand,Stanley Clarke,Sting,Will Lee,Billy Sheehan,George Martin and John Lennon are quoted saying what a great,melodic and influential bass player Paul has always been.

    • And Wilco's John Stirratt was asked in Bass Player which bass players have had the most impact on his playing and the first thing he said was, Paul McCartney is one of the greatest bass players of all time,if you listen to what he was tracking live in the studio it's unbelievable." "With his tone and musicality he was a huge influence,he covered all of his harmonic responsibilities really well but his baselines were absolutely melodic and inventive."

      And in an online 1977 Eric Clapton interview,Eric Clapton In His Own Words he says that there was always this guitar game between John and George,and he said partly because John was a pretty good guitar player himself.He played live with John as a member of John's 1969 Plastic Ono Band.

    • And there is a great online article by musician and song writer Peter Cross,The Beatles Are The Most Creative Band Of All Time and he says that many musicians besides him recognize Paul as one of the best bass guitar players ever.He too says that John and Paul are the greatest song composers and that to say that John and Paul are among 2 of the greatest singers in rock and roll is to state the obvious,and that John,Paul and George were all excellent guitarists and that George is underrated by people not educated about music but that ERic Clapton knew better,he also says that both John and Paul played great leads as well as innovative rhythm tracks.

      John Lennon co-wrote,sang and played guitar on one of David Bowie's first hits Fame in 1975 and David invited John to play guitar on his version of John's beautiful Beatles song Across The Universe.Brain May,Ozzy Osbourne,and Liam Gallagher and many more call The Beatles The Greatest Band Ever.

    • Also on MusicRadar Tom Petty,Joe Perry and Richie Sambora in What The Beatles Mean To Me all say how cool and great they thought The Beatles were when they first saw them on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 when they were just teen boys,Richie was only 5.Tom Petty said he thought they were really really great.

      Robin Zander of Cheap Trick said he's probably one of the biggest Beatles fans on the planet.Brad Whitford of Aerosmith said that a lot of that Beatles influence comes from Steven Tyler's collaborartion with Mark Hudson both whom are absolute Beatles freaks and he said I guess the goal is to try and emulate probably some of the best music of the last 50 years which has to be The Beatles.

    • Also in an excellent Beatles book Ticket To Ride by Denny Somach where so many other well known popular respected rock musicians and artists are interviewed about The Beatles praising them including Jimmy Page,Brian Wilson who says he's always loved The Beatles. And Brian Wilson called John & Paul the greatest song writers of the 20th century on a 1995 Nightline Beatles tribute show,(which had on music artists from every type of music,a young black jazz musician,a middle aged black opera singer,Steve Winwood,Meatloaf,and classical violnist Isak Perleman,who said he plays his children Bach,Beethoven Mozart and The Beatles)and he played With A Little Help From My Friends on the piano and he said he just loves this song.

    • Also, classical composer Leonard Bernstein called John and Paul the greatest composers of the 20th century so did Elton John on a 1991 CBS Morning news show,he was asked who he musically admires and he said you can talk about your Rogers and Hammerstein but for the quanity of quality songs that Lennon and McCartney wrote in that short period of time,he said he thinks they were the greatest song writers of the 20th century.Brian Wilson said this too on a 1995 Nightline Beatles tribute show. The Beatles are in the Vocal Hall of Fame and John and Paul have been in the song writing Hall of Fame since 1987,Keith Richards and Mick Jagger have been in it since 1993,but as of now no members of The Who,or Led Zeppelin(who I totally can't stand even a half of a second of) are in The Song Writing Hall Of Fame or The Vocal Hall Of Fame,The Rolling Stones aren't in The Vocal Hall of Fame either and The Beatles were awarded about 20 prestigious Ivor Nevello awards as great singers and song writers in just a remarkable 8 year recording career,John and Paul won the first one in early 1964! They also won an Oscar and a Grammy for their film score of their 1970 film Let It Be.

    • The Beatles revolutionized popular and rock music and were very innovative,prolific and creative,more than any other group. And their great timeless songs are the most covered in music history by everyone from jazz musicians,classical,Motown,rock,pop and even heavy metal recording and playing their great timeless music.__ __ __Many academic musicologists and music scholars have done serious studies,analyses and praise of their great timeless music,like university of Penn gradutate musicologist Alan W.Pollack who did an extensive 11 year detailed analysis of every Beatles song.He says he hadn't even listened to The Beatles in 20 years until they came out on CD for the first time in 1987.He said The Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn was one of the things that motivated him to do his Beatles study.He demonstrates that even though a lot of their lyrics were simple in most of their really early songs,most of their music wasn't and that a lot of their early songs have as many as 9 chords and interesting and unsual arangements.Paul's great rocker,You Never Give Me You're Money on their excellent amazingly modern sounding rock album,Abbey Road has 21 chords.__ __ ____ __ __

    • And university of Michigan music professor and musician Walter Everett who wrote the 2 volume,The Beatles As Musicians:The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul and The Beatles As Musicians:Revolver Through Anthology.And British musicologist and classical composer and music professor (who is dead now)Willifred Mellers 1973 book,Twilight Of The Gods:The Music Of The Beatles,and he also wrote about Beethoven,Mozart and Bob Dylan.

      And award winning music professor Dr.Glen Gass who has been teaching a course on what brilliant composers The Beatles were and a rock music course at Indiana University School Of Music since 1982.Dr.Gary Kendal's Beatles course is the most requested at North Western university ,university of California also has one and Oxford university had a recent Beatles course.

      How many serious music scholars and award winning music professors are teaching and writing serious academic works studying and prasing what "brilliant" composers The Rolling Stones or any other rock bands were?

    • My step cousin who was born in 1958 saw Paul & Wings in 1976 & he said it was a great show & he said The Beatles probably were The Greatest Band Ever & my first cousin who was born in 68 (he & his older brother born in 62 who are both lawyers and his oldest brother born in 60, his,parents & sister who was born in early 64 have always been fans) said when I asked him when he was 23 if he still liked them,he said best band that ever was.

      He told me that when he was at the British Museum where Lennon & McCartney's song lyrics are in a glass case next to Sahkespeare,Dickens,Wodsworth & Keats everyone was like forget them lets go over to the Lennon & McCartney lyrics.

    • Many people have said about The Rolling Stones ,that their albums have a few good or great songs but the rest is filler.But a radio host who was a former DJ once said that The Beatles are one of the only if not only bands that almost all of their songs were great including the album tracks that weren't released as singles.

      On a message board discussion some years ago about what bands and artists people consider overrated,quite a few said The Rolling Stones and some said The Beatles or both,and a guy said if you ask almost anybody in the music business they will tell you that The Beatles were the Greatest Band Ever!

      I once spoke to a rock DJ about The Beatles and even though he said they aren't his favorite,he said nobody can say that The Beatles weren't great,he said especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney as song writers.

    • And I once spoke to another rock DJ who is a huge Beatles fan & who has hosted a 2 hour Breakfast With The Beatles radio show for over 20 years & I said that The Beatles work in the recording studio described in details in The Beatles Reording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn,is so impressive & brilliant & he said oh it's the work of genuises. I said how can anyone not recognize what extraordinary singer song composers John Lennon & Paul McCartney were? And he said oh you can ask anyone in the music business & they will tell you that.

    • Pete Townsend along with John Bonham, John Paul Jones and David Gilmore played on 2 songs on the last Wings album Back To The Egg that came out in 1979 . They also all played with Paul and Wings in the last Wings concerts in December 1979.

      Pete also along with Phil Collins who is also a big Beatles fan since he was 13 in the concert scene in the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night, played on Paul's 1986 album Press To Play.

    • Pete Townsend along with John Bonham, John Paul Jones and David Gilmore played on 2 songs on the last Wings album Back To The Egg that came out in 1979 . They also all played with Paul and Wings in the last Wings concerts in December 1979.

      Pete also along with Phil Collins who is also a big Beatles fan since he was 13 in the concert scene in the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night, played on Paul's 1986 album Press To Play.

    • And I have found about 100 former Beatles haters on different message boards who are now big Beatles fans,many call them The Greatest Rock Band Ever and most say they now think they were brilliant song writers. I didn't communicate with these people, but they said in their posts that they hadn't even heard most of their songs and albums,and had inaccurate misperceptions of them like the ridiculous one that they ever were a "boy band." Which besides knowing even most of their music and knowing their history knows is totally false.__ __Last year a musician posted on some message board about the new John Lennon biography, and he said watch The Beatles Anthology video series and learn how truly immensely talented this band was.__ __Most people don't hate The Beatles in the first place and people don't usually go from hating a band to loving them, so it just goes to show how great and timeless their music really is/was!__

    • I recently read an online article that had an interview with Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers about a recent tribute to Jimi Hendrix,in which he says that Jimi played for The Isley Brothers & lived with them & that they & he were fans of The Fab Four from the moment they all watched them on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. I always thought that Jimi was only a later period Beatles fan,I knew he played Sgt.Pepper live the weekend it came out,& he played Day Tripper live also,& several people on different message boards said that when he was asked where the direction of music was going,he said ask The Beatles.

    • Bob Dylan ,Roger McGuinn of The Byrds and music critic William Mann of The London Times as early as 1963 and 1964 pointed out that even in early Beatles songs like She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand had unusual and interesting chords and they arranged them.

      And as early as late 1963 a music critic Richard Buckle in The London Times called John and Paul the two of the most briliant composers since Beethoven after John and Paul composed the music for a ballet Mods and Rockers.

      And John and Paul wrote one of The Rolling Stones first hits, I Wanna Be Your Man in late 1963 right in front of them. And Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were impressed and said wow,how can you write a song just like that and it inspired them to start writing their own songs.

      • John Lennon and Paul McCartney were such amazingly talented singer song writers that they were already writing hit songs for other artists as early as 1963 when their own song writing success was getting off the ground,besides The Rolling Stones,they also wrote hit songs in 1963 for Billy J.Krammer and The Dakatos,Celia Black,and Peter and Gordon etc.

        Paul wrote his first song at age 14 and was playing guitar,John wrote heavy deep poetry but didn't start writing songs until he met Paul and was impressed that he wrote his own songs,and he too started to write his own songs at age 17,and they wrote together and never stopped from then on.Paul wrote the very pretty song I'll Follow The Sun at only 16!

    • And George Martin himself said in an online interview I found around 2002 said that he has worked with many different music artists but that he has never known or worked with anyone as brilliant as The Beatles!

      In his biography All You Need Is Ears he refutes that he was the one who had most to do with The Beatles music. He admits most of the ideas came from them. He also said in the great only authorized 1968 Beatles biography by Hunter Davies that in their music they were always ahead of everybody else and he also said that in their music they have an instinctive awareness of what to do and he said they were always ahead of everyone else.

    • And if anyone ever reads the excellent book,The Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn which is a very detailed music diary of of every recording session in their amazing only 8 year career, which has interviews with their recording engineers,tape operators,George Martin quotes,and a very good interview with Paul in the beginning,they would see how truly creative,and innovative especially John and Paul were in the recording studio and that most of these great musicial ideas came from them.

      George Martin was also once inerviewed on a rock station Beatles program and he said what is clearly obvious and true, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were incredibly talented people(and he said it like he still couldn’t belive it.), they both were extrodinarily talented song composers and great singers.And notice how Ringo working with George Martin for 8 years didn’t turn him into a brilliant song writer like John and Paul,and George Martin has produced many other music artists but non of them have had as much critical acclaim,success or popularity as The Beatles!

  • Good article but there is more to Yoko Ono than meets the eye.

    Yoko tried hard to move The Beatles away from the politics of anti-war and especially the politics of Dr. Timothy Leary and his Turn on, Tune in, Drop out…philosophy.

    Yoko was all about the music.

    And comparing The Beatles with the Rolling Stones is an exercise in futility.

    From the very beginning The Beatles were a VOCAL band whereas the Rolling Stones were an INSTRUMENTAL band.

    As time moves on we are seeing fewer VOCAL bands and more of what appears to be …musical theater in the style of KISS.

    Might as well not be a vocalist with so many of the bands today. They can't be heard over the noise.

    I dream of the day when vocal bands come back and are appreciated.
    ::
    GP

Leave a Comment