Posted on 12/01/2024 3:12:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Beatles are rightly considered one of the most progressive rock bands of all time. So it is easy to look back at their salad days and point out John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as the early 1960s version of a boy band. After all, the group were well-marketed and hit the top of the charts with startling consistency. But, within a few years, they were already changing the game.
After their album Rubber Sul, the group confirmed themselves as the rock icons they are now revered as. Not only did they begin expanding their counterculture vocabulary, with many fans calling the album their “pot album”, but the band’s change of songwriting also set them apart. Previously, the Fab Four had stuck to creating pop songs that involved rock ‘n’ roll tropes such as chasing women, driving fast cars and partying the night away. On Rubber Soul, they made pop music personal and put their own lives into their music.
One man who took heed from the band was Jimi Hendrix. The guitarist blew away the competition when he arrived in the swinging ’60s and proved to everyone in London that there was a new sheriff in town. He made that point even clearer when, just a few short days after the album’s release, Hendrix provided a searing cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for the Beatles in the audience at the Bag O’ Nails club. It’s clear that Hendrix was a fan. But, the following LP would leave Hendrix feeling cold.
Lennon noted the album as The Beatles’ “returning to rock,” and Hendrix agreed. But whereas Lennon deemed the album to be a reaction to the “philosorock” sound of the previous albums, Hendrix felt the LP was a regurgitation, “like an inventory of the past ten years, rock music, you know. There’s a lot of people waiting for something else to happen now, anyway.” It was clear that Hendrix felt there was more innovation needed in music, citing ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ as his least favourite song on the record.
It’s a thought that would have pleased bandmate Paul McCartney. The songwriter was so devoted to creating deliberately innovative music that he threw away the shackles of being in a rock band and created something entirely unique with Sgt. Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band, a record that Hendrix himself would cover.
It was also a political song that, for Jimi Hendrix, showed The Beatles were now far removed from their audience. It was a devastating blow to a band who had their own issues. The group were now nearly always teetering on the edge of break up and the very notion that they were now playing only to the masses would have likely promoted another walk out.
“The Beatles are part of the establishment,” he said in The Times. “They’re starting to melt that way too.” He continued to make allusions to the band, comparing how people go through different walks of life to the group becoming somewhat middle class in their thinking: “That’s not saying anything bad about a person at all, it’s just the scenes some people go through.”
For Hendrix, with The White Album, The Beatles confirmed they were now becoming a part of the industry and establishment they had once rallied against, galvanising a generation in the process. “It’s like a person who starts out with something really on fire. Now they’re still good […], but they seemed a little closer to the public beforehand.”
Whether or not you like The Beatles albums that followed Sgt. Pepper, it’s hard to argue that the band hadn’t smoothed out their sound. For Hendrix, this and writing political songs confirmed that the Fab Four had lost their touch and were now just a part of the establishment.
They changed when they went to India.
Harrison became religious.
Any band has about 5-7 years of relevance, max. That’s why I always say The Beatles broke up at the right time.
Thanks goodness! Their clothes were starting to reek.
Post Beatles George Harrison showed his brilliance. His work with the Wandering Wilberrys was the best. His conjunction with other great stars was great. They were all rich and were just having fun making great music. Lennon was a genius in writing songs and music but sadly murdered by a nut. Paul McCartney was just very average and his voice is gone today. Ringo Star was the luckiest man on earth to be with the Beatles. He was a good drummer but not the best.
My vote is for George Harrison as the best of the Beatles.
At least they broke up before they hated each other. Oh, wait.
He was the only religious one.
It was the Traveling Wilburys. Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison were all good on that album as well.
The Girl I Love (Quest Records #101, 1965)
That’s the Traveling Wilburys. The Wandering Wilburys are only available on bootleg. The Genuine Wandering Wilburys Basement Tapes. And don’t even get me started on the Roving Wilburys.
George. Yep
All things must pass is great. It’s essentially Derek’s dominoes.
Someone on Conan or some podcast said whenever one would go to George’s hose for a dinner everyone got handed a ukelele and they’d all play
Well, if I could only pick one desert island album, it would be the White Album. Reasonable minds can differ.
That was really from 1965? By then, that doo wop sound was long gone.
Except that's not the Beatles.
A Single Album,18 song White Album would have Increadable.
Huge Beatles fan here. I always liked their first 3-4 albums the best, especially when they did Motown covers, but have a special place in my heart for “Sgt. Pepper” and “Abbey Road.” Hard to get any better than those two albums.
In between, I was ok with “Rubber Soul, Hard Day’s Night, and Magical Mystery Tour,” but did not like the White Album at all. It was as if each was allowed to just play their most ridiculous crap without any real sense of a band.
For me, the Beatles were always far more about HOW they sang and performed than WHAT they performed. Just as the Beach Boys had harmonies that no one could copy, so did the Beatles with their unique blend of vocals.
It says “The Beatles” on the label. The lyricist for “The Girl I Love” was one J. Lemmon. Despite what everyone has been told, the Beatles are from Philadelphia, and they also recorded doo-wop under the name the Lytations.
Some acts tried to copy their blend of vocals. The Chartbusters came close, and although they got some radio airplay, they came nowhere near to busting any charts.
She's the One--The Chartbusters (1964)
Loved Rubber Sul
Not as good as Hep or Abey Rod, but still pretty good.
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