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The Beatles: icon or con?
Sidney Morning Herald ^ | 12/22/04 | Greg Hassall and Charles Purcell

Posted on 12/22/2004 11:56:06 AM PST by qam1

Greg Hassall and Charles Purcell do battle over the fab four.

FOR

OK, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da is the most annoying song ever written. And you won't find Revolution No 9 on too many iPods. But how many bands' dud tracks can you count on one hand? The Beatles deserve their place in the pop pantheon. They revolutionised the way pop music was written, recorded and talked about. They were funny, charismatic, hungry to learn and unafraid of controversy. They matured spectacularly over seven tumultuous years, then quit on a high note with the peerless Abbey Road.

They were a genuine band, in that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. The three writers spurred each other on and checked each other's excesses (McCartney's sentimentality, Lennon's bile and Harrison's cod mysticism). In one throwaway B-side, Rain, they created the template for psychedelic Britpop, a genre lesser bands spend an entire career mining. Their refusal to write the same song twice resulted in a catalogue of breathtaking diversity, while producer George Martin gave the recordings a unique, uncluttered sound that refuses to date. And, as the age of the drum solo dawned, Ringo kept it real, underpinning the Beatles' sound with undemonstrative precision.

Greg Hassall

AGAINST

Pretty much everyone in the '60s must have been on drugs - that's the only reason I can imagine why the Beatles were so popular. They had about three decent songs: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Eleanor Rigby - and that other one, the one that doesn't suck. It's a riddle greater than the pyramids as to why a group of English fops with ridiculous hairstyles could make entire crowds of grown adults faint in awe. John Lennon? A prancing popinjay. Paul McCartney? A ponce. George Harrison? Vanity in the shape of a man. Ringo Starr?

A cool dude - the only one.

OK, so the Beatles recorded on top of a building. Big deal. OK, so they hung out with the Maharishi. Is that supposed to give their dire tunes spiritual worth?

"But they were a major influence in the history of rock'n'roll," some might bleat. Sure they were - but does that mean the baby boomers have to force their boring Beatlemania down our craws year after year, decade after decade?

I'm glad Yoko Ono helped split them up. She's the true heroine of this story. Too bad she's also a lousy artist.

And Wings. Don't get me started on McCartney's sad side project. That's another story.

- Charles Purcell


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: 60s; babyboomers; beatlemania; beatles; christmastimeishere; genx; rock; rockandroll; rockmusic; the60s; thebeatles; thesixties
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To: Mr. Mojo

LOL. Ain't that the truth. But derivative music rarely sparkles.


241 posted on 12/22/2004 1:41:57 PM PST by dmz
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To: qam1; weegee

hmm, almost 250 replies.. this is turning out to be a good thread!


242 posted on 12/22/2004 1:42:09 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: Hemingway's Ghost; CyberCowboy777

Cybercowboy777 made my point much better than I did, allow me to quote:
It is not about the exact notes or lyrics, it is about the formula. (thanks CC)

These are cookie cutter songs. Yes mechanically they are different, but that's just the mechanics. A cheesy lovesong is a cheesy lovesong is a cheesy lovesong, in the end they're all the same. And early in their career the Beatles were master of the cheesy lovesong.


243 posted on 12/22/2004 1:43:32 PM PST by discostu (mime is money)
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To: JerseyHighlander

LOL.

Isn't that the same eye and pyramid on the United States Great Seal (look at the back side of a dollar bill)?


244 posted on 12/22/2004 1:44:29 PM PST by dmz
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To: HenryLeeII

still trying to like Ghost...


245 posted on 12/22/2004 1:45:49 PM PST by dmz
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To: Freebird Forever

Beatlemania had already swept England before America. When the Beatles made it in America it changed England's perception of music. Until then, they were of the mind that no British act could really be big here.

Cliff Richards is still big in England but a nobody over here (despite numerous attempts to release his hits). Lonny Donnigan too.


246 posted on 12/22/2004 1:45:53 PM PST by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

90% of why I love The Band is their respect and love for the music and its history. They didn't always right the best songs in the world, they really didn't push any envelopes musically, but they were a band of fans. And you can really see that in The Last Waltz, they're eagerness to step aside and let others take the spotlight on their stage is wonderful. And yeah Muddy Waters is fantastic in that.


247 posted on 12/22/2004 1:46:15 PM PST by discostu (mime is money)
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To: pissant; Mr. Mojo
Norwegian Wood is a total ripoff of the Dylan classic 4th Time Around from the Blonde on Blonde record.

Are you claiming that the Beatles were capable of time travel? "4th Time Around" was released many months after "Norwegian Wood," on which George Harrison became the first musician to ever play sitar on a Western song.

248 posted on 12/22/2004 1:46:52 PM PST by HenryLeeII (Democrats have helped kill more Americans than the Soviets and Nazis combined!)
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To: discostu

Heh. I know exactly how it works. out of about 8 million dollars in retail sales, a band MAY get approximately 200,000 dollars, after recording, promotion, tour etc... costs are removed, THEN they get to pay their lawyers, agents, etc... and suddenly, it's gone. Poof.

I doubt that any of the American Idol winners are making anywhere near what I make in a year at a regular job. Period.


249 posted on 12/22/2004 1:47:47 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks ("Just because you were born stupid doesn't give you any right to be stupid!" - Paul Watson to Makahs)
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To: t_skoz
Kick out the jams mother(you know the rest)

MC5 can't be over rated because no one listens to them. That live album still rocks.
250 posted on 12/22/2004 1:48:37 PM PST by escapefromboston (manny ortez: mvp)
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To: weegee
Screw the music industry. They screw over the talented performers and push pap.

Agreed.

251 posted on 12/22/2004 1:49:42 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks ("Just because you were born stupid doesn't give you any right to be stupid!" - Paul Watson to Makahs)
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To: weegee
I just got the Davie Alvin anthology... great record. Check it out on Sundazed Records


252 posted on 12/22/2004 1:51:20 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: Chad Fairbanks

The 1950s gave us castrated rock and roll (like Fabian, Frankie Avalon, a gelded Johnny Burnette, Pat Boone...). Poster boy idols for girls.

There were also attempts to replace rock and roll with more "mature" folk music, bop jazz, and calypso (which is why we know who the f... Harry Belafonte is today).

Some of the poster boys were homosexuals.

Folk singers were card carrying pinkos.

Jazzbos were hooked on junk, reefer, and coke.

And calypso was just a misguided attempt to find a new fad (file it along side post WWII exotica). Ska took more of a hold in England than it did in America (where it slowly soaked into the consciousness).

Would have been safer to let rock and roll exist as it was (beer soaked party music).


253 posted on 12/22/2004 1:51:28 PM PST by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: weegee
That was my point to Ghost.

The Beatles were accessible, maybe the first mega hit to use these sounds, but not the first.
254 posted on 12/22/2004 1:51:42 PM PST by CyberCowboy777 (I know there's good will toward men on account of that Baby born in Bethlehem)
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To: HenryLeeII

You missed my post where I said I was joking & that neither is a good song.


255 posted on 12/22/2004 1:52:26 PM PST by pissant
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To: dmz

Pet Sounds was the response to the Beatles (Revolver or Rubber Soul, can't remember which).

SMiLE was to be the followup (which originally would have preceded Sgt. Peppers' but it kept falling back in production).


256 posted on 12/22/2004 1:53:44 PM PST by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: escapefromboston

your reply rings true... yesterday on the drive home I called the "flagship classic rock station" in town, with "the largest collection of classic rock" and requested Sister Anne, by the MC5... the conversation went something like this:

me: can you play and MC5 song for me?

dj: how old are you?

me: 24

dj: and you like the MC5?

me: yeah, a lot... they rock

dj: we don't play them, they don't fit our format... how old are you again?

me: 24... what do you mean they don't fit your format?

dj: well we suck, ok? you wanna hear something else?

me: yeah how about "gimme danger" by the stooges?

dj: *click* *bzzzzzzzzzz*

me: what the $^#&*?!?!?!?!


257 posted on 12/22/2004 1:55:42 PM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: weegee

Beatles are very good but I prefer the Beach boys for the outstanding vocals and diverse albums.

And I was born in 1981!


258 posted on 12/22/2004 1:57:08 PM PST by kingsurfer
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To: qam1

I would never dispute the Beatles as being true pioneers of modern music. Yeah, they had their duds, but most of their output was well crafted music.

What I admire most was that they were able to produce music that could be appreciated by a wide audience. They appealed to teeny-boppers and adults alike; it was not uncommon for a pop radio station from the mid 60's to transition from a Dean Martin song to a current Beatles hit.

Today's music (IMHO) seems to be TOO categorized. Radio stations pigeonhole certain genres, and NEVER stray from that particular format. Classic rock stations play everything that came after "Sgt Pepper", and totally ignore the pre-album rock that the Beatles made between 1962-1967. Ditto with the Stones - if it was recorded before "Let It Bleed" (excellent album!), it's considered TOO Top 40 for the classic rock playlist.

I also think it's sad that 'oldies' are now considered to be anything recorded after 1964 (Beatles/British Invasion). There's a whole decade (1954-1964) that is now completely absent from the airwaves - say what you want about some of the corniness that came out of that decade, but there were ample gems from rock's early pioneers.


259 posted on 12/22/2004 1:57:23 PM PST by dave k
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To: discostu

The Beatles invented formula pop ?

Are you familiar with what preceeded them ? Manufactured pretty boy pop like Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Bobby Rydell that made Menudo or New Kids on the Block look profound. Remember Lesley Gore and Neil Sedaka ? Remember the affected pseudo-profundity of Neil Diamond ?

EVERYTHING between Chuck Berry and the Beatles was formula pop.


260 posted on 12/22/2004 1:58:52 PM PST by Sam the Sham
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