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
Your favorite band is Sonic Youth? Everything - EVERYTHING - they have ever done is unlistenable. You might as well turn up your guitar to full volume and just leave it on top of your amp. The quality of music is about the same, although I would give a slight edge to the guitar.
Sinatra did a mean version of "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" on his Stoned Sinatra Picnic LP in '69! ;>)
Well, if I remember my Lennon/Dylan history properly, Dylan intended "4th Time Around" as a mock-up of "Norwegian Wood," although I could be wrong. Maybe Mr. Mojo knows...
I'm talking about a number of the musicians, not the listeners.
The suits thought that it was "better" for kids than listening to rock and roll (even though originally the audiences would have been more adult, especially in the preceeding years of jump blues).
Even Dion was a heroin addict by age 12.
right on the mark .
TO ALL THE IDIOTS THAT DONT HAVE A CLUE
go listen to your billy joel and elton john music and STFU
THE BEATLES WERE AND ARE AND WILL BE THE GREATEST EVER.
ROCKIN' RONNIE
probably permed long haired pretty boy gay weed
high speed scales players.
oooooooohhhhh!!!!!!
actually they know less than f'n zip.
what a bunch of teeny bop new kids on the block idiots!!!!!!!!
take a poll folks, even when the parents were bashing us for ROCK N ROLL they were humming beatles tunes walking through any mall or doctors office they entered.
tell me your folks are doing the same with emminim
or what ever the latest no talent is pushing.
well that says alot about you then don't it.
music is
1 harmony
2 melody
3 rythemn.
you chose only 1 of 3, might as well start chucking spears at wild boers, william golding is looking for new material.
why dont you sign up.
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (in 10 Million)
And
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I (in 8 Million)
are the same album
That depends what radio stations you were listening to. The long-gone KMET in L.A. was rock and roll to the core. KLOS and KROQ (in the same area) were also damn good.
I would also take every pre-Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd album over the 1975-2000 albums.
I'd include Animals ('77) in that pre-'75 bunch. ......and perhaps even The Wall ('80).
Even late 70s rock is not so much rock and roll.
The Stones' Some Girls sure was, as was Aerosmith's Rocks ('76), Skynyrd's Street Survivors ('77), Zeppelin's Presence ('77), Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps ('78), Petty's You're Gonna Get it ('78), Ian Hunter's You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic ('79), UFO's Strangers in the Night ('78), Bob Seger's Night Moves ('76), George Thorogood's early stuff. ......there was quite a bit out there if one knew where to look.
Yeah, there was a helluva a lot of total junk in the 70s as well (as you pointed out). But each decade has had more than its fair share of the unlistenable. ......the 60s included.
No, you're right.
Zappa was genius, one that went over the heads of most, but he left a good library of stuff.
BTW, Get QuAUDIOPHILLIAc, lost quadrophonic recordings, remastered in DTS 6 speaker format. Its amazing, you'll love it, its a way of life...
I remember seeing him on Crossfire in the mid-80s trying to convince Novak that he was a conservative, but I don't think Bob was buying it.
I was just listening to the London Symphony Orchestra CD, its great, but the liner notes where he rips inot the unionized musicians and their obligatory breaks where they went and got drunk were great.
If you go to zappa.com, they run continuous music over your speakers, its cool.
The Clash
Daydream Nation was very very cool. I just bought Tom Waits latest album today.
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