Rock and Roll PING! email Weegee to get on/off this list (or grab it yourself to PING the rest)
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
Taxman, Back in the USSR, I am the Walrus, Hey Bulldog, Hard Day's Night, Let it Be - all great songs.
I don't know much about the technical side of music, but I agree that their stuff is a pleasure to listen to. And anything that can drive Brian Wilson insane can't be all bad....
"then quit on a high note with the peerless Abbey Road."
No, they had the forgettable "Let it Be" album.
The "against" guy is all wet. Measured aganst the absolute wasteland of the '60's music the Beatles were a shining star: fresh, innovative, extremely listenable. Give 'em a 85 because you could dance to it.[You old fogies know what that means...]
There were others coming like the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane...but they weren't there yet. The Beatles were there first.
You poor guys and gals who were born in too late...you missed something special thats hasn't happened since.
"Please, Please Me"
"Lay Down Your Arms"
The Beatles | Christmas RecordsIf you were fortunate enough to have been a member of the official Beatles fan club between 1963 and 1969, then you likely have heard one or more of these records. The Beatles recorded them and sent them out to their adoring fans every year, finally collecting them all on one album for the 1970 edition. Now rare and quite pricey to obtain, these seldom heard recordings offer a rare glimpse of the fabs at their funniest.
The white album is my favorite. It's amazingly diverse.
The first album I ever bought was "The Beatles First Album", the year it came out. I played it over and over on my turntable and memorized all the lyrics to all the songs. I thought "I Wanna Be Your Man" was kind of dirty. And I followed the position of all the Beatles' songs on the Hit Parade. I rejoiced when one of their songs knocked Elvis out of first place.
The Hives, Vines, White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Evanescence
gator,
you are right on about the Kinks. Great straight ahead Rock & Roll at times, funny at times (unlike the Beatles), and some of their late 70's/early eighties stuff was a kick in the pants. Too bad the Davies brothers hated each other's guts.
On a side note, Chrissie Hynde of Pretenders fame left Ray Davies standing on the alter. Four husbands later, I'm sure Ray is relieved he didn't hitch with the slimy skank.
Rock and Roll PING! email Weegee to get on/off this list (or grab it yourself to PING the rest)
Kinks were great too. Did you hear that live version on the Sopranos last season? "I'm Not Like Everybody Else"
Yeah, I'm wondering the same. Who was it that said that not liking the Beatles is as perverse as not liking the sun? They were right.
You're too young! That's why.
"Junior's Farm" is the best song McCartney has ever been involved with.
I was born in 1960. My mom always enjoyed the Beach Boys and my Dad was a Tito Puente fan who also like the Stones. The Beatles were ok. Looking back now they were a packaged product, not unlike any boy band out there today.
If Sgt Pepper was an album coming out today, what would be the lead track that MTV would play? BY the way, the third song in my opinion was "Slow Down."
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