For example, the Velvet Underground were already recording their debut album in 1966. They didn't see the "door opened" by Sgt. Pooper.
And while the Beatles' lifted the shriek from Little Richard, they also took from Gene Vincent and others. Chuck Berry had much more influence on the Beach Boys and Chuck took from country artists himself.
And it is flat out wrong to think that "Yesterday" paved the way for Simon and Garfunkel. Crawdaddy Magazine (which was focused initially on folk) paved the way for the folkies' acceptance of the Electric Bob Dylan Band.
I remember someone talking about the influence that “the Velvet Underground”’s first album had on rock music.
Someone else dismissed it saying “they only sold a few thousand copies”.
To which the person replied “Yes, but everyone who bought one started a band!”
so if I just like what u like we’ll all get along?
This Wald fella is smoking crack.
I agree that he has been historically overrated by rock critics. Elvis is a good musician of diverse interests, but no particular work really stands out. OTOH, almost anything his wife (Diana Krall) covers seems absolutely brilliant.
Yes, I did mean to stray off topic because I am enamored of Diana Krall.
The Beatles were freakin awesome
My, we go way back don’t we?! How did we end up here? LOL!
Beatles. Overrated. FlameRetardantAsbestosSuit.
Bob Dylan and “relevance” destroyed Rock ‘n Roll. Rock ‘n Roll is about three things: Getting a girl, getting a car, and getting the girl in the car. All under 3:30.
Two greatest rock songs [noot necessarily within the3 min. 30 sec.parameter]: “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” [Meatloaf], and “Get Out of My Dream [Get Into My Car]” by Billy Ocean.
You know, Beatles music may be abstract and “intellectual” at times, but at others, it’s as mindless as anything. You can dance to it. Not to “Yesterday,” so much. But what, was “Yesterday” the first rock and roll ballad? Didn’t Paul Anka, Bobby Vinton, Pat Boone (as the article mentions), The Platters, a thousand Doo-Wop groups, and so on, have a million songs just as sappy?
So, too, can you dance to a whole lot of “critical darlings,” from David Bowie to Talking Heads.
Thanks. Interesting. I’d like to find Wald’s book on Dave Van Ronk (Dylan lived with DVR for a while, and ripped an arrangement from him, putting it on his first album). Not sure I see his point about this one though.
The Beatles paved the way for the British Invasion (not to say that there had never been a British musician making it big in the US before that), which consisted (mostly) of a British retelling of various musical genres from the American cultural past. Sgt Pepper spawned a host of imitations from the Kinks, the Beach Boys, and many others. But “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul” (which preceded SP) were where the Beatles peaked, IMHO.