People who insist that they hate the Beatles - C or D?

OK, so hating on the Fab Four is not a hanging offence but it's also not something I can relate to really. I couldn't give a stuff about over half the Beatles catalogue but of the stuff they wrote that does strike a chord, I recognise genius when I hear it.

It's only been in recent years that I've started to have some perspective and question how good some of the stuff actually is and what my personal opinion on it is disregarding popular critical opinion which i've started to find stifling not just with regards to the Beatles but to all music.

I would say that I love the Beatles, though now i can say that i don't love 'everything' they did which before would have been difficult. I wish I could come to them fresh with no historical perspective to cloud my critical judgement - i wonder then what my reaction would be. Would I enjoy them (or indeed any other band) less without a context to place them in or does this awareness of the history add to the appreciation?

I wouldn't feel embarassed going into HMV and buying the Rachel Stevens album

For the record I would be embaressed to go in and buy the Rachel Stevens record and that's something I need to overcome - I even quite like the single. I am totally hung up on the 'personal cool' thing as Dr. C said. How sad.

Beatle-haters: C. Even if their reasons are bad it gets at something; it's another lens, even if cloudy, to look at this monolithic thing. (this is kind of an iran-contra position I guess)

I think I feel happier about getting into the Beatles now British pop is better than them again.

All of it?

The "they never had a bad song!" thing might also tie in here: you're less discriminating about these things when you're still young and besides you only have *one band* that you listen to. There's not a single Beatles song that I don't harbour at least some fondness for, but if I had gotten into, I dunno, The Chemical Brothers or Pulp or Shaggy when I was nine, I'd probably say the same thing about them.

I like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and a lot of John Lennon's stuff, but the Beatles in general, leave me cold. And I'm sick of them, and I hated their stupid screaming girl fans, grabbing their hair and screeching (for God's sake, shut up!). There is other stuff from 1964-65 to 1970 that I find a hell of a lot more interesting.

Your mileage may vary.

what should songwriters be writing about nowadays?

This is just silly. You must hate most musicians if you really believe this. (and you don't get much more explicitly political than 'Give Ireland Back To the Irish' anyway).

I like the Beatles, though not as much from Sgt. Peppers on. I don't really like ANY of their solo work, except the occasional Lennon song (I think Plastic Ono Band is way overrated). My recent Stones discovery has made it hard to get into the Beatles mystique much these days. Though I still love Meet The Beatles, Rubber Soul, Hard Day's Night, and most of Revolver.

Does anyone at any given moment think they are wrong about anything?

Regarding another point raised upthread, while I don't believe it's possible, I *do* enjoy at least trying to approach music objectively. Context is not monolithic and inescapable except in a very general sense; we pay attention to aspects of context that we wish to, and ignore others as best we can. It's an oversimplification to say that context is unavoidable -- I mean, yeah, it is, but so what? How does that play out in your actual listening and appreciation?

I'm a lifelong fan, and yet I think I'm gradually moving into the hate camp. Although I've continued to claim to like them, I haven't really wanted to put on a Beatles album that much for about five years, and right now Rubber Soul (which used to be my favorite) is playing where I am and it's annoying the shit out of me. They sound like retards.

they're not as bad as fall out boy

listen to side 2 of abbey road really loud

But they are a lot worse than Good Charlotte.

Sugar We're Going Down Swinging > the weaker songs on Rubber Soul

I really need to go long stretches of time without hearing the Beatles to appreciate them. They've been way, way too overplayed. And I think that's why I'd tend towards saying that I'm not much of a fan. Because I really do like a lot of the songs that you rarely hear or that aren't particularly iconic ("Only A Northern Song", "Blue Jay Way", "Dig A Pony", etc.).

Except for "Strawberry Fields". I really do love that song, no matter how many times I hear it.

I've never personally known anyone who claimed to HATE the Beatles, though I've known many to be bored or indifferent.

I've only encountered die-hard haters on the internets, and they don't seem like proper people.

we had a drummer once said he hated the Beatles. He also thought U2 had a a great rhythm section. We fired him.

I don't hate the Beatles, I just don't listen to them.

I can't say I hate them yet, but their cuter stuff irritates the shit out of me now.

I don't listen to them all the time or anything - easy to get overexposed to them and not always in the mood - but man, what really gets me about them is their harmonies. I r a sucker for vocal harmonies.

Yeah. Is beautiful. Then again, I love the Star Club stuff, too.

Just for the teenage bashing, I mean.