The Beatles

Also, in my experience (basically amounting to having friends tell me about their kids) kids of grade school age still discover the Beatles without parental prompting and are like whoa I found the best music.

I didn't exist in the '60s, so this means absolutely jack-shit to me.

but the entire issue - why do the beatles get so much attention from EVERYONE - is by its very nature beyond your personal experience. it matters that they were the soundtrack to the sixties because people who came of age at that time have been running the world for quite some time now.

xpost exactly

my parents sucked and didn't listen to music so i knew nothing of the beatles growing up, no indoctrination, nothing. then in 9th grade a friend of mine made me a tape of rubber soul and revolver and i was like whoooa doggy whooa whooa now, so good

which points back to the all-important first clause in my revolutionary theory on the beatles' popularity:

1) the beatles are fucking awesome

Also, the band's story has that sort of classic archetypal rise-and-fall mythicness of which telemovies are made. "The right band at the right time in the right place," "If the Beatles never existed, somebody would've had to invent them", etc., that sort of thing.

I'm not denying that John Lennon or Paul McCartney were great songwriters (when they were on form, because let's face it, they're both responsible for some awful songs too and I include some Beatles tracks in that bracket... I don't see how anyone could claim 'Tell Me What You See' as a work of genius, for example) and I'm not denying that The Beatles were ever an important band - obviously, to a lot of people in the '60s whose formative experiences were soundtracked by the band, they were. I don't see how they could be as important to someone who wasn't there at the time, though, even if the music is good, and let's face it, Lennon/McCartney aren't the only great songwriters to have ever existed... there were writers as good in the '60s alone. Anyway, don't subsequent generations have their own music to get off on? Did music really jump the shark the moment the Beatles decided to go their different ways? I don't think it did. Records kept selling, people kept going to gigs, and teenagers kept finding new bands to soundtrack their formative years. Yet people keep picking over The Beatles legacy like magpies... I really do not get it, even if I do like the music. I can only put it down to the fact that they've never stopped receiving silly amounts of coverage (I've lost count of the amount of needless Beatles cover stories I've read in music magazines over the last 10 years alone).

It's like, whenever I hear someone say that The Beatles were either the most important/best band of all time, and they weren't even alive during the '60s, I see them as either cripplingly naive or musical denialists. Again, not denying they were the first to be mega successful, not denying they were mega successful, not denying their appeal or their importance to a group of people that are now old enough to be my grandparents... but to tower over all music that has ever existed since 1970? Jesus.

I'm not of the 60s generation and the Beatles were absolutely formative music for me, no question. there was no greater band to 12-15yo me.

Were you aware of how "legendary" they were before you started listening to them?

I don't really know - my parents had one Beatles album ("Rubber Soul") so it wasn't like they indoctrinated me. This was around the time their stuff got reissued on CD so I'm sure on some level I was exposed to hype for that.

but to tower over all music that has ever existed since 1970? Jesus.

They towered over him, too.

and I can recall "20 years ago today" hype stuff in 1987, but I was already at least a couple years into my intense Beatles fandom by that point

xp

Compleat Beatles came out in '82 - I may not have seen that immediately (I saw it on PBS and subsequently videotaped it) but that definitely had an impression on me. and is full of THE GREATEST POP ACT OF ALL TIME rhetoric.

xxxpost:

Yeah... I'm just curious because when I was listening to Beatle records for the first time, I was more that well aware of their reputation and legendary status, and I'm sure it coloured the way I approached those records and listened to them. For all the undeniably great songs that Lennon/McCartney wrote, I actually do remember hearing things like 'Tell Me What You See' or 'Lovely Rita' or 'Rocky Raccoon' and thinking "damn, this is awful... these were the best band of all time?". While I appreciate that they pushed recording boundaries in the '60s, the general sound of the records still sounded antique to me compared to the newer records I was actually listening to at the time, as '60s albums tend to when one first starts listening to them. I was left with a feeling of "yeah, they did some good stuff that I love, they were important at the time, but even though this has been influential, music has moved on and there's been many more great things since..."

*that=than

I *liked* the Beatles in a pretty non-attached way from very early on, maybe 8 or 9 years old, hearing them on oldies radio. But I didn't love them until I listened to my mom's copy of Abbey Road. She grew up with them, but was hardly a fanatic or anything -- in fact, after I found them (unprompted by her btw), it was usually me asking her things like "how could you have lived through Sgt Pepper and not realized what kind of genius you were hearing?"

The Beatles, kind of like Michael Jackson, are going to have that aura of "greatness" for a long time, divorced of their music, just because of how big they were. It is a BONUS that their music happens to be good. I can't stress that enough: I don't really give a shit about most big acts from the past that I hear UNLESS it turns out I actually like them. The Beatles wrote songs that didn't sound like anyone else, on both a technical level, and in singing about things that mattered to most people, in a unique way.

Yes, they were absolutely in the right place at the right time. But, it was SO right, and they navigated being FAMOUS and GOOD so well, it's hard not to at least be impressed, even if you really don't like the music. I happen to like the music, happen to think Lennon & McCartney are as good a pair of songwriters as has ever existed. Gershwin wrote some stupid songs too. So did Bob Dylan and Franz Schubert. I will never love any of those people as much as I love the Beatles.

after I found them (unprompted by her btw), it was usually me asking her things like "how could you have lived through Sgt Pepper and not realized what kind of genius you were hearing?"

haha I was totally like this with my parents too. they found my Beatlemania perplexing. my mom routinely mixed up details (confusing John for Paul etc) and my dad had attachment to them at all (his favorite band was the Lovin Spoonful)

dad had NO

that should say

if you tell enough people who weren't around when a band was active that they were the best thing that's ever happened in music and no other band that has ever come since will ever be as important, they will eventually begin to believe it and increase the "demand".

tbh i refuse to believe that even a single person in the world felt bullied into liking the beatles because they heard how 'important' they were to a previous generation. the fact is that the beatles' music sounds generally pretty un-dated, apart from some of the explicitly 'psychedelic' stuff -- there's no reason that ppl who were born after the '60s shouldn't find it accessible.

music magazines don't do beatles cover stories because of some conspiracy to make ppl like the beatles, they do it because a) music magazines are lazy and beatles features are easy to write and b) same reason they put hendrix or nirvana on the cover -- it sells magazines.

I've always heard these stories about not liking the Beatles until, say, the White Album because up to then, it was all teeny-bopper shit.

This is just that fuckin 'WHY CANT MYYYYYYY BAND BE CANON' argument all over again, sorry that lots of ppl like the beatles so much, wtf, stop makin up reasons for it to satisfy yr own personal fetish for new/different music (ilmers in general suffer from this dreadful affliction to a far greater extent than normal ppl) go love the music you love, this is not a conspiracy, peace out, ps beatles pwn all the bands you didnt mention since

word on the streets is that the beatles are really good

i have something interesting to say about the beatles

it's

wait

um

Come on, come on!

*ooooo*

I think it was "I don't really like Bob Dylan"

dylan is mostly shite tho tbf

maybe if he'd had ringo on drums but we'll never know

This is just that fuckin 'WHY CANT MYYYYYYY BAND BE CANON' argument all over again

― posters who have figured how how to priv (darraghmac), Wednesday, June 5, 2013 9:02 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Actually, it isn't.

?

haha this bore should air his rubbish on a thread not titled "the beatles"

oh wait no I think I had a contrairian opinion about the beatles to express, that's it. When I think of what it was, it may shock you.

that reminds me, I need to start my 'Why Can't My Band Be A Cannon' thread

true story, i was briefly in a (not very good) band called Cannon.

the beatles are no badfinger, that's for sure

booming post tylerw

lol

ha

haha this bore should air his rubbish on a thread not titled "the beatles"

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, June 5, 2013 9:51 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Aw yeah, brother. That Turrican is just soooooo square... he's not hip to these fresh way-out sounds. Aw man, he's so heavy. Totally trippin' my tits off, brother. Outtasite."

what are some bands u like turrican

the Rutles

iirc

here comes the story of the turrican

It's an easy enough question to answer: use the search function :)

Several generations later, sure, but who's come close?

― posters who have figured how how to priv (darraghmac), Wednesday, June 5, 2013 4:42 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bands did not cease to sell large amounts of records and become popular amongst a large group of people when The Beatles broke up.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Wednesday, June 5, 2013 5:00 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

?

― posters who have figured how how to priv (darraghmac), Wednesday, June 5, 2013 5:03 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not trying to overly pick on you but pls tell us these bands so i can bump their threads to ask why ppl still listen to their stuff

turrican do i recall correctly btw that you (alongside myself) are one of ilm's few oasis fans btw because

Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft poll (started by Turrican on board I Love Music on Nov 2, 2011)

POLL: Things that Richard Fairbrass is too sexy for in 'I'm Too Sexy' by Right Said Fred (started by The Jupiter 8 (Turrican) on board I Love Music on May 25, 2012)

C/D: WHITESNAKE - 'STILL OF THE NIGHT' (Song/Video) (started by The Jupiter 8 (Turrican) on board I Love Music on Jun 21, 2012)

Preferably for threads I've posted in :)