How do you view the Beatles?

[radhead]

The downward turn of the band would better be described as McCartney and Lennon going in separate directions in terms of songwriting.

A song like "Imagine" never could have stood on its own without John's reputation as a Beatle.

Paul, on the other hand, attracted fans who knew/cared nothing about the Beatles.

 

[Sign Of The Fish Burger]

Well, anyone who knows me, has heard me speak of my Beatles crazy dad. He's a bit of a fanatic. So I grew up with them, and it's not surprising that I too love them.

I agree with the above poster who said it's ashame that people only listen to "let it be" or "Hey Jude". Pick up Revolver or Abby Road. Great, GREAT music.

 

[FatBurger]

But Paul helped John's music more than John helped Paul. Paul also had more great post Beatles music than John did.

Well it's hard to write music when you're dead. To make it a fair comparison you have to compare the two up until the point John was killed, in which case I'd disagree with you and say John had the better music career. But it's still a pretty subjective point, and hard to really decide. And besides that, how do you factor in things like the other members of Wings, or Yoko Ono?

Now I'm not so sure of my opinion


Regardless, the Beatles were really great. Lennon was killed before I was even born, but I still love their music, and most of their albums are must-haves for any serious music nut.

 

[GuitarHero2]

The Beatles are cool, and an legendary band that was important in the whole rock movement. Though I kinda think they are overrated.

 

[TerabyTe]

I absolutely love them and always have. Incredible band, they were.

 

[radhead]

I was comparing the music of McCartney and Lennon during the years preceding Lennon's death. (1970-1980)

John Lennon was not even a well known person at the time he died. That may sound hard to believe but it's true. Obviously, he was well known among Beatles fans and other serious rock music fans. But his death raised a lot of awareness of his music and increased his legendary status.

I spoke to people who were around during the Beatles reign who didn't even know who John Lennon was before he died. That surprises me. The only really famous ones at that point in time were Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

His last album, Double Fantasy, was probably his best. Which made his death all the more tragic.

 

[elf_lady_9]

I love the Beatles!!! my dad is crazy about them and it rubbed off on me. but i prefer their earlier, more innocent albums. their later albums are just too weird for me, w/ the "psychedelic" drug references and eastern religion stuff... it bothers my conscience...
has anyone seen the movies; "A Hard Days Night" and "Help"? They are so funny. the Beatles are just so cute! Ringo is my favorite.

Bethany

 

[SarahMarie]

I love the Beatles. I liked the movie Help! when I was younger. I'm kind of tired of it now, though.

 

[VioletAngel]

I was certainly a Beatlemaniac when a teen, and now it's rather boring stuff to me now. I don't doubt they are/were great musicians..... but now I'd rather listen to Santana, or The Moody Blues, or The Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

The downward turn of the band would better be described as McCartney and Lennon going in separate directions in terms of songwriting.

A song like "Imagine" never could have stood on its own without John's reputation as a Beatle.

Paul, on the other hand, attracted fans who knew/cared nothing about the Beatles.

Yeah, a valid point. I've recorded my opinion of Imagine elsewhere (worst song of all time would be a fair summary). But would McCartney have recorded Mary had a Little Lamb, or Silly Love Songs, or Mull of Kintyre, or Ebony and Ivory if the process of presenting them to his band had entailed subjecting himself to Lennon's sarcasm? After the Beatles, he was such a power figure that no one was ever going to say him nay, and in fact he recorded some albums with himself as just about the only player, which of course says something about the man's prodigious talent, which has never been in dispute, neither has his love of making music.

His pre breakup stuff was a lot better. I also think his stuff on the Help/Rubber Soul/Revolver sequence (can't think of anything else to call it) was a lot better than what came on later albums. Of course there were good things afterwards, too, but compare You Won't see Me, Eleanor Rigby, Got to get you etc to, ahhhhhm, Rocky Racoon and She came in through the bathroom window (desparation rhymes in search of a lyric) or Hello Goodbye and Obladee oblada (just really, really sad).

I know you can select your examples so as to endow your case with a certain spurious plausibility, and of course that's gone on here. Nevertheless, I think my basic point still stands. Even a terrific song like She's Leaving Home is gutted by the line about fun being the one thing that money can't buy, coming just at the end. Twenty four years old or not, he should have been able to do better than that. Mind you, we sometimes expect too much of our popular music heroes, it is a young person's game, and song writing benefits from life experience.

End of rant.

 

[General_Peanut]

has anyone seen the movies

Yellow Submarine was my fav!!!!!!!

 

[zaire]

White Album, Sgt Peppers, Let It Be, Abbey Road and Revolver are all brilliant albums. Weird and class.

 

[Buckeye]

Side 2 of Abbey Road--quite possibly the greatest side of a rock album ever.

Great song writers, talented groundbreaking musicians, screwed up human beings.

 

[white_frog914]

I think that the greatest thing the Beatles did was inspire myriads of young men to pick up their guitars. I know that my dad, personally, was inspired to learn because of them (he still plays nowadays and he's absolutely incredible). If you were to ask pretty much any male (maybe females too) that grew up in the 60's what their favourite band was, there's about a 90% chance that they'll say the Beatles.

The most important thing about the Beatles is their legacy. If I'm not mistaken, the explosion that happened when they become famous was unseen of before (sure Elvis was ridiculously popular but I don't think even his fame reached theirs). They definitely paved the way for bands like the Kinks and the Who.

Despite whether you like the Beatles' music or not (Hint: You should) it's frightening to think what the music world would be like if they hadn't existed.

Sidenote : I've only read the first page (I'll read the others once I post this) but I did notice some people talking about John Lennon. As far as the "bigger than Jesus" statement goes, it was meant as an aside comment based on the religious state of England at the time (i.e - very poor) and how the Beatles often meant more to youths there than the idea of "Jesus." The great Wikipedia explains it a bit better. Also, I've heard more than one person say that it's rumoured Lennon converted to Christianity before he died. I have no idea whether that's factual or not though.

 

[General_Peanut]

As far as the "bigger than Jesus" statement goes, it was meant as an aside comment based on the religious state of England at the time (i.e - very poor) and how the Beatles often meant more to youths there than the idea of "Jesus." The great Wikipedia explains it a bit better. Also, I've heard more than one person say that it's rumoured Lennon converted to Christianity before he died. I have no idea whether that's factual or not though.

also, i beleive if you read the interveiw, right before he says bigger than jesus he states that at the time the beatles records were outselling the bible. which i think is why he amde the comment.

 

[_sunshinegirl]

I'm listening to Sgt Pepper right now

 

[Breetai]

I went to the John Lennon Museum in Saitama, Japan (well, I live a 20 minute bike ride from there). It was pretty interesting. John was kind of a messed up dude. Him and Yoko were (and Yoko still is) new age hippies. They're definitely not Christian. They have catchy tunes though

Hey Rambot, 안녕하새요 - 브리타이 일번에. 울산도시 에서 살아요. 二千五 - 二千六.

 

[cygnusx1]

How do you view the Beatles?

Usually on DVD these days

 

[ulu]

Among the greatest songwriters the world has ever seen

 

[flicka]

Fantastic group of musicians and song writers. I can't imagine where music would be if not for the Beatles. Although they were never as popular as individual artists I think all 4 made some pretty good music after the breakup of the band.

I've seen Paul in concert twice and he's on stage for 3+ hours without a break. Pretty good for an old guy. And Ringo's "All Starr Band" is always fun to see.

I can't take anyone seriously who answered "they suck" because, not only do they not have any musical background or knowledge, but they can't construct an entire sentence or use descriptive words either.

There is absolutely nothing about their religious journeys that effect my appreciation of their talents in any way.