The Beatles

TheHouseAlwaysWins

TheHouseAlwaysWins

Look, Ma! Two Heads!
So what does NMA think about this Beatles essay?

http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html

The fact that so many books still name the Beatles as "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all times are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics are still blinded by commercial success. The Beatles sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that the Beatles did anything worthy of being saved.
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It's a good read. I did like the Beatles, as the article points out it's "easy to sell" and catchy. I don't ever put on the Beatles but if it's on the radio I won't change it over.

On the other hand I agree entirely with the segment of exposure and rock critics- it's sad that other artists are just denied publicity when they're not associated with a label. Never had a run in with these so called "crazed" Beatles fans, maybe they were before my time?
 
SarcasticGoodGuy said:
It's a good read. I did like the Beatles, as the article points out it's "easy to sell" and catchy. I don't ever put on the Beatles but if it's on the radio I won't change it over.

On the other hand I agree entirely with the segment of exposure and rock critics- it's sad that other artists are just denied publicity when they're not associated with a label. Never had a run in with these so called "crazed" Beatles fans, maybe they were before my time?
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Didn't The Beatles start off as just another typical boy band singing shitty love songs? Maybe their fans then are the "crazed" ones.
 
Prone Squanderer said:
Didn't The Beatles start off as just another typical boy band singing shitty love songs? Maybe their fans then are the "crazed" ones.
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I wasn't born when the Beatles were the shit, so I don't know; and I don't know much about their history either. And I can't be bothered to find out, so I'm going to take your word as proof.
 
SarcasticGoodGuy said:
I wasn't born when the Beatles were the shit, so I don't know; and I don't know much about their history either. And I can't be bothered to find out, so I'm going to take your word as proof.
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Many men have gone very far in life by taking my word.

Or to an early grave, I forget which.

Besides I thought you were fucking ancient, like older than God himself.
 
Well I pretty much stopped reading at this line of bullshit

"Beatles' "Aryan" music removed any trace of black music from rock and roll. It replaced syncopated African rhythm with linear Western melody, and lusty negro attitudes with cute white-kid smiles."

So the Beatles were racist now? The Beatles started as a small garage band, started to get popular, and then like so many others sold out when they got signed to a label. They got rich stopped caring and started doing there own weird crap like the white album. But in there they did write some amazing songs sometimes as well. While my guitar gentle weeps is an amazing song. If you leave the crap that they wrote for money out, they had some great stuff. I still like the Doors better for that era, but I like the Beatles better then the Stones (who also wrote a ton of love songs for money, and still do).
 
Yeah, I like the Beatles and I think they have a large number of amazing songs.
But they are far from the best rock band ever. Maybe they would be in the top 100, even top 50.

But there are so many other bands out there who took what the Beatles had and did something new with it. I think the Residents were the first group to do this by being a somewhat parody of their work.

I also think people forget the Beatles weren't always that good. Songs like 'I want to hold your hand' haunts the early parts of their career and their more experimental stuff bow sounds pale in comparison to a band like Muse.
 
GonZo_626 said:
Well I pretty much stopped reading at this line of bullshit

"Beatles' "Aryan" music removed any trace of black music from rock and roll. It replaced syncopated African rhythm with linear Western melody, and lusty negro attitudes with cute white-kid smiles."

So the Beatles were racist now? The Beatles started as a small garage band, started to get popular, and then like so many others sold out when they got signed to a label. They got rich stopped caring and started doing there own weird crap like the white album. But in there they did write some amazing songs sometimes as well. While my guitar gentle weeps is an amazing song. If you leave the crap that they wrote for money out, they had some great stuff. I still like the Doors better for that era, but I like the Beatles better then the Stones (who also wrote a ton of love songs for money, and still do).
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He didn't say The Beatles were racist.

He said The Beatles took what made rock music cool in the first place "complicated african-influenced rhythms) and dumbed it down. I think that's what he means
 
Millim said:
Yeah, I like the Beatles and I think they have a large number of amazing songs.
But they are far from the best rock band ever. Maybe they would be in the top 100, even top 50.

But there are so many other bands out there who took what the Beatles had and did something new with it. I think the Residents were the first group to do this by being a somewhat parody of their work.

I also think people forget the Beatles weren't always that good. Songs like 'I want to hold your hand' haunts the early parts of their career and their more experimental stuff bow sounds pale in comparison to a band like Muse.
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Interestingly enough he has an article on The Residents, he says that The Residents are a chilling documentary on western civilization disguised as parody, proto Fallout? http://www.scaruffi.com/vol4/resident.html
 
The Beatles started as a boy band then evolved into people who did amazing rock.

Still, as God intended, you are either a Beetles fan or you're a Stones fan.

I'm a Stones fan.

He said The Beatles took what made rock music cool in the first place "complicated african-influenced rhythms) and dumbed it down. I think that's what he means
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That ship had sailed by the Beatles time.
 
Millim said:
I also think people forget the Beatles weren't always that good. Songs like 'I want to hold your hand' haunts the early parts of their career and their more experimental stuff bow sounds pale in comparison to a band like Muse.
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I think they were always good. Simple pop songs don't have to be bad by default. There are very few Beatles songs I skip when I'm playing the album and most of those are later ones. (Revolution 9 can fuck right off, thank you very much)
 

That's how I like the Beatles.
I'm more of a Stones and Kinks guy... And The Who, of course.
 
Buxbaum666 said:
(Revolution 9 can fuck right off, thank you very much)
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>_>
...
I love Revolution 9.

Anyway, I love The Beatles and I don't really care about who pioneered what in the music scene. All I care is whether or not it is a good tune. Hell, I like Stupid Hoe by Nicki Minaj and I admit it is a dumb song but I still find it catchy af. So the article is meaningless to me. If something is successful and impacted how a lot of other artists sound like then it doesn't matter how "good" they are at creating/performing music. What matters is how they impacted the music scene. And The Beatles definitely had an impact. Who gives a shit whether or not X or Y or Z is "the greatest"?

Anyway, there's a serious lack of links to songs in this thread.

 
Questioning the importance of The Beatles is like questioning the importance of Shakespeare.

Just saying.
 
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