Would anyone among the BC massive say The Beatles are their fave band of all time, numero uno, creme de la creme....

[Barking Spiders]

Just an idle wondering as no one of my acquaintance ever listens to them , or the Stones and the Who for that matter. Obviously they're touted by the music establishment as the greatest pop/rock band ever but is this reflected in what people actually listen to rather than what they might glibly reply when asked 'who's the greatest rock/pop band ever'? They're possibly in the lower reaches of my personal top 500 though I've never actually bought anything by them....👉

Edited November 22, 2022 by Barking Spiders

[Dad3353]

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't 'get' this stuff about what other folk think of X, Y or Z. We're all different, of differing ages, from different backgrounds, and have listened to, and liked or not, different stuff over the decades. What earthly point is there in this sort of comparing, or looking in the rear-view mirror..? Maybe it's just me. 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I listen to beatles albums quite often, along with the Who and the stones. I wouldn't say any of them are my favourite band as that distinction changes from one week to the next.

 

Lists of greatest this or that in magazines are usually unquantifiable nonsense to pad out a few pages and run ads alongside.

[ricksterphil]

@Dad3353 has a point, but then he is our Dad😃

 

The only band of the 3 you mention I listen to regularly is The Who. For me, Quadrophenia is one of the best albums ever recorded.

[Beedster]

I don't think The Beatles have the sort of status they had 20 years ago to be honest, Sgt Pepper as "The greatest album of all time" etc. I think time has been quite hard on a number of their albums, and while they had some incredible songs, increasingly their status is seen as a function of their era and their cultural and artistic contributions to it as opposed to inherent musical qualities. I've Got a Feeling remains in my Top-10 of all time however

 

Now that Mozart, he's a different kettle of fish altogether     

[Passinwind]

26 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't 'get' this stuff about what other folk think of X, Y or Z. We're all different, of differing ages, from different backgrounds, and have listened to, and liked or not, different stuff over the decades. What earthly point is there in this sort of comparing, or looking in the rear-view mirror..? Maybe it's just me. 

Not just you. I've gone for a decade never listening to any rock music on purpose at one point, grown tired of favorites in many genres, and then eventually reset to just randomly enjoying random randomness, except when I don't. 

[Beedster]

3 minutes ago, Passinwind said:

Not just you. I've gone for a decade never listening to any rock music on purpose at one point, grown tired of favorites in many genres, and then eventually reset to just randomly enjoying random randomness, except when I don't. 

 

Random is good and interesting. My daughters often use my Apple account to listen to music and so when I play things on that account randomly I often find myself listening to music that I wouldn't usually listen to, and without the biases introduced by knowing which performer or radio station I'm listening to. It's amazing how many songs by people such as Justin Beiber are actually pretty damn good if you don't now they're by Justin Bieber before you first listen to them 🤔

[Beedster]

Just now, Beedster said:

 

Random is good and interesting. My daughters often use my Apple account to listen to music and so when I play things on that account randomly I often find myself listening to music that I wouldn't usually listen to, and without the biases introduced by knowing which performer or radio station I'm listening to. It's amazing how many songs by people such as Justin Beiber are actually pretty damn good if you don't now they're by Justin Bieber before you first listen to them 🤔

And the opposite with The Beatles, whose music I often only tolerated because it was The Beatles.....

[BigRedX]

59 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

Just an idle wondering as no one of my acquaintance ever listens to them , or the Stones and the Who for that matter. Obviously they're touted by the music establishment as the greatest pop/rock band ever but is this reflected in what people actually listen to rather than what they might glibly reply when asked 'who's the greatest rock/pop band ever'? They're possibly in the lower reaches of my personal top 500 though I've never actually bought anything by them....👉

 

I've got Sgt Pepper (which I bought when I was 14) and the Blue Compilation (in order to learn a couple of covers when I used to be in covers bands). I find the Beatles musically and as people interesting, but they have never been one of my most favourite bands. They had already split by the time I got into pop/rock music, and therefore weren't really on my musical radar in the same way that T.Rex, Slade, The Sweet or Bowie were. I did have quite a bit of time for Wings up to Venus and Mars.

 

The same with the Stones, never really my thing. On the other hand I found The Pretty Things who were initially similar (their guitarist Richard Taylor was briefly a Rolling Stone), far more interesting and they have remained one of my favourite bands, even if they did release a couple of duff albums in the early 2000s.

[lownote]

Not for me, even if it is 'music of my life' - what was around in my pre- and early- teens. I tried to treat them with more respect recently when some people were banging on about how Macca was one of the best bassists ever, but I still don't quite get them. As to appeal for young people, the time frames are such that a 14 year of today is around 55 years after the Fab Four.  That's equivalent to me listening to music hall music in the late 60s. Possible, but not very.  

[SteveXFR]

The Beatles were just a second rate Oasis. Lennon would have been nothing if he hadn't ripped off the Gallagher brothers

[TheGreek]

I couldn't say that any band is my favourite of all time two days on the trot.

My taste in music is pretty diverse which I think is a bonus,  being able to enjoy music from different genres at different times. 

I appreciate that The Beatles were a great band and probably did change music but this is something that could be said of many other artists too.

That's the beauty of music. 

[Beedster]

Despite what I said above, these remain two of the most iconic images from my childhood

 

[paul_5]

I like the Beatles from Revolver onwards - for me those albums represent the Beatles at their creative peak, catalysed by pioneering studio techniques. 

I rarely (if ever) listen to anything before this period as I find it all pretty insipid. YMMV.

[Grimalkin]

"When I feel my head starting to swell," says John Lennon, "I just look at Ringo and I know perfectly well we're not supermen."

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

I like the Beatles from Revolver onwards - for me those albums represent the Beatles at their creative peak, catalysed by pioneering studio techniques. 

I rarely (if ever) listen to anything before this period as I find it all pretty insipid. YMMV.

 

Bit harsh on Rubber Soul which I think is far from insipid and actually a pretty consistent album by the standard of their less coherent later offerings (or perhaps pretty safe by the standard of their more experimental later offerings)? 

[Cato]

I was in my teens and 20s in the 1990s when half the britpop bands were trying to sound like the Beatles from various eras.

 

No fault of the Beatles but it sort of sullied the originals a bit for me as by the time I tried to properly listen to the originals it felt like I'd already heard it all before.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Cato

[miles'tone]

Sometimes I think they're utterly brilliant. Sometimes I really can't be doing with them. 

This applies to all artists 🤷

 

[paul_5]

52 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Bit harsh on Rubber Soul which I think is far from insipid and actually a pretty consistent album by the standard of their less coherent later offerings (or perhaps pretty safe by the standard of their more experimental later offerings)? 

OK, I was a bit harsh on Rubber Soul - it's essentially the 'pivot' album between mediocrity and outstanding, but not a firm favourite of mine.

[Grimalkin]

I tend to listen to The Rutles more than the Beatles these days.

 

"I have always thought
In the back of my mind
Cheese and onions..."

 

 

 

[stewblack]

The Beatles are becoming increasingly significant to me. Or perhaps I ought to say their significance is becoming increasingly clear to me.

The more I study what they did, the more I learn of the context within which they did it, the way they anticipated musical genres by many years. Their songwriting skills, their experimental side, their willingness to work with the creativity of others, their ability to absorb influences of other great artists of the time, and the blueprint they created for future generations to follow all suggest to me they were pretty damn important.

I wasn't of the Beatle generation, they'd gone by the time I began my musical journey. They excited my instinct to kick against the establishment which seemed intent on repeatedly telling me how amazing they were. So I didn't pay them any attention until the 90s. My drummer at the time told me to go listen to a couple of albums, and I was genuinely astonished. Abbey Road was one and it blew me away. I couldn't imagine how it must have sounded to folk when it first came out. Mind boggling I assume .

[SteveXFR]

Although I never really got in to the Beatles, the majority of bands I really like name them as a major influence so for that reason, I am grateful that they made the music they did.

Same goes for Little Richard, Jefferson Airplane, PJ Harvey, Cream and the original blues musicians from the deep south. 

I don't remember any of them mentioning Elvis as an influence. 

[Rich]

13 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

I tend to listen to The Rutles more than the Beatles these days.

 

"I have always thought
In the back of my mind
Cheese and onions..."

 

 

 

 

All You Need Is Ca$h

[msb]

I saw their first Ed Sullivan performance , and everything shifted overnight. So I grew up with Beatlemania and immediately listened to every new release. Their output was phenomenal. 

Then I got into the Chess catalogue and didn’t pay much attention to popular music , lost in the shuffle. Eventually I came back and bought much of their music again. I don’t listen to them often , but it’s like being in a Time Machine when I do.

[Dan Dare]

Kind of odd to have an all-time favourite anything. It presupposes that one's tastes are frozen at a certain moment. At the time the Beatles were around, it was a toss-up between them and the Stones for me (I'm that ancient) as to which was my favourite. A few years later and things were very different, as my musical and educational horizons broadened. That's been a continuous process in my life and I hope it remains that way.