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

[Dad3353]

15 minutes ago, Nicko said:

...without the Beatles we wouldn't have modern rock music...

 One of the effects that the Beatles had on the music industry of the time (very early '60s...) was their writing the material that they performed. They were not alone in this (skiffle groups and others had self-penned successes, too...), but the first LP records sold an massive quantities, world-wide, with stuff they had composed and played, without much input from Tin Pan Alley. This was radically new; most top-of-the-bill artists at the time relied on professional song writers to generate the hits for them. This methodology (and its popular success...) quite certainly paved the way for others (Dylan, Hendrix, Reed and so many more...); the doors were now wide open, where before there had been only the merest chink. Just sayin'. 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Dad3353

[Nicko]

8 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 One of the effects that the Beatles had on the music industry of the time (very early '60s...) was their writing the material that they performed. They were not alone in this (skiffle groups and others had self-penned successes, too...), but the first LP records sold an massive quantities, world-wide, with stuff they had composed and played, without much input from Tin Pan Alley. This was radically new; most top-of-the-bill artists at the time relied on professional song writers to generate the hits for them. This methodology (and its popular success...) quite certainly paved the way for others (Dylan, Hendrix, Reed and so many more...); the doors were now wide open, where before there had been only the merest chink. Just sayin'. 

Didn't the Everly Brothers do that first though?

[Woodinblack]

38 minutes ago, Muzz said:

As a matter of interest, how many of us are gigging with a setlist that includes more than one (or indeed any) song from The Greatest Band Of All Time? Given that giddiness, you'd expect everyone to play several in their setlist...we're only halfway to the 'still be playing them 100 years later' mark so far...

 

Technically 2, Come Together, which we don't play often as it is quite dull (handy for filler some places), and Twist and Shout, which isn't technically a beatles song, but sort of is.

[PaulWarning]

31 minutes ago, Nicko said:

Didn't the Everly Brothers do that first though?

you may mean Buddy Holly, the Everly's had a lot of hits written by Bryant and May

[Woodinblack]

9 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

the Everly's had a lot of hits written by Bryant and May

 

The guys who made the Matches?

[Nicko]

10 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

you may mean Buddy Holly, the Everly's had a lot of hits written by Bryant and May

Yes but also a lot of self penned - I think about 50% on most albums.

[Leonard Smalls]

3 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

The guys who made the Matches?

No, he was the bloke married to wotsername off of Eastenders who made his own guitar...

[Huge Hands]

As a teenager in the early 90s, my Dad had just bought a CD player for the first time and his cousin, who was doing some building work at our house, decided to buy all the Beatles albums on CD.  

 

As he didn't have a CD player himself, he left the discs with us until he got one.  This left me with all the albums (including singles compilations) to play to death whilst I was at home on my own.

 

This left me with a great appreciation and love of their music, even though I wouldn't say theirs is my main taste.

 

I found the recent Get Back releases fascinating to watch and devoured all 6 hours with glee!

 

As I have said before, after starting as a drummer, watching Paul play the beginning of "I am the Walrus" in the Magical Mystery Tour film made me realise the bass player was much cooler than the drummer and got me to switch!

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Nicko said:

Didn't the Everly Brothers do that first though?

 

That wasn't really the point. First, third, fifth... Whatever. They made it 'normal' for groups or artists to get world-wide recognition and sales for songs and albums they'd largely composed and played themselves. They had already 'done the rounds' in the German and UK clubs, doing covers for hours on end, with a solid reputation, but that wasn't the 'click' that made them stand out. The writing itself ('Love Me Do', Twist And Shout' etc...) was on a par with other stuff around at the time, but they knew how to perform it well, and their management lit the fuse when it went to the US. Elvis had a certain following back then, as did others, but there was a tidal wave sweeping The Beatles into history that changed the face of the popular side of the music industry for ever. It's difficult to imagine the effect at the time; sliced bread was a novelty, too, and 'Wimpy' joints were starting up. Yes, you had to be there to have felt the wind of these changes whistling past one's ears. None of these takes anything away from later 'ground-breakers', and the 'real' scope of pop music in absolute terms is debatable (Was vaccination more important a revolution, or the abandon of the wearing of hats..? The jury is still out...). 

[PaulWarning]

53 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

The guys who made the Matches?

🤣 that's right, that'll teach me to rely on my fading memory, got the Bryant bit right.

[casapete]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

 

That wasn't really the point. First, third, fifth... Whatever. They made it 'normal' for groups or artists to get world-wide recognition and sales for songs and albums they'd largely composed and played themselves. They had already 'done the rounds' in the German and UK clubs, doing covers for hours on end, with a solid reputation, but that wasn't the 'click' that made them stand out. The writing itself ('Love Me Do', Twist And Shout' etc...) was on a par with other stuff around at the time, but they knew how to perform it well, and their management lit the fuse when it went to the US. Elvis had a certain following back then, as did others, but there was a tidal wave sweeping The Beatles into history that changed the face of the popular side of the music industry for ever. It's difficult to imagine the effect at the time; sliced bread was a novelty, too, and 'Wimpy' joints were starting up. Yes, you had to be there to have felt the wind of these changes whistling past one's ears. None of these takes anything away from later 'ground-breakers', and the 'real' scope of pop music in absolute terms is debatable (Was vaccination more important a revolution, or the abandon of the wearing of hats..? The jury is still out...). 

Whilst Lennon and McCartney wrote ‘Love me do’, the song Twist and Shout’ was

not one of theirs, being written by Medley and Berns and a US hit for

The Isley Brothers in 1962. 

Edited November 23, 2022 by casapete

[Dad3353]

[Doctor J]

Well, that shook things up.

[casapete]

2 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Well, that shook things up.

I’m sure Douglas doesn’t mind me correcting his mistake. After him picking me up on

my casual use of the apostrophe many times, it’s a rare (but probably futile) opportunity

to try and even the score.....😆

[Dad3353]

45 minutes ago, casapete said:

I’m sure Douglas doesn’t mind me correcting his mistake...

 

[SteveXFR]

I'm enjoying some Black Sabbath this morning and reading an old interview with Tony Iommi. He says that Lennon was a huge influence on him in the early days of Sabbath. That surprised me, when I listen to Sabbath (which I do a lot) I don't hear Beatles. Maybe Beatles had a metal phase which I missed.

[silverfoxnik]

Another interesting Basschat discussion that will undoubtedly revolutionise the way we think about online discussions in years to come... 😉

 

Back on topic, my thoughts on The Beatles have quietly been changing throughout my adult life, not that I was really aware of it happening, it's kind of been a subconscious thing. 

 

The older I've got and the more music I've made and played over the years, I've slowly come to the realisation that if you either like your music or play your music made with strings, skins and microphones, then The Beatles are the reference point in western pop music. 

 

That doesn't mean they have to be liked by anyone/everyone as writers, performers, producers, people etc - but it's just a fact that their influence and reach is unparalleled and can be quantified through record sales, statistics, books/articles/study course about them etc. 

 

Personally, they're not my favourite band/artist of all time - that status in my tiny brain belongs to Bowie - but I listen to their music more now than I ever did when I was first playing bass in my teens and twenties. Their songwriting, musicianship, artistic curiosity and humour are just amazing - as could be seen in the recent Peter Jackson documentary.. 

 

None of this stuff is mutually exclusive IMO - whilst really endorsing everything that's been said about how great The Beatles were/are, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate just how game-changing and influential Kraftwerk were for example. Trans Europe Express and Man Machine of two of my favourite albums ever... 

 

And as for that Mozart bloke, he's way over-rated! My 19 year old son ( who plays classical piano) raves about Mozart to me all the time, but I much prefer Mendelssohn, Debussy, and Chopin. 

 

But what do I know?

 

After all, I'm just a bass player in a couple of dodgy covers bands.. 😁

[cetera]

It's all about the influence they had on a whole culture. Young people were enthused, many instruments were picked up, haircuts styled, girls wet themselves etc....

 

I enjoy their music but wouldn't place them in my Top 100 bands. Imho, George Harrison wrote their best stuff, followed by McCartney (who actually wrote alone a lot of the tracks credited to him and Lennon). The Get Back series on the tellybox recently was an eye opener in that regard..... Lennon had his moments but, due to his 'charisma', is held in undue reverence. YMMV etc..... 

[Drax]

On the OP - if it’s not the Beatles at no1 who would it be instead?  

The main problem here is these wretched click bait ‘Best ever’ lists. 


 

[SteveXFR]

18 minutes ago, Drax said:

On the OP - if it’s not the Beatles at no1 who would it be instead?  

The main problem here is these wretched click bait ‘Best ever’ lists. 

 

The ones you get bombarded with on social media are always deliberately controversial because it gets engagement and people replying to say how bad it is gets them bumped up the algorithm rankings. That's why a "Hardcore punks top 5 songs ranked" list will have Ed Sheeran at number 1.

[Nicko]

1 hour ago, Drax said:

On the OP - if it’s not the Beatles at no1 who would it be instead?  

The main problem here is these wretched click bait ‘Best ever’ lists. 


 

The OP asks if they are your favourite, that's an easy question to answer. As for are the Beatles the "best" band ever that would require you to define best.

 

They are the most successful, they are arguably the most influential and they were hugely popular both when they were a band and for a long time after. Some of it is self perpetuating though, Oasis claim that the Beatles were great so Oasis fans start buying and listening to their records.  

 

I note that no BCer is currently wanting to take any of their tracks to a desert island (Your Desert Island Discs..? thread) although it's a small sample at the moment.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I'm enjoying some Black Sabbath this morning and reading an old interview with Tony Iommi. He says that Lennon was a huge influence on him in the early days of Sabbath. That surprised me, when I listen to Sabbath (which I do a lot) I don't hear Beatles. Maybe Beatles had a metal phase which I missed.

Music influences music.

[Grimalkin]

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I'm enjoying some Black Sabbath this morning and reading an old interview with Tony Iommi. He says that Lennon was a huge influence on him in the early days of Sabbath. That surprised me, when I listen to Sabbath (which I do a lot) I don't hear Beatles. Maybe Beatles had a metal phase which I missed.

 

"I am the War Pig

Goo goo g'joob..."

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Nicko said:

I note that no BCer is currently wanting to take any of their tracks to a desert island (Your Desert Island Discs..? thread) although it's a small sample at the moment.

 

Strawberry Fields, I Am The Walrus, Here Comes The Sun and I Saw Her Standing There regularly dip in and out of my DID list, depending on my mood at the time.

[Cat Burrito]

I have all the Beatles albums on vinyl and on CD. I have a signed print of the Revolver artwork (signed by Klaus Voorman) and have even done the Beatles tour around Liverpool. I appreciate the genius of the band but wouldn't say they are a favourite. I tend to like a lot of fairly obscure artists but would say I am a massive fan of bigger names too like The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and David Bowie. Popularity or critical reviews pay little influence on what I like. 

 

I would add that I am a massive fan of Paul McCartney's bass playing and also his work around animal welfare / Meat Free Mondays etc.