The Beatles

ayjaycee

I'm probably setting myself up for slaughter but here goes.

A mate of mine has just paid what I thought to be an outrageous sum (about £140) for a re-release of The White Album by The Beatles which I gather includes a remix of the original album plus a load of previously unreleased versions of the same songs and other demos. He insisted on trying to make me listen to it but I quickly made my excuses and left on the basis that I would struggle to sit through a hearing of just the original album and would probably want to start cutting myself if I had to sit through the rest of the stuff in this new version as well - I think there's 6 CDs worth of it. It just got me to thinking (not for the first time) that I might just be the only person in the world who doesn't particularly like The Beatles and who's never really understood what all the fuss is about. Although I was quite young at the time, I'm of an age where I was actually around when they first came to prominence and can remember not thinking much of them at the time.

Maybe I'm just missing something?

Matthewfalle

missing nothing - you're spot on.

surrey_commuter

Matthewfalle wrote:

missing nothing - you're spot on.

3rd'ed

rick_chasey

Cheaper than di2 though

hopkinb

Beatles = utter bilge. Never understood the appeal, I like a lot of music from the same kind of era, but not the Beatles.

shirley_basso

I can understand the appeal and construction of melodies but it does always appear quite dreary and downbeat to me.

tangled_metal

Watched a music documentary that said small faces were more of an influence on modern music than the beatles. No idea how true but I got a best hits compilation of their stuff after seeing that. I remember thinking that apart from the c@rp of the Oasis stuff I could recognise more small faces influence in modern bands' work than the beatles.

It's just that you often hear that the beatles were the most influential band. That I question. I don't even think they were that good. IMHO you can hear (and even see in the performances) the small faces right through the likes of the jam right into 90s and noughties bands.

So I don't think being critical of the beatles hype is wrong.

tangled_metal

I did once try teaching myself to play the guitar. I got a book of guitar charts for various well known bands and tracks. The beatles seemed the easiest. One track I tried to learn was Maxwell's silver hammer. Boy the lyrics and story out told were dark. A knock at a women's door and a hammer through her skull when she answered iirc was the story. I wonder why the Mansen family gained inspiration from the beatles? A far cry from the nice four piece boys tilting their heads while playing pop tunes in the cavern with their mop tops flying with their head movements!

joe_totale-2

I feel the influence of the Beatles is more on popular and specifically youth culture then as an influence on music, especially today's music.

rick_chasey

oxoman wrote:

Can't stand the Beatles personally. Much over hyped. Much prefer Queens music.

Oh man. Queen over the Beatles?

Hand over your ears. Pass revoked.

I mean, I’d probably put on Simian Mobile Disco on over the Beatles, but I wouldn’t say that is a good opinion.

But Queen?? Christ.

shirley_basso

We are the champions, live in studio, a capella. tingling stuff.

kingstongraham

What is astonishing about The Beatles is how they went from Love Me Do to Happiness is a Warm Gun in just 6 years. It's the restlessness, and never being satisfied with what they'd done.

That said, 6 CDs of the bits that they didn't think were good enough to be released has to be a curio rather than something to actually be listened to for pleasure.

ayjaycee

Well, it's good to know that I'm not alone anymore!

Tangled - good call on the Small Faces, not just because of their influence as a band but what the various individuals went on to do. Stevie Marriott is one of my all time musical heroes and I met him on a few occasions and was a bit star struck the first time. He had his own personal demons but was actually a lovely guy when the booze and drugs let him!

tangled_metal

Must admit to not knowing much about them. What did their members go on to do?

Sorry if that's being lazy.

bompington

Not much

tangled_metal

Tangled Metal wrote:

Must admit to not knowing much about them. What did their members go on to do?

Sorry if that's being lazy.

Small faces that is

ayjaycee

Tangled Metal wrote:

Must admit to not knowing much about them. What did their members go on to do?

Sorry if that's being lazy.

Not a complete history but Stevie went on to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton who, IMHO, were one of the best and most underrated rock bands of the era - check out 'Performance - Rockin' The Fillmore' for a truly great live album. He was also a stalwart of the live scene with great bands like Stevie Marriotts All Stars and 'Packet of Three'. When Marriott left the Small Faces, the remaining members (Ronny Lane, Ian McClagan and Kenney Jones) were joined by one Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood to form The Faces. I've never really kept track of Maclagan but Ronnie Lane was diagnosed with MS in late 1970's and finally died in the late 1990s. Stevie Marriott was apparently targeted by the Rolling Stones as a replacement for Mick Taylor in the mid 1970s. Keef supposedly wanted to give him the job but Jagger was too scared of being upstaged so they went for Ronnie Wood instead. As for Kenney Jones, he went on from The Faces to replace Keith Moon in The Who.

You're right, it was being lazy but it does me good to try remembering all this stuff now and then.

kingstongraham

bompington wrote:

Not much

Ah, the band The Beatles could have been...

ayjaycee

bompington wrote:

Not much

What a steaming pile that was!

tangled_metal

I was two years off being spawned at the beginning of the 70s so I really only got into music late 70s. Wasn't allowed to watch that sex pistols interview fully because I was too young but it's still my earliest memory of music related history.

I remember a lot of popular music history only when I hear the music or see the video. It's good to learn more. Thanks for the history lesson.

Matthewfalle

ayjaycee wrote:

bompington wrote:

Not much

What a steaming pile that was!

agree.

now this was a classic.


https://youtu.be/A0fuVoSa3dc

ayjaycee

Matthewfalle wrote:

ayjaycee wrote:

bompington wrote:

Not much

What a steaming pile that was!

agree.

now this was a classic.


https://youtu.be/A0fuVoSa3dc

A real classic - never had you down as such a cultured individual.

veronese68

Agree about the Beatles, and also about the Small Faces.

mrfpb

I like The Beatles but don't like the White album. As others have aluded to, their progress in the eight years they were turning out the records was amazing. And most longlived chart acts take around 25 years to produce a dozen albums without also turning out the 2 or 3 hit singles a year that didnt appear on the albums.

I think the Sgt Pepper/White album era did influence the likes of Pink Floyd, and the lighter side of it influenced the 70s glam rock, including Bowie. And I think there is a a line of influence from The Beatles through Floyd to the artier side of Kate Bush, Blur, Radiohead and others that avoid the 3 minute pop single that persists despite the death of the 7" single.

mrfpb

Despite not liking the White Album, I am always tempted whenever I pass Maxwell's DIY, to pop in and ask if they have a silver hammer.

I bet no one's ever done that, ever.

DeVlaeminck

Well I'd never have imagined the Small Faces had such a following on this forum!

Stevo_666

The Clash had it spot on "...now phoney Beatle mania has bitten the dust..."

joe2008

Stevo 666 wrote:

The Clash had it spot on "...now phoney Beatle mania has bitten the dust..."

Sing Michael Sing

bompington

ayjaycee wrote:

bompington wrote:

Not much

What a steaming pile that was!

But on the other hand, try taking your bike to the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse, descend to the end of the road and ride up - it's like Sa Calobra compressed to about half a mile of map distance. :shock:

crispybug2

I think personally that while a lot of the Beatles influences are more than musical their musical legacy should not be underestimated
I’m a particular fan of Paul McCartney’s bass playing, listen to say Penny Lane or Something, they are amongst the most subtlety complicated basslines you’ll ever hear and yet they sit perfectly inside the song without ever overwhelming the melody, which I would say is the mark of a musical genius

And also the remark about their songs being too simple to play, so what? Smells like teen spirit is probably the easiest riff ever but it doesn’t stop it also being one of the best

In g

kingstongraham

Any evaluation of the merits of the White Album has to accept that it is a bit of a sprawling mess with toilet like Ob La Di Ob La Da on it, but it has Happiness is a Warm Gun on it, which instantly ups the average quality of the songs on it to higher than every album made by most other bands.