I've never thought of the Beatles as rock and roll - mush more like easy listening. Nice tunes, easy words to remember. Rock and roll is heavier/darker. They were ok, but not geniuses or anything - like Elvis. He was ok too.
Well, i'd hardly call tracks such as "Revolution", "Get Back" and "Paper Back Writer" as easy listening. But some of their stuff is quite mellow. And if it wasn't for them, popular music would be very different, indeed.
Quote by Sanjay115 Well, i'd hardly call tracks such as "Revolution", "Get Back" and "Paper Back Writer" as easy listening. But some of their stuff is quite mellow. And if it wasn't for them, popular music would be very different, indeed.
If you mean 'rock and roll' as in the likes of Gerry Lee Lewis and little Richard then no they are most definitely not the best 'rock n roll' band ever I would put them in the pop genre
Well anyway, I think I am too young to have appreciated them first time round, but yes I do like a lot of Beatles tracks. I like the melancholy ones better, Michelle, She's leaving home, Norwegian Wood, etc. I think there's been some great covers of Beatles songs too. I like Bette Midler's version of In my life, and the Carpenter's Ticket to ride.
Quote by Sanjay115 Well, i'd hardly call tracks such as "Revolution", "Get Back" and "Paper Back Writer" as easy listening. But some of their stuff is quite mellow. And if it wasn't for them, popular music would be very different, indeed.
Also 'Helter Skelter' - now that does rock. Not in the same rock league as the Stones though.
The Beatles.....where to start. They were the first group to blow America away from these shores. The early Beatles stuff I love. From Help to I wanna hold your hand are just brilliant. They are probably the greatest songwriters Lennon and McCartney, with the possible exception of Bernstein and Hammerstein. Their music went through so many phases from a bit of rock to a bit of roll, but mainly pop. So many songs so many great memories. In my opinion the greatest ever for what they brought to music, and certainly changed music forever. EVERYONE knows a Beatles song that they know the words too. Most people have a favorite Beatles song and the measure of their brilliance is that 40 years yes 40 years AFTER they split, they are just as much talked about, and their music is being brought by a new generation of fans. Rock and Roll ? Not too sure but certainly the greatest band ever.
Kff.....the Beatles are certainly not my favorite group. That would be Led Zeppelin, the biggest rock band ever, without any question. But I think the different stages of music they went through, has to make them the best. I do not know of any band that went through different stages like they did. For sure Led Zep did some hard rock stuff, but then could very easily do a slow bluesy number. But the Beatles were so different in the style of music they played. Yes I have bands that I think are better but that is only because of the kind of music I enjoy but....their influence musically will never be surpassed, and that to me makes them the best.
Well... I don't think most Beatles stuff has travelled well but I love listening to some of it, "In my life", "I'm Down", and particularly "I want to hold your hand", it has this lovely rough guitar. earthy gritty and right there. Never heard anything like that in the UK at the time. On the other hand surely Chuck Berry has to be the best Rock n Roll song writer. Discuss.
Quote by meat2pleaseu Right place, right time. and if Macartney is such a genius, how the hell do you explain 'the frog chorus'? :shock:
Ok, tonight, I may just have listened to a spitting Image album on vinyl. :scared: on one of the tracks was the phrase "I've even heard a decent song by Paul McCartney's wings"- couldn't help a chuckle. Yes, The Beatles were bloody good. I love Eleanor Rigby, and even have a strange affection for A day in the life. But they weren't rock and roll.
Rock 'n' Roll Music is a compilation album by The Beatles that consists of previously released Beatles tracks considered by many to be quintessential "rock and roll". Says Wikipedia Rock "n" Roll the beatles album All tracks played by the Beatles and all tracks written by Mcartney/Lennon shown in green Side one 1. "Twist and Shout" (Medley-Russell) 2. "I Saw Her Standing There" 3. "You Can't Do That" 4. "I Wanna Be Your Man" 5. "I Call Your Name" 6. "Boys" (Dixon-Farrell) 7. "Long Tall Sally" (Johnson/Penniman/Blackwell) Side two 8. "Rock and Roll Music" (Berry) 9. "Slow Down" (Williams) 10. Medley: "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" (Leiber/Stoller)/(Penniman) 11. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Bradford/Gordy) 12. "Bad Boy" (Williams) 13. "Matchbox" (Perkins) 14. "Roll Over Beethoven" (Berry) Side three 15. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (Williams) 16. "Any Time at All" 17. "Drive My Car" 18. "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" (Perkins) 19. "The Night Before" 20. "I'm Down" 21. "Revolution" Side four 22. "Back in the U.S.S.R." 23. "Helter Skelter" 24. "Taxman" (Harrison) 25. "Got to Get You into My Life" 26. "Hey Bulldog" 27. "Birthday" 28. "Get Back" (album version) Rock and roll? Yeah I reckon so ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out this list and then say not rock and roll... 1 Twist and Shout 2 I Saw Her Standing There 3 You Can't Do That 4 I Wanna Be Your Man 5 I Call Your Name 6 Boys 7 Long Tall Sally 8 Rock and Roll Music 9 Slow Down 10 Kansa City 11 Money (That's What I Want) 12 Bad Boy 13 Matchbox 14 Roll Over Beethoven 15 Dizzy Miss Lizzie 16 Any Time at All 17 Drive My Car 18 Everybody's Trying to be my baby 19 The Night Before 20 I'm Down 21 Revolution 22 Back in the U. S. S. R. 23 Taxman 24 Got to Get You in to My Life 25 Hey Bulldog 26 Birthday 27 Get Back
And the group wetr nducted in to the "Rock N Roll" Hall of fame in 1988
For me, the Beatles don't have a genre. You can't pigeonhole them and it was because of this diversity and evolution of sound and lyrics that they are by far and away, the most influential band of musicians of all time. Certainly in modern times. You have your Mozart in classical music and you have the Beatles in modern. They set the standards for me. If you listen to one Beatles album you will find examples of all kinds of music. Take Sgt Peppers (widely but incorrectly regarded as their magnum opus, for me Revolver or White Album is better). You have Sgt Peppers, a general pop song, then you have the psychedelia of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, the melancholic She's leaving home, the Bhangra Within you Without You, the amusing When I'm 64 and to finish A Day in the Life, which is a combination of almost all kinds of music AND a sweeping orchestral piece yet to be bettered by anyone anywhere and I doubt ever will be. That song is as close to perfection as you can get. Even in the same song, like a We Can Work It Out, you have a clash of styles, Lennon's morose sadness in "Life is very short and there's no time..." compared with McCartney's cheerily optimistic "We can work it out, We can work it out" Is that a sad song, or a happy one? It doesn't matter, it's a great one nonetheless. Also, had Nirvana produced Helter Skelter, it would have fitted into the Grunge/Rock genre quite happily. There are ballads, rock, cheesy pop, experimental stuff so weird it makes Pink Floyd look like an evening with Auntie Gladys, psychedelia, love songs, protest songs. You name it they did it and they usually did it better than anyone else. Don't get me wrong, some of the Beatles stuff and the stuff produced afterwards is interminably bad. But when they did get it right, they did so better and far more frequently than anyone else. I don't know if they are the best "rock" band. For me they are the best music band full stop, of any genre. I wouldn't class them as pop, rock, ambient, psychedelia etc as there are too many examples of each to fit comfortably in just one category. Excluding the Beatles, you want the best Rock band? Probably Queen. Obviously not the current bastard child incarnation, but the original line up and the best of the current bunch without doubt are the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl has more talent in his left testicle than most pop acts and their myriad of writers, hangers on and dancers have combined.
Quote by Resonance For me, the Beatles don't have a genre. You can't pigeonhole them and it was because of this diversity and evolution of sound and lyrics that they are by far and away, the most influential band of musicians of all time. Certainly in modern times. You have your Mozart in classical music and you have the Beatles in modern. They set the standards for me. If you listen to one Beatles album you will find examples of all kinds of music. Take Sgt Peppers (widely but incorrectly regarded as their magnum opus, for me Revolver or White Album is better). You have Sgt Peppers, a general pop song, then you have the psychedelia of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, the melancholic She's leaving home, the Bhangra Within you Without You, the amusing When I'm 64 and to finish A Day in the Life, which is a combination of almost all kinds of music AND a sweeping orchestral piece yet to be bettered by anyone anywhere and I doubt ever will be. That song is as close to perfection as you can get. Even in the same song, like a We Can Work It Out, you have a clash of styles, Lennon's morose sadness in "Life is very short and there's no time..." compared with McCartney's cheerily optimistic "We can work it out, We can work it out" Is that a sad song, or a happy one? It doesn't matter, it's a great one nonetheless. Also, had Nirvana produced Helter Skelter, it would have fitted into the Grunge/Rock genre quite happily. There are ballads, rock, cheesy pop, experimental stuff so weird it makes Pink Floyd look like an evening with Auntie Gladys, psychedelia, love songs, protest songs. You name it they did it and they usually did it better than anyone else. Don't get me wrong, some of the Beatles stuff and the stuff produced afterwards is interminably bad. But when they did get it right, they did so better and far more frequently than anyone else. I don't know if they are the best "rock" band. For me they are the best music band full stop, of any genre. I wouldn't class them as pop, rock, ambient, psychedelia etc as there are too many examples of each to fit comfortably in just one category. Excluding the Beatles, you want the best Rock band? Probably Queen. Obviously not the current bastard child incarnation, but the original line up and the best of the current bunch without doubt are the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl has more talent in his left testicle than most pop acts and their myriad of writers, hangers on and dancers have combined.
You are right on the first part Res. The second part I would not agree with. I never really classed Queen as a " rock " group to be honest. Dont get me wrong they did some brilliant stuff and I saw them at Wembley in the summer of 1986, being probably Freddies finest hour on stage. They were brilliant and their music was awesome. But Led Zep STILL have outsold any other rock band in music sales. I think it stands at somethink like 340 million ALBUMS worldwide, as they never produced a single. It is funny though that the ammount of times I speak to a " fan " of Queen, they very rarely know their first hit which btw I did buy. If you judge success on sales then you can look no further. But the rest of what you say as bang on the money Res. The funny thing is that people say the Beatles are the greatest band for which I agree, but others will argue that Westlife is as they have had more number 1's than the Beatles did. That is a fair point as some judge success like I do on either sales or number 1's but today is a different time than in the 60's for then you had to sell what was it a million plus copies to get there, where nowadays you only have to sell 500 and the number one spot is yours. Not quite true but think you know what I mean there. With the Beatled just so many classics and as I said earlier EVERYONE knows a Beatles song and can sing along to it.....now that is a sign of a class act indeedy.
Hiya Mr K, I can't really argue against Led Zep, for the reasons you've rightly said and I love many of their songs too. It's just Queen appealed to me more, I think I was just a bit too young to appreciate LZ in their heyday, whereas I was the right age for Queen. As you say, the number of albums sold / no 1's isn't a good measure of quality, more just the trends and taste of the public at that given juncture in time. Remember Van Gogh sold practically nothing during his lifetime, and now is regarded as one of the foremost artists ever. There's many great rock bands through the era's though and who is the best will always be a matter of opinion. It's hard to separate the best from the best though. I guess it all comes down to individual taste!
Quite right Res. But seeing Queen live at Wembley on that fanstic sunny day, will live with me for always, as I did not know at the time the significance of that then.....but do now.
I never liked the Beatles,I reserve particular scorn for John Lennon -the only "working class hero" with a seperate apartment for his furs-I've always thought Lennon fans had a problem in that whilst proclaiming him a genius they had to keep quiet about the fact that Yoko made better music.
Quote by kentswingers777 most over rated band ever!
Would you like to elaborate as to why you think that? Hehe - you'll be lucky if you get a reasoned argument methinks - that sounds like a bit o' Rock and Troll. .
kent were you refering to queen at wembley 1986 (i think) with status quo, the alarm & inxs.... yes wot a gig we were there..... tho moving swiftly on .... its gotta be the Sex Pistols as they headed a movement that changed music forever !!!! seen em 3 times... still amazing
Quote by Funslut68 kent were you refering to queen at wembley 1986 (i think) with status quo, the alarm & inxs.... yes wot a gig we were there..... tho moving swiftly on .... its gotta be the Sex Pistols as they headed a movement that changed music forever !!!! seen em 3 times... still amazing
Ah the Sex Pistols....I saw them at the Tram Shed in Woolwich. A crazy affair and was not nice being covered in gob, I can tell
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