Are the Beatles over-rated?

[rendelc]

Massively over rated .    And as for Macca ..............    Awful.

[smetrov]

The sacking of Pete Best - and the beating epstein got .....never get much coverage do they.....?

[mjmooney]

Ah - the great taboo - criticizing the Beatles !

 

IMO a quality band who made some good stuff - but to answer your question 'Yes' massively overrated - probably because they were the one of the first 'boy bands' - although they first single was in late 1962 - and they were finished by 1970. I would argue that in relative terms bands such as the 'The Jam'  'Duran Duran' are comparable - of course that will get slated because of rose tinted specs - Also check those albums - besides the blockbuster singles - there is plenty of of pretty average if not downright poor music...  

 

None of those bands had the social impact that The Beatles had. When they said something, world leaders sat up and took notice. Not because they cared themselves, but because they knew what a massive effect it would have on the under-30s in every country of the world. 

 

When The Jam or Duran Duran released a new single or album, it was big news for their fans. When The Beatles did it, it was big news for everybody, a media feeding frenzy. Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it was. 

 

ALL the other pop music acts (and beyond, into jazz and soul, etc.) took notice of what they did - and reacted. Either by copying, or even by consciously trying to do the opposite. Even if you didn't like them, they mattered. 

 

I keep saying it, but if you weren't there, you have no idea of how big a phenomenon they were. 

[troon_villan]

Perhaps you're too immature or musically uneducated to like The Beatles?

 

Not the end of the world either way!

[drat01]

Mike Mooney speaks for me (and is saving me a lot of typing)

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I keep saying it, but if you weren't there, you have no idea of how big a phenomenon they were. 

 

 

I went there before my sabbatical, and I can confirm they were a big deal. Bigger than Jesus.

[mjmooney]

 

 

Noel Gallacher made an absolute fortune by copying them through Oasis and is still doing it.

 

"With every song that I write, I compare it to the Beatles. The thing is, they only got there before me. If I'd been born at the same time as John Lennon, I'd have been up there." 

 

"I wish Blur were dead, John Lennon was alive and the Beatles would reform."

 

[dAVe80]

Awaiting the arrival of Bickster (I can see he's viewing right now)....

 

Personally I love The Beatles. If ever there's a band I turn to, to cheer me up, it's them. They've written some mind blowing wonderful music, and a Hell of a lot of it as it goes. They've also written some dog shit. Revolver is a nailed on top 10 album of mine (the other 9 would change on a daily basis). 

 

These days McCartney has a lot to answer for, and Lennon was a selfish word removed, but when they were together magic happened. Add George to that (who actually wrote most of my favourite Beatles songs), and you've got a music making machine. Ringo is obviously considered a joke, but in my opinion he was no slouch either (not as a song writer, granted). 

[LondonLax]

I think it is because they where so all encompassing in a way that cannot possibly be repeated these days. 

 

Back then there were only a limited number of TV channels or national radio stations, everyone had to listen to the same thing. I think that potential captive audience meant that the best bands of the time become phenomenons in a way that current acts cannot any more. 

[maqroll]

Considering that they've been made into musical deities, yes, they are overrated. They were just a rock n roll band, after all. But they are still one of the best rock bands that ever was. How they squeezed all those songs into just a 7 year run is incredible. And the way the sound evolved was pretty astounding too.

 

Without each other, their musical limitations were exposed, though. With each other, they had undeniable chemistry and a ton of tunes that for whatever reason, mean a lot to millions of people. 

[drat01]

[mjmooney]

The last two posts are spot-on. 

[NoelVilla]

Beatles are not overrated. That is just silly. 

 

You pick up your guitar, you rip a few people`s tunes off, you swap them around a bit, get your brother in the band, punch his head in every now and then, and it sells.

- Noel Gallagher

[Wainy316]

 

I don't think so, I don't mind their early stuff but I prefer the later stuff, the early stuff was a bit teeny bop but was still catchy and good, their are a few bands I prefer to the beatles but I don't think their overrated, by no means the best band ever as some people think but still a great album band, you can't compare boy bands of today to the beatles because the beatles was not a boy band in the sense like westlife etc etc were, bands back in the 60s and 70s had genuine talent and made huge statements

 

 

What about Take That as a better comparision?   

They write their own songs, you have to admit they have talent, they probably had as many fans as the Beatles worldwide, and sold multiple millions across the world, and have been around for a long time (20 years?)

 

 

Ermmmmmmm, no.

[bickster]

Everything you hear today owes something to them.

Nope, it is exactly overblown ludicrous statements like this, that makes me hate them even more

There are people out there that will tell you they invented psychedelia... Hello 13th Floor Elevators, just like that other great innovator David Jones they quite often took other peoples ideas and passed them off as their own. (there is nothing wrong with this, rock n roll is the ultimate derivative artform) but to then claim that everything owes something to the Beatles is ludicrous by the very nature of genres we're dealing with

There is plenty of music being made out there today and all the time since the 60's that is not influenced in any shape or form by the Beatles. I'd rate the Beatles influence of present day music as actually being lower than Kraftwerk

And if we're going to say that all music owes something to the Beatles we might as well take it back a step further and claim it all owes something to Lonnie Donegan and Elvis

There are plenty of acts completely devoid of any influence from the Beatles and even those that are will probably find that what they thought came from the Beatles actually came from someone else first

[drat01]

"We were very influenced by The Beatles, no question."
Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees

"I'll be honest. We copied everyone... the Beatles, the Bachelors. It was the only way people would even listen to you."
Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees

"We loved the Beatles and they loved The Byrds, and we were sharing influences."
Roger McGuinn of the Byrds

"John (Lennon) and I agreed Be-Bop-A-Lula was our favourite 50s rock record."
Roger McGuinn of the Byrds

"My big love was the Beatles. I was more into music."
Gary Oldman

"My favorite artists have always been Elvis and The Beatles and they still are!"
Johnny Ramone of the Ramones

"I've never been a big Beatles fan. Of Ringo, yes, but not of the music."
Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones

"And I said, 'Why not? It's the truth! Why can't I say I'm a Beatles fan?' I used to get criticized for that."
Buck Owens

"Wasn't it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions"?"
Elvis Costello, in the song 'The Other Side of Summer'

"John (Lennon) and George (Harrison) were very quiet, but Ringo (Starr) and Paul (McCartney) were more active and easier to get to know. It was just something to be with those cats."
Bobby Hebb of `Sunny' fame

"Lennon and McCartney were superb composers -- their songs were brilliant and remain brilliant."
Martin Goldsmith, author

"Even the Beatles found it hard to escape their image; they were trapped by it."
Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads

"When I was a kid, I went through a lot of musical phases, and one was when I'd learn everything that The Beatles ever recorded. After I started drums, I fell in love with their music so much that I just wanted to learn everything."
Eric Carr of KISS

"So whenever I hear The Beatles I always feel I've got a lot in common with everybody else."
Robyn Hitchcock

"Despite his alleged shortcomings, it was still shabby treatment for Pete... the most underhand, unfortunate and unforgivable chapter in The Beatles' rise to monumental power."
Mark Lewisohn on the firing of drummer Pete Best

"You can't love music without loving the Beatles."
Nick Cannon

"I wouldn't know how I would have coped with The Beatles' sort of fame."
Noel Redding of Jimi Hendrix Experience

 

"I just got into the Beatles a couple years ago, you know, I like it."
Ziggy Marley

"Lennon was right. And we are bigger than Jesus. We will be as big as the Beatles, if not bigger."
Liam Gallagher of Oasis

"If I were in the Beatles, I'd be a good George Harrison."
Noel Gallagher of Oasis

"With every song that I write, I compare it to the Beatles. The thing is, they only got there before me. If I'd been born at the same time as John Lennon, I'd have been up there."
Noel Gallagher of Oasis

"I don't think anybody comes close to The Beatles, including Oasis."
Brian May of Queen

"Oasis are not just influenced by the Beatles; they actually take stuff. Then they get praised."
Lenny Kravitz

"While the music is performed, the cameras linger savagely over the faces of the audience. What a bottomless chasm of vacuity they reveal! Those who flock round the Beatles, who scream themselves into hysteria, whose vacant faces flicker over the TV screen, are the least fortunate of their generation, the dull, the idle, the failures... "
Paul Johnson

"I mean, Beatles songs were two and a half minutes long, and they're fantastic."
Billy Sherwood

“I’ve been a fan my whole life, … When I started out, the bad boys liked the Stones and the good people liked the Beatles. I appreciate the Beatles now, but back then I didn’t. I thought they were too poppy.”
John Flynn

"John Lennon has been my idol all my life but he's dead wrong about revolution... find a representative of gluttony or oppression and blow the motherf*ckers head off."
Kurt Cobain

“You don’t get the Beatles’ version of Penny Lane being used in a cheap advertisement. They make sure the Beatles’ recorded music is not damaged, and that’s a good thing.”
Keith Badman

“John Lennon, Jesus is bigger than The Beatles.”
A.J. Chilson

"When John Lennon and Harry Nilsson used to argue politics, I was sitting right in the middle of them, and I was the guy who was going 'I don't care.' "
Alice Cooper

“There was so much excitement for music at the time, and much of it had to do with the Beatles. The Beatles inspired probably more bands than we will ever know, and they certainly inspired me.”
Curtis Remington

“The thing about Beatles music is that everybody knows it. If you play Beatles music, the audience is already there, and they’re waiting to be entertained by you. All of a sudden, they’re transformed to another place.”
Curtis Remington

"You know, I was such a big Beatles fan, and when I'd buy a new album I'd invariably hate it the first time I heard it 'cause it was a mixture of absolute joy and absolute frustration. I couldn't grasp what they'd done, and I'd hate myself for that."
Andy Partridge of XTC

"We were driving through Colorado, we had the radio on, and eight of the Top 10 songs were Beatles songs...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand,' all those early ones. They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid... I knew they were pointing the direction of where music had to go."
Bob Dylan

“I like your advance guard. But don’t you think they need haircuts?”
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, to British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home about The Beatles

"They said hey look, The Beatles deserve to be number one, not Bobby Vinton. We're gonna cut your tires. Change that listing. They were dedicated at the time."
Bobby Vinton

"If you want to be negative about the whole thing you can say all guitar bands after the Beatles were just a waste of time because the Beatles were the best. I think it's far better to give new records a try."
Stephen Malkmus

"Even at all my mother's concerts, I had never seen people go crazy the way they did with the Beatles."
Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland

"I liked the Beatles because there was so much melody."
Robert Cray

"The Beatles were raw musically, but I think they really had something."
Brenda Lee

"There was always a lot of American music in England until, obviously when the Beatles came around, then there was a shift towards English music, but before then American music was the main thing."
John Deacon of Queen

"The Beatles are not merely awful...They are so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic."
William F Buckley, Jr

"You can't be greater than Elvis, change things as much as The Beatles, or be as original as Led Zeppelin. All you can do is rip them off."
Billy Corgan

"I just found out last week - my sister told me - that my father had some Beatles records. So I must have heard them quite a bit, but it never registered, really. Now I listen to them with new ears."
Sheryl Lee

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca, in 1962 when rejecting The Beatles

 

"I like the Beatles. They're at the core of my musicality. And John Lennon's my spiritual father."
Esai Morales

“People hated him for leaving the Beatles or for falling in love with Yoko … they wanted him to be a Beatle and he fought that all his life.”
Don Scardino

"I do remember actually learning chords to Beatles songs. I thought they were great songwriters."
Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones

"You're always frustrated, you don't have the chance to do a song on the album, like the Beatles did with Ringo and George, or like Led Zeppelin, where everybody was given a chance to contribute. There never is a chance with the Stones."
Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones

"Almost everything The Beatles did was great, and it's hard to improve on. They were our Bach. The way to get around it may be to keep it as simple as possible."
T-Bone Burnett

"All Beatles, all the time. They were the cornerstone."
Jeff Murphy of The Shoes

"From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles."
Pat Metheny

"I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.'"
Kurt Vonnegut

"An entire generation now regards Nirvana as its version of the Beatles. They are of course hopelessly mistaken, but I would not recommend you tell them so."
Lewis Grossberger

“That’s my No. 1 biggest influence. If you’re a rock musician and you say you don’t like The Beatles, then you’re a jerk. You’re just trying to be cool, but you’re really not. You can’t deny The Beatles.”
Jana Peri

"The Beatles were the band that made me realize it was possible to make a living as a musician, … When I heard the Beatles, I said, ‘That’s what I want to do!’”
Billy Joel

"I declare that the Beatles are mutants. Prototypes of evolutionary agents sent by God, endowed with a mysterious power to create a new human species, a young race of laughing freemen."
Timothy Leary

"John had his thing, and Paul had his, and together there were two different things all together. But they fit."
Billy Preston

"The Beatles did treat me as a member of the group. And that was a great honor, you know?"
Billy Preston

"There have only been six members of The Beatles and I was the fifth. I am very proud to wear that tag. Who wouldn’t be?"
Pete Best

"To this day I don’t know the reason the band wanted me out. There are lots of theories, but who knows? It’s OK. I’ve moved on."
Pete Best

"I think that one of the nice things about the Yellow Submarine movie is that it seems to be perennial. People enjoy watching from each generation. And it was like the Beatles themselves. You know the Beatles seem to find new audience each time another generation comes along."
George Martin

"They were rather war-weary during Beatles for Sale. One must remember that they'd been battered like mad throughout '64, and much of '63. Success is a wonderful thing, but it is very, very tiring."
George Martin

"John was in constant need of proof of love and security and he was constantly testing people for that proof."
Cynthia Lennon

"They each had so much material of their own, too much to be contained. It had to spill over. For George, it was perfect timing. I'm sure John and Paul felt the same because they made albums right after The Beatles broke up."
Olivia Harrison, about the timing of the Beatles split-up

Question: "Do you think he (George) would ever have got back with The Beatles if the others had wanted a reunion?"
Olivia Harrison: "I think so, yes, I do, because he had great love for the others. He really did. As you get older, you value and treasure your friends so much more."

“The Beatles were a group made up of four very complex men – my small hand could not have broken those men up. They broke up because they’d reached an end; but in doing so they all created wonderful new beginnings.”
Yoko Ono

"No one person could have broken up a band, especially one the size of the Beatles."
Yoko Ono

"What the Beatles did was something incredible, it was more than what a band could do. We have to give them respect."
Yoko Ono

"I didn't know the Beatle's songs so well until I started to become responsible for them. Having to check it, listen to it, and make sure everything is alright reminded me how each one has some kind of special energy."
Yoko Ono

"John loved and prayed for the human race. Please tell people to pray the same for him. Remember that he had deep faith in love and that, though he has now joined the greater force, he is still with us."
Yoko Ono, December 1980

“I felt I knew him...John referred to Stuart daily.”
Yoko Ono about Stuart Sutcliffe

"Now Daddy is part of God. I guess when you die you become much more bigger, because you're part of everything."
Sean Lennon, December 1980

 

"I love my dad, but being Ringo's son is the biggest drag in my life. It's a total pain."
Zak Starkey

"John is so special because he writes right away what he feels."
Klaus Voormann

“When it started with the big Lennon and McCartney thing, and it was hit after hit, I used to see George (Harrison) and (ask) ‘Why aren’t you writing the music?’ I think the Lennon and McCartney thing was too much for him to sort of handle.”
Bill Harry

"Look guys, if you're just going to stare at me, I'm going to bed!"
Elvis Presley to the Beatles when they met August 27, 1965

“There is no way I’d be doing what I do now if it wasn’t for The Beatles. I was watching the Ed Sullivan show and I saw them. Those skinny little boys, kind of androgynous, with long hair like girls. It blew me away that these four boys in the middle of nowhere could make that music."
Gene Simmons, KISS

“I read up on The Beatles, who they were, where they were from. I learnt about Liverpool, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Ringo’s band, and The Quarrymen and all that. I read up everything they did in the news. I followed their failures and their successes."
Gene Simmons, KISS

"The Beatles were a band, of course, and I loved their music. But they were also a cultural force that made it OK to be different. They didn’t look like everyone else, and they still made the girls scream.”
Gene Simmons, KISS

"I don't know about friends, but what time I spent with The Beatles they were very courteous to me."
Peter Tork of The Monkees

"It was like a merry-go-round in my head, they looked absolutely astonishing... My whole life changed in a couple of minutes. All I wanted was to be with them and to know them."
Astrid Kirchherr on meeting the pre-fame Beatles

"The clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious" and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right."
Norman Smith, recording engineer, of the growing conflict during the Rubber Soul sessions

".... the most sophisticated pop musician that I knew of and liked was Paul McCartney."
Freedy Johnston

"... Then my mother gave me a copy of "Let it Be" by the Beatles. It was all over after that. I bought every Beatles album and every album by anyone who hung out with the Beatles- The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, etc. I went through the British Invasion about 20 years too late."
Miles Zuniga, Fastball

[8pints]

Personally I love them;

 

Baby on board, how I've adored, that sign on my car's window pane.......Classic

[dAVe80]

Personally I love them;

 

Baby on board, how I've adored, that sign on my car's window pane.......Classic

 

That song writes it's self...

 

"Baby on Board, something something Burt Ward..."

[turnbull]

Beatles were far better after the drugs kicked in.

 

Magical Mystery Tour is proof of the influence of performance enhancing substances. It's bonkers but brilliant.

 

I remember watching the film at the age of 7 when the BBC showed it at Christmas. I was mesmerised, even though I saw it on a tiny black and white TV.Obviously I hadn't got a clue what was going on, good job really. 

 

It's a great album too, often overlooked in some circles for Sgt P et al., but has some great songs (Fool on the Hill my personal fave).

[mjmooney]

 

Everything you hear today owes something to them.

Nope, it is exactly overblown ludicrous statements like this, that makes me hate them even more

There are people out there that will tell you they invented psychedelia... Hello 13th Floor Elevators, just like that other great innovator David Jones they quite often took other peoples ideas and passed them off as their own. (there is nothing wrong with this, rock n roll is the ultimate derivative artform) but to then claim that everything owes something to the Beatles is ludicrous by the very nature of genres we're dealing with

There is plenty of music being made out there today and all the time since the 60's that is not influenced in any shape or form by the Beatles. I'd rate the Beatles influence of present day music as actually being lower than Kraftwerk

And if we're going to say that all music owes something to the Beatles we might as well take it back a step further and claim it all owes something to Lonnie Donegan and Elvis

There are plenty of acts completely devoid of any influence from the Beatles and even those that are will probably find that what they thought came from the Beatles actually came from someone else first

 

 

Sorry, but you're wrong. 

 

You think The 13th Floor Elevators would have existed without The Beatles? Not a chance. Nor The Velvet Undergound, or all those other bands that didn't sound like The Fabs. They needed the environment of guitar bands that exploded in the USA after the 1964 Ed Sullivan shows. 

 

Of course, your point about Lonnie Donegan and Elvis is correct. The Beatles were the product of Elvis, Chuck Berry, early motown girl groups and country - nothing exists in a vacuum. But some acts had a seismic effect that caused a major swerve. 

 

However, for the reasons LondonLax points out above, it'll never happen again. 

Edited November 14, 2013 by mjmooney