The Beatles are fucking shit

[syntaxerror]

True story.

[Petey Pate]

They're ok.

[wosl]

They're the best and they're shit and they're all points between.  They're The Beatles, and that's why we all love them.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

They're the best and they're shit and they're all points between.  They're The Beatles, and that's why we all love them.

The famous lyrics to The Beatles animation titles, there.

[Hanslow]

The Beatles are fucking half-decent. They made some really pretty pop songs, but they were hardly Ludwig van.

[Old Nehamkin]

Not trying to stir up controversy, but I think they're pretty great.

[syntaxerror]

Not trying to stir up controversy, but I think they're pretty great.

Fuck you.

[massive bereavement]

[biggytitbo]

7 years. 7 years.

[Replies From View]

Straight away I can see that the "A" in "STAMP" isn't the same on that sweatshirt and the one Harrison is wearing, so it has zero worth.

[imitationleather]

I'd probably think they were class if I'd been alive in the '60s and I got enough time off from fucking Diana Dors to listen to music.

[Vodka Margarine]

Categorically not shit. A great band with plenty of great songs. But that's it. They're just a band. Certainly better than Cast but only about as good as The Cardigans and nowhere near as good as the Cocteau Twins. The uber fans can be a peculiarly po-faced bunch. Listen, THE WHOLE WORLD agrees with you that they're the best band of all time forever. Roll with the punches, for heaven's sake. Allow some sporadic dissent. Get some perspective.

[imitationleather]

I got bought an Abbey Road t-shirt one Christmas and I've never heard the album but I'd still wear it occasionally because I was at the end of a wash cycle and had to wear something out. Those old men you get at Wetherspoons would always come up to me and talk about the record and I wouldn't have a clue what they were on about but I'd be polite and make up some stuff.

[grassbath]

Categorically not shit. A great band with plenty of great songs. But that's it. They're just a band. Certainly better than Cast but only about as good as The Cardigans and nowhere near as good as the Cocteau Twins. The uber fans can be a peculiarly po-faced bunch. Listen, THE WHOLE WORLD agrees with you that they're the best band of all time forever. Roll with the punches, for heaven's sake. Allow some sporadic dissent. Get some perspective.

I'll agree with you that there's nothing more shit-itchingly awful than a massive Beatles fan who doesn't like anything else, or will claim their superiority to every other act in the history of popular music. But in a way I can see why these things happen. If you get into the Beatles and suddenly find that you really enjoy their music - in a fashion that could potentially happen with any band or artist - then you're also suddenly binding yourself with THE BEATLES, with the huge legacy. The perceived agreement of the WHOLE WORLD just fuels that enjoyment and attachment. It's very tempting to get swept up in the legend, to consign yourself to what is being offered: a wealth of constantly evolving material representative of a massive counter-cultural shift, a picturesque geometry of personalities, internal struggles, the rise and fall, the whole story. With these things working in the background of your listening, even material that could quite fairly be deemed mediocre becomes a fascinating part of the puzzle.

Take "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." Perfectly crafted melodic pop song or stomach-churning rinky-dink nonsense? Either way, accompanied by the legend it takes on new dimensions and associations - the increasing distance between the band members, McCartney's egotism, his need for a good editor or collaborator sitting awkwardly with his unfailing ability to write a good tune... maybe this song wasn't the best example to pick but you see what I mean. Their massive popularity begs for speculation and analysis, and I guess it's kind of infectious.

[Serge]

Also, the Cocteau Twins are fucking shit.

[Joy Nktonga]

Shit, Serge; I thought they were one of the untouchable bands. Anybody whose music tastes I hold in high regard loves them. I've hidden my dislike of them for a long time. Now you've been brave enough to say it in public I finally feel that I can announce my feelings about them. Thank you.

The Cocteau Twins are absolutely shite. I cannot stand their music at all.

[Replies From View]

The Beatles would travel in the back of a car with no windscreen, all lying down on top of one another, stacked up cock-to-arse to keep warm.

Can't say that about Dire Straits or whatever your favourite band is.

[Serge]

I thought they were one of the untouchable bands. Anybody whose music tastes I hold in high regard loves them.

To be fair, the untouchable aura around them is through no fault of their own. If they hadn't constantly been held up in such awestruck terms, the sense of disappointment for those of us who simply don't get them probably wouldn't be so great.

[Johnny Yesno]

Also, the Cocteau Twins are fucking shit.

Damn! I can't trust your judgement after all. This is a dark day indeed.

[Petey Pate]

The Beatles were the quintessence of instrumental mediocrity. George Harrison was a pathetic guitarist, compared with the London guitarists of those days (Townsend of the Who, Richards of the Rolling Stones, Davies of the Kinks, Clapton and Beck and Page of the Yardbirds, and many others who were less famous but no less original). The Beatles had completely missed the revolution of rock music (founded on a prominent use of the guitar) and were still trapped in the stereotypes of the easy-listening orchestras. Paul McCartney was a singer from the 1950s, who could not have possibly sounded more conventional. As a bassist, he was not worth the last of the rhythm and blues bassists (even though within the world of Merseybeat his style was indeed revolutionary). Ringo Starr played drums the way any kid of that time played it in his garage (even though he may ultimately be the only one of the four who had a bit of technical competence). Overall, the technique of the "fab four" was the same of many other easy-listening groups: sub-standard.

[Replies From View]

"Guitar groups are on the way out," to quote the always-correct Decca.


One of the reasons I've always loved B*Witched, to be honest.

[Johnny Yesno]

While I'm reluctant to set too much store by instrumental virtuosity, Scaruffi's certainly got something there comparing them to easy listening artists.

[Wentworth Smith]

http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html

The whole thing is in the link above. Some valid ideas, the easy listening angle, spoiled by over-egging the pudding such as with the 'The Beatles released this song... which was copied from this song by someone else' line which seems to appear about a thousand times. Scaruffi seems unable to contemplate that everyone is inspired by or borrows from what came before.

Some odd points too; he seems to put a lot of worth in song (sorry, suite) length, complains that Yellow Submarine is 'childish'(!), and comes out with a useless 'the Beatles had great melodies compared to everyone else but only because everyone else wasn't trying to write great melodies' style argument.

I say: The Beatles were ok.

[wosl]

Shit, Serge; I thought they were one of the untouchable bands.

CT fans have got nothing on 'krautrock' fanboys[nb]And I should know; I am one (but I've had help).[/nb]

[grassbath]

http://www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beatles.html

The whole thing is in the link above. Some valid ideas, the easy listening angle, spoiled by over-egging the pudding such as with the 'The Beatles released this song... which was copied from this song by someone else' line which seems to appear about a thousand times. Scaruffi seems unable to contemplate that everyone is inspired by or borrows from what came before.

Some odd points too; he seems to put a lot of worth in song (sorry, suite) length, complains that Yellow Submarine is 'childish'(!), and comes out with a useless 'the Beatles had great melodies compared to everyone else but only because everyone else wasn't trying to write great melodies' style argument.

I say: The Beatles were ok.

I also think his claim that none of the Beatles' contemporaries admired or spoke highly of their music is flagrantly untrue. Artists of no lesser stature than Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan claimed to be blown away by what they were doing. I can see his point in comparing them to easy listening artists, but his judgement of instrumental ability seems to focus on their very early material. McCartney and particularly Harrison transformed into undeniably top-notch musicians over the course of a few years.

[checkoutgirl]

I want some attention and to make a bit of a name for myself so I tell you what, I'm going to describe why something very popular, even with respected opinions, is absolutely shit. Clearly a 3 year old could come up with better and I feel very clever now saying this. I deserve to say this thing because I am very clever and pretty important. This is clearly derivative of artists and work that came before. That much is obvious.

Now all I have to do is write a book about it and get everyone to buy this book because this will make me money and make me feel even more important than I do already and that's pretty important.

My next book shall be on the reason Jordan's boobs are fake and aren't even that big anyway if you view them from space.

[Petey Pate]

Scaruffi is pretty much accurate in his point that The Beatles were not so much innovators than they were popularisers.  Essentially, they changed the music industry more than they changed music itself.  For instance, they were among the first rock bands to be a self contained group where each member was their own celebrity, as opposed to the front man singer/soloist being the star backed by an anonymous group of musicians.

[the science eel]

Scaruffi is pretty much accurate in his point that The Beatles were not so much innovators than they were popularisers. 

No, he's quite wrong. They were innovators AND they were popularisers.

[Old Nehamkin]

No, he's quite wrong. They were innovators AND they were popularisers.

No you can't be two things stop being ridiculous.

[checkoutgirl]

Essentially, they changed the music industry more than they changed music itself.

And they'll be held up as gods and derided as hacks for the rest of time because of it. No one human being could match up to the reputation and popularity of the Beatles. It's just too big. Does anyone actually really like Paul McCartney?