Ask Your Question today
Seriously. I know most of the songs and I get the timing and significance of their introduction to the states at Shea Stadium and how their evolution from kids to men reflected the changing times they lived but enough already. Let it be.
The Beatles deserve all the praise they get. The thing is, the only way a band can become overrated is if the people make it that way. The Beatles are a great band but unfortunately they are overrated because people tend to make a big deal about things that need to be left alone, and the media doesn't help.
Its just like Nirvana and their song Smells like teen Spirit. This is very overrated now because as soon as Kurt died everyone started saying "Nirvana was the greatest band ever." and "Kurt Cobain was a great guitarist." even though Kurt himself said he knew he wasn't that good at guitar.
I'm a Beatles fan so this is going to be biased. In the spirit of fairness, I'll start by saying the Beatles weren't 100% original. But that absolutely applies to everyone. The Beatles were influenced by American music. Directly by Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly. Indirectly by the people who influenced those people themselves. The 1920's blues and proto-rock of largely black America.
While I accept that the Beatles brought together many varying schools of sound, they did it so effectively that - even today - I can easily detect the Beatles in new artists. It's been forty years, but it's still there. If you don't like them, you don't like them. I accept that. But if you look at it objectively, they were the band that were biggest when television was allowing transatlantic exposure. That's their good fortune rather than their skill but even so, listen to the full ouvre and name me one band who came up with a back catalogue as equally rocky, surreal, melodic, heartbreaking, and purely joyous as the Beatles did.
There may be something sadder than Eleanor Rigby or She's Leaving Home or Yesterday. There may be something more bluesy than Get Back or She Came In Through The Bathroom Window. There may be something more surreal than I Am The Walrus. There may be something more psychedelic than Yellow Submarine. There may be something more romantic than Something. There may be something more anthemic than Hey Jude. There may be something more hippie than All Tou Need Is Love. There may be a better wink to drug-induced states than Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. There may be a better tribute to alternative religion than Across The Universe. There may be a more wistful song than While My Guitar Gently Weeps. But can you really think of a single band that has done all those things? There are plenty of bands who have done one. But all of those things?
And I say this without even mentioning my two favourite songs. Strawberry Fields Forever talks to me about my own youth and A Day In The Life is one of the best songs I've ever heard or will ever hear. Even moreso that it's been forced together by two geniuses who would never agree, written half by each and somehow shoehorned into a masterpiece.
And finally, don't discount George Harrison. I didn't even mention Here Comes The Sun. When something of that quality becomes an afterthought, you really have to wonder about the quality of what indeed was thought.
not my all time favorite band. i have one band i set above all others (embrace), and then i go in phases on all other bands. currently into punk rock, and feeling a bit bored of the beatles, as i just had a beatles phase, but COME ON!
they may not be classed as rock anymore, but they started all the motions which created rock. loads of rock and even some metal artists say the beatles have influenced them. their lyrics are INSPIRED.
just the sheer volume of songs they produced should tell you how good they were that they all sound different, that is variety. i cant believe someone has asked this. excuse me while i find a rope...