Better than the Beatles?

[Hutch]

best and biggest band of all time? they were ok, but in the end, they were a bunch of over-rated, over-hyped scousers. much of their music was more derivative than innovative, and even the more original material (sergeant pepper et al) consisted largely of drug induced nonsense.

for starters i give you: The Rolling Stones. still going several decades after the beatles broke up. of course the Stones have a vast back catalogue. the beatles also made few albums. so where do we go for comparison? how about the first song on each band's first album:

now this is an all time classic. without checking i couldn't tell you who wrote it, but i do know there have been many other versions, notably by chuck berry and nat king cole. a fitting start to their career on vinyl.

looking at the above example. you see mccartney especially as a noddy headed scouser with a silly haircut. oh and it was the beatles who kick started the trend for masses of teenage girls scrreaming hysterically drowning out the music.

on film, Catch us if you Can is a FAR better film than either Help or Hard Days Night. not a scouse accent in earshot.

[Maksimov]

and even the more original material (sergeant pepper et al) consisted largely of drug induced nonsense.

I like a lot of the stuff they've done, but once I heard the first few Pink Floyd singles, I couldn't help thinking that those must have been a pretty big inspiration on writing the stuff for the Sergeant Pepper album.

Of course, I understand (at least) some of the fellas from Pink Floyd were quite high on quite a few substances back then.

[BlueBeard]

There was very much a north/south divide in 60's bands. Below is a list of some of the bands of the time.

The north were represented by the likes of: -

The Beatles

Gerry & The Pacemakers

The Hollies

The Animals

The Searchers

Herman's Hermits

Freddie & The Dreamers

The Swinging Blue Jeans

while London had: -

The Rolling Stones

The Small Faces

The Who

The Yardbirds

The Kinks

The Action

The Dave Clark Five

The Tremeloes

Obviously there were groups from other areas of the UK: -

The Spencer Davis Group

Them

Traffic

The Troggs

The Moody Blues

The Marmalade

The Move

Amen Corner

Manfred Mann

There can't be much argument that London won hands down! My favourite bands of the era were the Small Faces, Who, Stones, Animals, & Beatles. I didn't get into the Yardbirds stuff until later :D

[Reido of the Ormeau]

We don't have much to add from Northern Ireland, but a worthy mention to Them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSSlksYXoR8...feature=related

Can't claim that they were better than the Beatles, but still pretty damned good.

Stones for me

Edited May 7, 2010 by Reido of the Ormeau

[blizeH]

Better than the Beatles.

[Hutch]

We don't have much to add from Northern Ireland, but a worthy mention to Them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSSlksYXoR8...feature=related

Can't claim that they were better than the Beatles, but still pretty damned good.

Stones for me

in the "what are you listening to" thread, i mentioned i'd just got hold of a few episodes of "ready steady go". as it happens, the second of these includes the very first appearance of van the man and his band on UK TV doing that very same song. i've got the bes of Them somewhere. brilliant band but not exactly long-lasting. unlike Van Morrison. so was Van Morrison better than the beatles. DEFINITELY!!

how's this for another connection. i've posted a few georgie fame tracks in the same thread, and georgie fame's best album (in my opinion) is Cool Cat Blues. which includes a quite superb cover of moondance. try this one for size:

more early Them:

live version of Caravan:

[mad_mac]

there are undoubtably better bands than the Beatles, but the stuff they did write was great, they were also pioneering and a load of what they did brought attention to other bands, and certainly exploded them in America.

I'm not saying for one minute that without the Beatles none of these other bands wold have existed, but I'm certainly saying that the beatles happened at a pivotal point in history, and music.

I really like the beatles, but it was through them that I was introduced to other bands. I'd rate the Who and the Stones way above them, but I don't think either of those two were as "important" to the music industry as a whole.

Bands today still cite the Beatles as one of their biggest influences.

Scott

[loz]

The Mac Lad is pretty much spot on in my opinion. The Beatles are not the greatest ever but they are certainly right up there and I think it is a little too easy to write off their innovative stuff as being drug induced nonsense as that over emphasises a minority of the lyrics and neglects the extent to which they brought together a whole host of music styles.

However back to the question about who was better than the Beatles. The way I see the music league table Pink Floyd sit at the top and the league association has retired positions two, three and four as they can't find another band who should be placed so close to genius; and that is before and after Syd Barrett (yes before as well Plokoon, clean your ears out).

oh position 5 belongs to The Smiths and 6 to Showaddywaddy.

[BlueBeard]

I don't think there's much question that The Beatles were the best ever pop band, especially up until 1967, though a lot of groups gave them a run for their money.

Best ever band though? No. I find it nearly impossible to select just one band as 'best ever', but on my short list would be: -

Pink Floyd (all eras)

Free

Deep Purple (Mark II only)

Creedence Clearwater Revival

The Who

The Rolling Stones

The Faces

Led Zeppelin

[Hutch]

i'll go along with a lot of what's been written in this thread so far. i don't actually hate the beatles - hopefully it's apparent that i was being just a little tongue in cheek. in fact i'd rate rubber soul as one of my favourite albums of all time, it's definitely my favourite beatles album. the terms "best" and "better" are of course highly subjective. there is a vast musical difference between please please me and abbey road, for instance. i think it's fair to say that barring the occasional abberation, bands like the stones stayed truer to their musical roots. which isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing.

Rubber Soul side 1:

[Hutch]

Rubber Soul side 2:

[PloKoon13]

I was in an Irish pub the other day and the drunken landlord, overhearing me talk about how good 'Come Together' is, rushed upstairs and returned with a battered copy of 'Help!' on vinyl, which he then gave to me. ^___^

[BlueBeard]

Must admit, I think that "Rubber Soul" & "Revolver" are far superiour to anything The Beatles did after, including "Sgt.Peppers".

I just clicked on the "Run For Your Life" clip, Stride, one of my favourite Beatles tracks of all. That track must contain one of the best ever opening lines of any song...

"I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man"

Brilliant stuff!

Hmmm, idea for another thread - 'best opening lines in songs'...

[BlueBeard]

I was in an Irish pub the other day and the drunken landlord, overhearing me talk about how good 'Come Together' is, rushed upstairs and returned with a battered copy of 'Help!' on vinyl, which he then gave to me. ^___^

Never mind drunken landlords, let's hear about the important stuff! Like, have you hunted down those babes who did the radio show between 1pm and 2pm before your show? If so, what was the result? If you're still looking, good luck, get in there my son!!!

[Chippy]

Must admit, I think that "Rubber Soul" & "Revolver" are far superiour to anything The Beatles did after, including "Sgt.Peppers".

I just clicked on the "Run For Your Life" clip, Stride, one of my favourite Beatles tracks of all. That track must contain one of the best ever opening lines of any song...

"I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man"

Brilliant stuff!

Hmmm, idea for another thread - 'best opening lines in songs'...

Start that thread mate it would be interesting, it would give me another chance to bang on about "I was only Joking" by Rod Stewart...Ever since I was a kid at School, I messed around with all the rules,

Apologised then realised, I'm not different after all.

Loved it and its been from tape player to CD player in my Car since I was first driving.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Chippy

[Maksimov]

Hmmm, idea for another thread - 'best opening lines in songs'...

I thought we had one, but if not, someone should probably start that thread. It could be me, but I'd have to think of some good opening lines first and my attention span is equal to a three year old at the moment, so that will have to wait until the match is over.

[Hutch]

Must admit, I think that "Rubber Soul" & "Revolver" are far superiour to anything The Beatles did after, including "Sgt.Peppers".

agree entirely. those two albums represent at the height of their creativity while - and this goes for rubber soul especially - still retaining a freshness and spontaneity missing from their later albums. i think i'll leave it to someone else to post "revolver" though... oh ok just the one:

rumour has it this was lennon having a go at jagger, the bird in question being marianne faithful.

sod it here's another one:

I just clicked on the "Run For Your Life" clip, Stride, one of my favourite Beatles tracks of all. That track must contain one of the best ever opening lines of any song...

"I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man"

Brilliant stuff!

Hmmm, idea for another thread - 'best opening lines in songs'...

go for it!

here's my starter for 10:

"blue is the colour, football is the game, we're all together and winning is our aim"