The beatles were fucking fantastic!

[Animavore]

What? Now you're crediting the Beatles with the blues riff?!

This is beyond the joke.

Stop talking shite and read it again.

It has nothing to do with anything. You are mistaking correlation with causality. Blues riffs weren't as popular around the time The Beatles started as when they finished, doesn't mean they are directly responsible for that as many other bands from that scene were doing the same. It seems it was already picking up when they came along.

Before Beatles: Pop music = Rock&Roll = Rhythm&Blues
(More or less, pretty much)

After Beatles: Pop music = Rock = huge range of styles & riffs
(More or less, pretty much)

Not saying they were directly and exclusively responsible, but they had a big hand in it, and there was feedback from other innovators which they fed back in turn.

Ok I fucked that one up. I still think that was happening at the time anyway with or without them.

I guess we could go back in time and kill them and find out.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I lived through this period and a lot of better bands were run under by Beatlemania.

Like who?

Well, I had a collection of 45s that were amazing, but all gone when I got back from S.E.A. I wish I had the list that was in the box then.

[camoguard]

I tend to listen to Rise Against whenever I'm not sure what to listen to. I listen to the Beatles when I'm trying to generate that manic pixie girl movie kind of mood.

[Seabass]

The Beatles didn't invent "writing their own music".

This is the type of thing I have problems with when people talk about The Beatles "changing everything". They seem to conflate "The Beatles" with "The 60s".

I actually love the Beatles, but I agree that some people give them waaaaaaayyy too much credit.

[klr]

So many people fall victim to the "it's played a lot so it must be good" syndrome. When I was in high school they had "Beatle's hour" every morning for the school bus crowd. I would have killed for a Walkman back then.

If it was all the early material, I might have agreed with you. But taking all the later material into account ... it's a completely different ball-game IMHO.

[klr]

Justin Bieber transformed pop music?

Yep, just not in a good way.

[klr]

To be honest, whether you like them or not, (for example I am no fan of The Rolling Stones save We Love you and Paint it Black) one has to respect them for their ablility to transform their medium. They were certainly not alone, but they were popular, massively so and unlike say Zappa or even The wonderous Beach Boys innovations, they're caught the public imagination. The were interfaces between an emergent post-war youth culture and the establishment.

Yeah and without them Oasis would not have existed, nor E.L.O, nor thousands of other bands who's youth was so influenced by them.

Until I saw a very good BBC documentary on Jeff Lynne a few months ago, I never realised how much the E.L.O. sound owed to the Beatles.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So many people fall victim to the "it's played a lot so it must be good" syndrome. When I was in high school they had "Beatle's hour" every morning for the school bus crowd. I would have killed for a Walkman back then.

If it was all the early material, I might have agreed with you. But taking all the later material into account ... it's a completely different ball-game IMHO.

But they only got to that point by playing what was just plain saccharine pop.

[klr]

So many people fall victim to the "it's played a lot so it must be good" syndrome. When I was in high school they had "Beatle's hour" every morning for the school bus crowd. I would have killed for a Walkman back then.

If it was all the early material, I might have agreed with you. But taking all the later material into account ... it's a completely different ball-game IMHO.

But they only got to that point by playing what was just plain saccharine pop.

Well, I blame you Yanks and your Beatlemania for that ...

... although without that early success, they wouldn't probably wouldn't have had the freedom (or time and money) to experiment - and be noticed.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So many people fall victim to the "it's played a lot so it must be good" syndrome. When I was in high school they had "Beatle's hour" every morning for the school bus crowd. I would have killed for a Walkman back then.

If it was all the early material, I might have agreed with you. But taking all the later material into account ... it's a completely different ball-game IMHO.

But they only got to that point by playing what was just plain saccharine pop.

Well, I blame you Yanks and your Beatlemania for that ...

... although without that early success, they wouldn't probably wouldn't have had the freedom (or time and money) to experiment - and be noticed.

Marketing, we do it better than anybody.

[Tero]

So many people fall victim to the "it's played a lot so it must be good" syndrome. When I was in high school they had "Beatle's hour" every morning for the school bus crowd. I would have killed for a Walkman back then.

If it was all the early material, I might have agreed with you. But taking all the later material into account ... it's a completely different ball-game IMHO.

But they only got to that point by playing what was just plain saccharine pop.

They did hold hands and all. But then John wanted the woman to please please him.

[tattuchu]

I actually love all the early stuff

[Audley Strange]

To be honest, whether you like them or not, (for example I am no fan of The Rolling Stones save We Love you and Paint it Black) one has to respect them for their ablility to transform their medium. They were certainly not alone, but they were popular, massively so and unlike say Zappa or even The wonderous Beach Boys innovations, they're caught the public imagination. The were interfaces between an emergent post-war youth culture and the establishment.

Yeah and without them Oasis would not have existed, nor E.L.O, nor thousands of other bands who's youth was so influenced by them.

Until I saw a very good BBC documentary on Jeff Lynne a few months ago, I never realised how much the E.L.O. sound owed to the Beatles.

Heh, I used to think E.L.O songs were Beatles songs when I was a kid.

[Mysturji]

Who needs The Beatles when you have ELO?

[Hermit]

They're ok, but I much prefer Paul McCartney's solo work.

Yeah, I really do believe you. Nothing can beat Mull of Kintyre, Silly Love Songs and suchlike, right?