The beatles were fucking fantastic!

[Animavore]

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".

[tattuchu]

What's interesting to me about The Beatles is the...I'm not sure what to call it...promotion? The constant promotion, if I'm using the right word. There were Beatles movies, music videos, Beatles Christmas messages, Beatles...well, Beatles everything. They were everywhere. But it was all very creative and entertaining and fantastically well done (let's ignore the Magical Mystery Tour film). I took it for granted at the time, because that's just the way things were. But I can't imagine other bands making movies, or doing Pythonesque Christmas addresses. Was there ever anything like this before? And who was responsible for this whole Beatles promotional machine?
Maybe it was a carry-over from the old days? I suppose both Elvis and Sinatra were in films, after all

[tattuchu]

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".

Invent? Well of course not. But make it the norm, to be expected from then on? Perhaps yes.

[Animavore]

Was there ever anything like this before? And who was responsible for this whole Beatles promotional machine?

Surely it was Brian Epstein?

[Animavore]

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".

Invent? Well of course not. But make it the norm, to be expected from then on? Perhaps yes.

No. They didn't. This is the bias I'm talking about. It came out of the whole scene they were already in and a part of.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The problem with all the "Beetles were the greatest" is that they weren't.

[tattuchu]

Was there ever anything like this before? And who was responsible for this whole Beatles promotional machine?

Surely it was Brian Epstein?

"They wore leather jackets, played sleazy German titty bars and, perhaps most shockingly, their hairdos did not match."


Yeah, he was their manager I suppose. I never knew what exactly he did, what exactly his role was.

[Animavore]

Was there ever anything like this before? And who was responsible for this whole Beatles promotional machine?

Surely it was Brian Epstein?

"They wore leather jackets, played sleazy German titty bars and, perhaps most shockingly, their hairdos did not match."


Yeah, he was their manager I suppose. I never knew what exactly he did, what exactly his role was.

He was a manager

[Audley Strange]

Beatle fan writes favourably about The Beatles. Surprise, surprise.

Nope. Rolling Stone vote Beatles the best band ever and then invite famous person to write about them.

You are clearly having trouble facing reality sir.

No. I'm not. I've heard it all before about other bands and scenes from various documentaries. "It was a Golden era", "It was like nothing before", "they exploded on the scene", "it was new and exctiing"... etc. Costello's article is no different to countless I've come across on artists like The Sex Pistols or Bowie and many more all, coincidently, by people who "were there".

See now I absolutely agree with what you're saying how we hagiography our favourite bands and latch on to them yes certainly. I saw something on BBC4 celebrating Screamadelica for fuck sake which even on E was at best patchy. I wasn't there and what I was at mostly never seemed that awesome to me. So I get that. I even get that you don't like the Beatles. I fucking HATE Abba, always have, always despised them, I think they are fucking terrible, but I can see clearly how they worked the form better than their peers and in doing so transformed it. As for Justin Beiber, the comparison IS fair so far as they were both cutesy disposable pop bands.

However if Justin Bieber suddenly changed from being a disposable teeny-bopper to being both publicly and critically reknowned for many classic songs, who's albums sell hundreds of thousands of copies after he's dead, when he brings Death Metal, Voodoo Porn Rap and Grindcore to the public in his acid drenched concept album, then we could accurately compare.

[tattuchu]

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".

Invent? Well of course not. But make it the norm, to be expected from then on? Perhaps yes.

No. They didn't. This is the bias I'm talking about. It came out of the whole scene they were already in and a part of.

You may be right. I was very young at the time so I can't say. Just speaking from subjective personal experience.

[Animavore]

However if Justin Bieber suddenly changed from being a disposable teeny-bopper to being both publicly and critically reknowned for many classic songs, who's albums sell hundreds of thousands of copies after he's dead, when he brings Death Metal, Voodoo Porn Rap and Grindcore to the public in his acid drenched concept album, then we could accurately compare.

He's young yet

[tattuchu]

Was there ever anything like this before? And who was responsible for this whole Beatles promotional machine?

Surely it was Brian Epstein?

"They wore leather jackets, played sleazy German titty bars and, perhaps most shockingly, their hairdos did not match."


Yeah, he was their manager I suppose. I never knew what exactly he did, what exactly his role was.

He was a manager

Of course. I meant I never knew precisely what he did for them, and how large a role he played.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

He got them bookings.

[Animavore]

And promoted them. Had posters printed out and booked studio time for them etc...

Y'know. Manager stuff

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And promoted them. Had posters printed out and booked studio time for them etc...

Y'know. Manager stuff

Yep, he was the one with business sense. Like the Colonel did for his pet project.