The Beatles

Off Topic
41

[quote]Vicomte wrote:
weezer wrote:
Dustin- You need to get some new friends. Not seeing the value in the Beatles and their music is just sad.

Though this comment is six years old, I feel the need to address it.

Beatles fans seems to have some kind of chip on their shoulders, like everyone must admire the Beatles or they are an idiot. Like any other band, some people like their music, others don’t.

The Beatles are not special, they are not God’s Gift to music, they are just another band that also happens to be quite popular. Their music is not inherently better than any other music; some people love it, some hate it.

I don’t expect everyone to like my favorite band, nor do I pretend that it is of higher intrinsic musical quality than any other. I just like it.

I do not like the Beatles, but this does not mean they are not liked by others diverse musical tastes. I certainly wouldn’t condescend to say they are any worse than any other musical ensemble. That said, they have no value not attributed to them by any individual person.[/quote]

this isn’t true. great art is not judged subjectively but collectively. the more people who identify, the more generational, geographical, and cultural boundaries crossed, the more a work continues to teach, enrich, and remain an active and valid in current life(rather than being a mere museum piece) the greater status that must be given to it.

you could take your guitar to any city in the world and any one of a hundred beatles tunes could be an ambassador that creates common ground and a personal connection to share with someone, musician or not, you might other wise never know. that is real value. you could probably do that with other great bands like the stones or zeppelin or even elvis but to a much lesser degree.

Their cultural contribution is ENORMOUS…most significantly being they brought the idea of “stick it to the man” to life in that they were the first major group to write their own music and make a shitload of money doing it. they opened the floodgates and created the formula for ALL rock music that followed to this day…

anyway… the fact is that the value of the beatles catalouge today is $1,100,000,000 - $1,600,000,000. McCartney just made deal to put beatles tunes on itunes for $400,000,000… i mean jesus christ dude !! you still think the beatles “have no value” ???

there’s not another band out there generating that kind of money, which pretty much makes the beatles THE BAND. which is about as far from being “just another band” as a band can get.

42

swivel said

“there’s not another band out there generating that kind of money, which pretty much makes the beatles THE BAND. which is about as far from being “just another band” as a band can get”.

Actually, amazingly enough Celine Dion (not my first choice) recently blew by the Beatles in overall sales. Having come from that era, there was always a distinct two sides to the Beatles phenomenom.

On one side of the street were the Beatles, the clean rather “mod” group both in sound and appearance and there was the Stones, the bad boys from up the street. The Beatles wore collarless suits, the Stones wore denim and leather.

The Beatles did yoga and LSD, the Stones did Heroin. Right or wrong is not the point, this is where they were at the time. The Beatles died about 1968, Let it be came out in 1970 but they were already gone by then. The Stones have never stopped touring and yes they are getting ready for another geriatric tour but hey they are still and always will be the greatest rock and roll band in the world and in history.

So if you are counting money and longetivety, then the Stones win by attrition. When the helicopters came flying through the clouds on full tilt rock n roll in Apocalyse Now, they weren’t playing Yellow Submarine.

43

[quote]lixy wrote:
jp_dubya wrote:
Do they do any Britney Spears covers?

Booo!

The Beatles remain the most covered band of all times.[/quote]

Harrison and Lennon are covered nicely

44

[quote]swivel wrote:
Vicomte wrote:
weezer wrote:
Dustin- You need to get some new friends. Not seeing the value in the Beatles and their music is just sad.

Though this comment is six years old, I feel the need to address it.

Beatles fans seems to have some kind of chip on their shoulders, like everyone must admire the Beatles or they are an idiot. Like any other band, some people like their music, others don’t.

The Beatles are not special, they are not God’s Gift to music, they are just another band that also happens to be quite popular. Their music is not inherently better than any other music; some people love it, some hate it.

I don’t expect everyone to like my favorite band, nor do I pretend that it is of higher intrinsic musical quality than any other. I just like it.

I do not like the Beatles, but this does not mean they are not liked by others diverse musical tastes. I certainly wouldn’t condescend to say they are any worse than any other musical ensemble. That said, they have no value not attributed to them by any individual person.

this isn’t true. great art is not judged subjectively but collectively. the more people who identify, the more generational, geographical, and cultural boundaries crossed, the more a work continues to teach, enrich, and remain an active and valid in current life(rather than being a mere museum piece) the greater status that must be given to it.

you could take your guitar to any city in the world and any one of a hundred beatles tunes could be an ambassador that creates common ground and a personal connection to share with someone, musician or not, you might other wise never know. that is real value. you could probably do that with other great bands like the stones or zeppelin or even elvis but to a much lesser degree.

Their cultural contribution is ENORMOUS…most significantly being they brought the idea of “stick it to the man” to life in that they were the first major group to write their own music and make a shitload of money doing it. they opened the floodgates and created the formula for ALL rock music that followed to this day…

anyway… the fact is that the value of the beatles catalouge today is $1,100,000,000 - $1,600,000,000. McCartney just made deal to put beatles tunes on itunes for $400,000,000… i mean jesus christ dude !! you still think the beatles “have no value” ???

there’s not another band out there generating that kind of money, which pretty much makes the beatles THE BAND. which is about as far from being “just another band” as a band can get.

[/quote]

This is exactly what I’m talking about. All music must be judged subjectively, and what is collective judgment but the subjective opinions of individuals in agreement? I do not feel any connection through the Beatles music, because I think it is the worst kind of crap.

If one enjoys it, a connection may be felt, like any other music. The Beatles hardly invented ‘stick it to the man’. Their music, for the most part, pandered to the people, and was just about as commercial(which is why it makes so much money) as you can get. If you don’t realize this, eating dinner with the man is not sticking it to him.

As far as judging the Beatles by how much money they make, allow me to simply chuckle in amazement. That has absolutely no bearing on what I said. Bill Gates is incredibly rich, but does this mean he is better than anyone else or even that everyone likes him?

This is a perfect demonstration of the Beatle-worship that I was talking about. Do you not realize that people have differing tastes in music, and that your opinion is not the only one that matters?

45

[quote]Vicomte wrote:
This is exactly what I’m talking about. All music must be judged subjectively, and what is collective judgment but the subjective opinions of individuals in agreement? I do not feel any connection through the Beatles music, because I think it is the worst kind of crap. [/quote]

sorry dude but the music that sticks around is the music that is popular. that’s just the way it is. and the difference is are you popular for a week, a summer, a few years, or DECADES ?

It’s not every other band that can get teenagers to dig them in multiple decades you know. there are radio stations out there that play nothing but led zeppelin. hell there’s even a jimmy buffet station. you think that’s because there’s just one or two guys who like them ?

[quote]
If one enjoys it, a connection may be felt, like any other music. The Beatles hardly invented ‘stick it to the man’. Their music, for the most part, pandered to the people, and was just about as commercial(which is why it makes so much money) as you can get. If you don’t realize this, eating dinner with the man is not sticking it to him.[/quote]

nobody made money in music back then except for the companies. musicians did what they were told and got paid shit for it. nobody else, not even elvis, was independent of the man. elvis ate dinner with the man. the beatles ate the man’s dinner. not only that but they told him what to cook. that difference is everything.[quote]

As far as judging the Beatles by how much money they make, allow me to simply chuckle in amazement. That has absolutely no bearing on what I said. Bill Gates is incredibly rich, but does this mean he is better than anyone else or even that everyone likes him?[/quote]

chuckle away but it’s not about the money, it’s about value. the money is an indicator of value… the fact that people are still playing beatles songs that are now 40-50 years old is amazing. the fact that they are PAYING for them is fucking unbeleivable. as for blll gates…

yes the fact that he’s created something that the whole world finds useful does make him better than a whole lot of people who didn’t…though i doubt anyone will be using windows in 50 years. i have no doubt though that musicians will still be covering “come together”.[quote]

This is a perfect demonstration of the Beatle-worship that I was talking about. Do you not realize that people have differing tastes in music, and that your opinion is not the only one that matters?[/quote]

no, it’s not a “perfect demonstration” because i’m not even a fan. and i do realize that people have differing tastes in music and because personally i’ll take the kinks over the beatles any day of the week but i’m still here posting how damn great the beatles are in spite of my own personal tastes. that’s how much i realize it. jeez-s dude i don’t listen to mozart either but i’m not stupid enough to try and discount his genius.

46

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:

I’m reading Hammer of the Gods right now, and it’s badass.

Yeah! I read that back in '88 and loved it.

[/quote]

I got a newer copy with an extra chapter involving their Live-aid reunion. I don’t know how much extra it brings to the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

To the guy who asked about the Stones song: Sympathy for the devil and can’t you hear me knockin’. To the poster who said the Beatles are direclty responsiblr for the influx of bands after, you are absolutely right. If they hadn’t “made it”, there would be no Cream,Zep, Stones,etc…

47

Yesterday is one of my favs!