Are The Beatles the greatest band of all time?

[Bold Seagull]

Having though about this a little my vote goes to Pink Floyd's contribution up until Wish You Were Here. They were more ground breaking than the Beatles during that period imo and I get more from those albums these days than I do from any of the Beatles albums. I can happily listen to all of them all the way through, I tend to get a bit bored with the Beatles after less than an album nowadays.

Atom Heart Mother
Meddle
Dark Side of the Moon - arguably the greatest album ever
Wish You Were Here

Not a big fan of anything from the Wall onwards though.

Can't disagree other than The Final Cut has grown into one of my favourites. With the back drop of the band in meltdown, it is just a frighteningly personal and moving piece of work exploring the very nature of loss and the effects of war. Roger Waters exploration of losing his Dad in WWII as a child is laid bare, and it's amazing piece of work for that.

 

[Mellotron]

Nonsense. You might not like them, and they certainly are not cool, but 'awful'? Their output was vast and varied, covering all manner of styles and they even got a mini-opera in Bohemian Rhapsody to number 1 twice. And, they were an incredible live band. I was lucky to see them as a teen and to this day I maintain it is the best show I have seen. Why do you think they were so '****ing awful'? If you want to remain credible you will need to explain yourself

Yeah fair enough. Just not to my taste, I respect their output and creativity.

 

[Randsta]

they just ripped off the beach boys

 

[Mellotron]

Dark Side Of The Moon is pretty much perfection.

 

[Icy Gull]

they just ripped off the beach boys

Going a little off topic, I saw an interview with Brian Wilson (could have been one of the other Beach Boys who said it though) where he said that Keith Moon would have left the Who in a heartbeat if he could have been the Beach Boys drummer. Can you imagine?

 

[teaboy]

Music did not start with the Beatles. It certainly didn't end with them. I wouldn't class them as the as-yet-undefined 'greatest'. Of course they were influential, but they were also influenced by the music produced before them (like everyone else will always be). There is no single greatest band of all time, and as soon as you start defining boundaries (eg greatest post-war 4-piece British pop band) you remove so much music to invalidate the point.

Were they the technically most competent musicians? No.
Were they in the right place at the right time? Absolutely.
Were they socially important? Yes.
Were they socially unique? Of course not.

They produced some good music, and some truly awful music (like most bands ever). Young kids loved them, like young kids loved Elvis, Michael Jackson, Take That and One Direction.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Ah! Yes.....the Kinks.....one of my favourite songs.......youtube.com/watch?v=FsHjvJ1aw40

Rasa Davies backing work in this song is gorgeous. She never gets any recognition for her contribution to arguably their greatest period of musical production.

The songs wouldn't have been as good without her input.

Waterloo Sunset, Sunny Afternoon

 

[FamilyGuy]

No.

Yes.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Having though about this a little my vote goes to Pink Floyd's contribution up until Wish You Were Here. They were more ground breaking than the Beatles during that period imo and I get more from those albums these days than I do from any of the Beatles albums. I can happily listen to all of them all the way through, I tend to get a bit bored with the Beatles after less than an album nowadays.

Atom Heart Mother
Meddle
Dark Side of the Moon - arguably the greatest album ever
Wish You Were Here

Not a big fan of anything from the Wall onwards though.

I'm a fan of PF and of the Beatles - I think that we need to recognise that Pink Floyd etc probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the success of the Beatles (and The Beatles followed the success of Elvis, who followed Glen Miller, etc.) and so it goes around.

 

[Buzzer]

I'm a fan of PF and of the Beatles - I think that we need to recognise that Pink Floyd etc probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the success of the Beatles (and The Beatles followed the success of Elvis, who followed Glen Miller, etc.) and so it goes around.

I think everyone has acknowledged what you've said, although Glenn Miller to Elvis is debatable but I fail to see how any of that moves this debate forward.

 

[PWA]

Very easy to say Yes, go deep into music and you will be putting No.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I've seen Chemical Brothers twice and both times they were great. I think live they just turn every thing up to 11 and go for it...but it works for them.

Oh, and lazers, lots of lazers. I bloody love lazers.

 

[C1 BHA]

Radiohead

oops, meant :banghead:

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Oh, and lazers, lots of lazers. I bloody love lazers.

Lasers!

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Lasers!

He is just a lazy speller !

 

[1901]

A poor Oasis.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Very easy to say Yes, go deep into music and you will be putting No.

Yes of course, everyone else, Elvis Costello, Paul Weller, all these great artists that love the Beatles don't go deep into their music.....

 

[1234andcounting]

The influence of the Beatles is enormous, although they themselves were the first to credit the original rock and rollers (Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins), popularised early American soul and Motown (with covers of Money, Please Mr Postman, Anna (Arthur Alexander), etc, etc. They also liked and covered old fashioned standards ("A Taste of Honey"). Through three of the greatest songwriters of all time, they assimilated this and made unparallelled music over a very short time-frame. They were fortunate in having one of, if not the greatest producers of all time in George Martin. Whilst once their own filters were removed in their solo careers, the musical quality waned somewhat, check out the early solo albums for some great songs (Mother, I Found Out, Working Class Hero on Plastic Ono Band, Maybe I'm Amazed or Every Night on McCartney, What Is Life, Wah Wah, Waiting On You All on All Things Must Pass).

They remain critically acclaimed; can anyone ever see Sgt Pepper being knocked off from the greatest album of all times in an average of polls (rather than a one off). Check the number of books about the Beatles as opposed to any other act; only Dylan really runs them close. And hugely commercially successful. Not sure how the downloads did when they were released, but 1, when released in 2000, some thirty years after they split, sold 25 million world wide. I genuinely can't see any of the other acts identified in this thread matching this.

All this to me makes them the greatest. Not necessarily my favourite, but the greatest single contributors to popular music in the twentieth century.

 

[Icy Gull]

the greatest single contributors to popular music in the twentieth century.

Hard to argue with this tbh

 

[fat old seagull]

What about "The Monkees" ?


Alright I know 'Taxi for Fat Old Seagull' !