Am I Alone In Hating The Beatles..?

[TheGushinRussian]

I am in no way aiming to troll any Beatles fans out there, because, well, most of you objectively are to some extent. I too was once a pretty big fan. The last year, an adoration that began as a young child has metamorphosized into a deep resentment. As I grow older, I begin to find a deeper and deeper hatred for the superficiality that manifests itself in the popular music of the early 60's, which, of course, revolves around the god damn Fab Four. We're all led to believe that everything today stems from the ****ing Beatles infalliable, unequivocal contribution to music. Let's be honest, if Dylan hadn't released the groundbreakingly poetic and conceptually revolutionary Freewheeling, and proceed to tell The Beatles that their music didn't mean jack shit, we might live in a very different world, and not just musically. 5 out of the 10 records on RS top 500 were conceived by the Beatles. You expect me to believe that they made 5 out of the 10 greatest albums of all time? Horse shit, sir. Rubber Soul, Revolver, Pep, White Album, Abbey Road, all solid albums, sure. Excellent melodies, I must applaud McCartney for his genius. Lennon can write some fantastic lyrics, makes some truly interesting allusions and plays on words. George, Ringo, each talented musicians in their own right. BUT 5 OUT OF THE 10 ****ING ALBUMS!?!? You might as well make a top 10 artists list and slot The Beatles in there 7 or 8 times. You know, maybe every year of the 1960's incarnation of the Beatles starting in 62. Genius. They're whimsical, playful, poppy sound compares not to a band of true intellectual prowess like Floyd. Floyd writes an album about the very nature of life and it's many facets that we often either fear, take for granted, or fail to consider at all, in an album entirely diverse in its songs compsoition, it's masterful poetry, concise musicianship, and brilliant concept. A truly all encompassing magnum opus of music. I'm sorry, bands and artists like Floyd and Dylan are perhaps best appreciated by those who climb their way up the IQ charts, the Beatless overall sound just had a more poppy, broad appeal. Sure, In My Life, A Day In The Life, Norweigan Wood, Helter Skelter, Strawberry Fields, Don't Let Me Down, Eleanor Rigby, etc., there's some truly meaningful Beatles tracks out there. I just don't get it, how have they come to overshadow everyone of their generation. Here's a subjective list of albums not by the Beatles that are better than everything by the Beatles, yes, subjective, as this entire post was.

Pet Sounds, Dark Side Of The Moon, Blonde On Blonde, Blood On The Tracks, The Velvet Underground and Nico, Exhile On Main Street, Layla, Electric Ladyland, many more.

 

[AboutAGirl]

What's wrong with pop music, though? And Bob & The Beatles influenced each other. And The Beatles influenced Pink Floyd, and The Stones, and Hendrix, does that mean they aren't good because they needed The Beatles to influence them? Of course not, and the fact that Dylan inspired The Beatles to get deeper doesn't mean they aren't good just because DYlan had to influence them.

If you simply didn't like The Beatles, that'd make perfect sense. But I think your U-turn on them seems exaggerated. I get that the culture surrounding them is overzealous but should that really change how you feel about their music? The music is the same whether people overrate it or not.

Me, personally, I like The Beatles but I don't love them. I don't think they've done anything that's on par with the better half of material by Floyd, Neil, Doors, Stones, Hendrix, etc.

 

[Johnny-Too-Good]

All artists are influenced by other artists, and The Beatles are no exception, but I would argue that, in our lifetime, no other individual, or group of individuals, have been as influential as The Beatles on the very subject that this board is all about. Firstly they pretty much invented pop music as we know it today, and when they retired to the studio they opened the doors to an avalanche of ideas which resulted in a freedom for bands to move things forward.

 

[SensoryOverload]

Frankly the Beatles couldn't help that they were that ****in good. To be fair, they also don't really give 2 shits about those lists anyways. I think one of the reasons there also so huge is the fact Lennon was shot in 1980 (you could consider his prime) much like how Jimi Hendrix is now super hyped cause of dying in his prime. Both the Beatles and Hendrix were very revolutionary and like you said, those albums you listed are masterpieces.

However, I think the earlier albums that were just straight pop, aren't on their cause of how good the songs were, but rather how they made GROUPS of musicians big again- like 4 dudes as opposed to an Elvis where 1 guy just plays the songs of the best songwriters. And in the early 1960s, music was pretty flacid before booming in the late 60s.

However, you're right on those other albums. IMO best 5 band ever- Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and I guess you could say The Who


Queens of the Stone Age and Radiohead are also pretty ****in amazing and influential as far as since the 90s (I have em both over Nirvana frankly) but there still too "recent" to beat out those others

 

[Vader]

I think you're putting far too much emphasis on what others say about The Beatles rather then just making your own observations about their music and then either enjoying or disliking it / them based upon their musical merits alone.

 

[Jet]

I think the fans put them way up there on a pedestal. There is no denying that they did a lot of very original things with music, but they all admired the artists who came before them. Even their name "The Beatles," was thought up with Buddy Holly And The Crickets, in mind. Paul McCartney owns ALL of Buddy Holly's music catalogue. Paul also said that when he heard Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips" for the first time, chills went up his spine. I know that all four of them were big fans of a lot of the black artists who came before them.

 

[Vehicle]

This is an awful lot of effort being put into hating a band.

If I don't like a band, I'm not going waste time with them.

 

[Magic]

This is an awful lot of effort being put into hating a band.

If I don't like a band, I'm not going waste time with them.

 

[JerseyGirl]

This is an awful lot of effort being put into hating a band.

If I don't like a band, I'm not going waste time with them.

I agree. I never understood how a person can have such hatred for a band/musician to go so overboard in slamming them. Why care that much? To me it doesn't sound like hatred at all, but maybe jealousy?

 

[Aero]

I agree. I never understood how a person can have such hatred for a band/musician to go so overboard in slamming them.

Can an exception be made for Nickleback? ***: