The Beatles

[br d]

I was sort of born between two stools. As a little kid I have vague recollections of my mum dancing around the kitchen to Beatles songs and I remember a couple of their albums being in the house but I was only 5 when they broke up so it didn't really register.

Then at 13 or 14 punk hit and I spun into that and all the subsequent musical movements. I have a hugely eclectic taste in music and have always prided myself on liking Elvis, Nile Rodgers, Tom Waits, Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, the Cockney Rejects and Mark E Smith in equal measure. I always thought I had a handle on this stuff, I thought I knew my music. I never thought I was an expert in anything but loving Bob Marley as much as The Temptations must mean I've thought these things through right?

I didn't mind the Beatles, they had some good songs, how could they not with such a wide cannon of material? They were there, ever present but I didn't really get them.

About 10 years ago I started playing an instrument and my interest in music became even more immediate. The first 7 or 8 years was all about learning to play the stuff I love, Brian Setzer and Rockabilly being my main influence. I'm no musical theory expert but playing an instrument does wonders for turning over stones you hadn't previously noticed.

And so, The Beatles.

I started to get a little more interested, I've never really liked Lennon, always seemed a bit of a cock to be honest but I started sniffing around their stuff more intently.

It's a revelation, a fking revelation.

What these 4 guys did over an 8 year period is nothing short of miraculous. For me they literally re-invented Western music. They took Bach, Jazz, Big Band and Blues and spat out harmony, melody and wonder across all of it to make music the like of which we will never see again. We simply can't see it again because they've already done it.
There are a million bands and singer songwriters making superb music right now but frankly none of it could have existed without them.
I surprise myself by sounding like some sad little fanboy but this is just how it is.

I still think Lennon personally was a cock but fk me what genius went with it. Four people who got born, got together and got inspired at exactly the right time to change the entire future of popular music.

I'm spending hours on YouTube catching up on what I've been missing for 40 odd years. Over all that time I've been listening to people say "Oh yeah but the Beatles were the best", now I'm finally getting it.

We can all list a thousand artist who did something, somewhere better than them and somebody who they took inspiration from but as a whole? As an influence on everything we have now?

Nah, this really is where it all comes from.

Edited by br d on Saturday 20th October 17:53

Edited by br d on Saturday 20th October 17:55

[br d]

For years I've been pointing out certain chord progressions, lyrical oddities and melodic shifts to my friends in the many groups and artists I've come to love with that smugness that comes from certain discovery. And now I'm going through the Beatles back catalogue it turns out they did all this stuff first, long before anybody else.

There are bands I've spent 40 years loving only to find a single Beatles track that seems to have been the inspiration for everything they ever did. I can hear just about every song and production trick that all my favourite artists produced in a single song!

I'm very aware that I may be over doing this but fk I'm enjoying myself! I honestly didn't listen to this stuff before and I'm being swallowed up!

Rubber Soul is on constant repeat at the moment and even after a lifetime of drowning in a cornucopia of musical styles and genres I'm struggling to think of anything better than this.

[br d]

Seeing as I started this thread I thought I'd better chip back in.

I'm having a beer today, the other half has gone out and is staying at her sisters so it's any music I like blaring through the house via Spotify.

I intended to have a good trawl though the Beatles stuff I'm unsure of and settling in sensibly in a way that reflects well upon a man of my advancing years. However, I've only got as far as blasting Back In The USSR and I Saw Her Standing There at light bulb melting volume and jumping around like a demented idiot.

Christ I love this band. in a way I'm glad it took me all this time to get them. It's like I've loved every type of music throughout my whole life and am finally discovering why.

[br d]

Really into Help at the moment. This feels like the first proper Beatles Album. Obviously they had some great self penned tracks on albums before this (Saw her standing there is still on constant repeat for me) but this one seems to be when they really matured as song writers. I accept I could be completely wrong.

[br d]

Something else worth noting. Both help and rubber Soul only have one song each that's over 3 minutes long. They were so succinct, so many classic songs just done and dusted, no padding.

[br d]

And one more post into my journey of Beatles discovery.

When I snuff it, which will definitely be before my beloved partner, I will have In My Life as my dead song. I realise I'm about 40 years too late to the party for picking that as my burning up accompaniment but I can't think of anything more appropriate.