The Beatles Primer

[Comus]

The beatles are utter shite and the only good thing that came out of it was While My Guitar Gently weeps (because of Clapton) and Wings, fight me bitches.

[Rubber Soul]

The beatles are utter shite and the only good thing that came out of it was While My Guitar Gently weeps (because of Clapton) and Wings, fight me bitches.

[Comus]

And the worst thing is that while my guitar gently weeps is now a prince song. He owns that shit, the beatles have nothing to point to anymore.

[ribbons]

Actually, I didn't like Prince's guitar take on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - way too histrionic and show-offy.  Jumping around mimicking Hendrix with horrible tone does not a great guitarist make. 

Agree with you about Wings, though. 

[Lisnaholic]

The beatles are utter shite and the only good thing that came out of it was While My Guitar Gently weeps (because of Clapton) and Wings, fight me bitches.

Well, I will accept your invitation and fight you on most of those points, Comus !
i) The Beatles, for years, were consistently coming up with some of the best 3-minute songs of their era. There were other 60s bands around, but not many writers who could rival the Lennon-McCartney songbook imo.
ii) The Beatles were also pioneers in moving away from the simple catchy pop song, and with albums like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper introduced the idea that an album was a carefully crafted work of art, not just a collection of tunes.
iii) rather than being some high point, I think that While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a plodding exercise in spiritual superiority from G Harrison. A couple of good lines in the lyrics, but I always feel that the subtext here is GH saying, "my banal insights, as the suffering artist, make me more aware than you guys", a sentiment he expresses in a string of rhyme-driven clankers like: sleeping/sweeping and unfold/controlled/sold you. Unfortunately, the pace of the song doesn't give the lyrics any place to hide, although, as you suggest, at least Clapton's guitar work helps push the whole thing along.

On a more concillatory note, I like how your user-name and avatar keep the memory of a weird album alive, Comus. 

 

[ribbons]

Although I suspect we're of a minority opinion, Lisna, I'm definitely with you on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".  A "plodding exercise in spiritual superiority" it is; sometimes George got a bit overly dour and preachy!  I also think the whole track is musically inert and just drags along as though in quicksand.  Agree with you and Comus that only Clapton's guitar saves that tune.

Incidentally, I've never heard Comus (the band) and am now inspired to listen to First Utterance. 

[Lisnaholic]

I'm glad to find that you agree with me about the over-praised While My Guitar, ribbons - I thought I might be upsetting you with such a critical take on a George song.

Incidentally, I've never heard Comus (the band) and am now inspired to listen to First Utterance. 

I'd be very interested to hear your opinion of that record, because after downloading it about 6 years ago, I still have mixed feelings about it; it feels like something I should like, but the fact is I can never be bothered to play it.

[ribbons]

I'm glad to find that you agree with me about the over-praised While My Guitar, ribbons - I thought I might be upsetting you with such a critical take on a George song.

Not at all, Lisna - it never upsets me if someone criticizes music I like.  After all, it's not my music and I'm not the creative artist.  You are definitely a rarity, though, because whenever I tell other Beatles fans that I dislike "While My Guitar" it seems they're aghast.  The song is a bit of a sacred cow in the Beatles canon.

Incidentally, I've never heard Comus (the band) and am now inspired to listen to First Utterance. 

I'd be very interested to hear your opinion of that record, because after downloading it about 6 years ago, I still have mixed feelings about it; it feels like something I should like, but the fact is I can never be bothered to play it.

I will definitely listen and share my opinion - thank you for asking!

[Rubber Soul]

Aghast, me aghast?

[Lexi Darling]

The Beatles are a band I respect for their influence and they have a small handful of songs I really enjoy. That being said, I do not enjoy the vast majority of their music and a sizable chunk of it I would be fine with never hearing again.

But it is sometimes difficult to have an unbiased opinion as my dad raised me on their music as a young child and I was sick of their sound by the time I was in middle school and started listening to punk and goth and metal which spiraled out into my current taste. Never really looked back on the Beatles other than to trace their influence on the prog and psychedelic bands I did like.

[Rubber Soul]

It's different with me. For me, the Beatles were my gateway for my love of music in general, particularly folk and psychedelia and then punk/new wave, college rock, and beyond. I mean first it was the Beatles, then it was the Rolling Stones and the Who. Then Bowie, later REM- the list goes on.

So, yeah call me a Beatles fan boy.

[ribbons]

Aghast, me aghast?

You look pretty aghast to me 

Like Lady and you and others on this thread, I was introduced to the Beatles in childhood/adolescence via my parents' record collection.  My two older sisters were more like you, Lady, in that they tired of the Beatles early on - but somehow it stuck with me (I think also because it created a bond between my mother and I as I got older).  Like RS, for me the Beatles were the gateway and my tastes evolved to other bands like the Stones, Velvet Underground, jazz, prog, folk, punk/new wave, what have you - my tastes are pretty varied.

But the Beatles will always be the band of my *heart* I guess.  Call me a Beatles fan girl.   

[Lisnaholic]

The Beatles are a band I respect for their influence and they have a small handful of songs I really enjoy. That being said, I do not enjoy the vast majority of their music and a sizable chunk of it I would be fine with never hearing again.

But it is sometimes difficult to have an unbiased opinion as my dad raised me on their music as a young child and I was sick of their sound by the time I was in middle school and started listening to punk and goth and metal which spiraled out into my current taste. Never really looked back on the Beatles other than to trace their influence on the prog and psychedelic bands I did like.

Thanks for pointing out something that (for good or bad) applies to most of us: The Beatles were such an unavoidable presence for so long that it's difficult to separate out the music from the "how we heard it".

Spoiler

My history with the Beatles

My sister bought the Please Please Me album when it came out, so at age 9 I began hearing their music, and became a fan quickly enough to save up my pocket money to get the From Me To You/Thank You Girl single. From then on, between us, we bought every Beatle release as it came out: that was our teen rebellion against our parents' exclusive diet of classical music. So my experience of the Beatles is like the negative inversion of Synth Lady's.

Some years later: after Revolver, my sister began moving irrevocably away from pop music. I bought and loved Sgt.Pepper, but when the White Album came out, the spell was over: I listened to a friend's copy, but it became the first Beatles album that neither of us bought. What had gone wrong? I think it was the up-coming prog-rock musicianship that did it for me: in terms of instrument playing and ambition of composition, The Beatles had dropped the batten in the relay race. Looking back, I think the tell-tale moment was actually that rare (or unique) Beatles instrumental, Flying, which perhaps should've been called Flailing as it so clearly demonstrated how they weren't really up to the long musical workouts that other bands were exploring.

(And if Rubber Soul happens to read this far, that's why the White Album is not a favourite with me. That was the watershed, and I never bought a Beatles album again -- partly because, as per Lady Synth, you're going to hear them anyway. ) 

[close]

[Rubber Soul]

It does matter how you're introduced to a very popular icon. Nobody likes anything shoved down their throats and I'm sure that was the case with the Beatles as well. It's hard to be touted as the greatest band ever and expect everyone to follow like you're the Pied Piper.

Of course the Beatles circa White Album/Abbey Road are a totally different band than the moptop Beatles. Thus, it's possible to like one era while not being so crazy about the others. I know people that swear by late Beatles but can't stand anything as late as even Sgt. Pepper.

But for me, I love the whole thing (though even I tend to listen more to the Rubber Soul/ Revolver period)