THE BEATLES

[László]

Amazing story, incredible stuff.

I was floored. And excited for him!

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Awesome stuff. There’s so many of these where Ringos drums are amongst the very best aspects of the song - amazingly creative parts and incredible groove. Absurd amount of compression on the piano, macca doing macca things on bass, and loads of other cool tidbits.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Awesome stuff. There’s so many of these where Ringos drums are amongst the very best aspects of the song - amazingly creative parts and incredible groove. Absurd amount of compression on the piano, macca doing macca things on bass, and loads of other cool tidbits.

Great - but these seem to come from a stem separation, so it's hard to tell what the sources really sounded like.

 

[Jynx]

As a kid in the 80s I had The Beatles shoved down my throat. They were everywhere. You couldn't go to a kids party without hearing them. We used to play musical chairs to them. We'd do the activities in Butlins or Pontins and we'd do little dances to their songs.

Then when I became a teen there was a Beatles resurgence due to bands like Blur and Oasis and all the other kids were talking about how great they are.

I was listening to metal, grunge, hip-hop, and dance. The Beatles just sound like soft shit to me. One step above nursery rhymes.

Even when I started listening to '60s rock I discovered Jimi, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, and The Who, etc. I didn't understand why people were pushing The Beatles on me when all this great stuff existed. Far more rebellious and edgy than 'I wanna hold your hand'.

I could probably make a playlist of about 10 songs of theirs I think are good and even then I'd barely listen to it because any time I reach for something to listen to they'd be so far down the list I'd have already picked something else before I got to them.

That said I think the band themselves are far less insufferable than some of their fans. I've never seen the fans of any other music get so offended because someone has the audacity to say they don't think much of them. I've never recieved the condescending, almost pitying look of any fans of any other music for saying I don't like them (not unlike the one some religious people do when you say you don't believe in God). Or had anyone else try corner me and force me to listen to their music to try prove that I'm objectively wrong, convinced I just need to hear the real Beatles and I'll be converted.

I won't bend to Beatles fascism.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

As a kid in the 80s I had The Beatles shoved down my throat. They were everywhere. You couldn't go to a kids party without hearing them. We used to play musical chairs to them. We'd do the activities in Butlins or Pontins and we'd do little dances to their songs.

Then when I became a teen there was a Beatles resurgence due to bands like Blur and Oasis and all the other kids were talking about how great they are.

I was listening to metal, grunge, hip-hop, and dance. The Beatles just sound like soft shit to me. One step above nursery rhymes.

Even when I started listening to '60s rock I discovered Jimi, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, and The Who, etc. I didn't understand why people were pushing The Beatles on me when all this great stuff existed. Far more rebellious and edgy than 'I wanna hold your hand'.

I could probably make a playlist of about 10 songs of theirs I think are good and even then I'd barely listen to it because any time I reach for something to listen to they'd be so far down the list I'd have already picked something else before I got to them.

That said I think the band themselves are far less insufferable than some of their fans. I've never seen the fans of any other music get so offended because someone has the audacity to say they don't think much of them. I've never recieved the condescending, almost pitying look of any fans of any other music for saying I don't like them (not unlike the one some religious people do when you say you don't believe in God). Or had anyone else try corner me and force me to listen to their music to try prove that I'm objectively wrong, convinced I just need to hear the real Beatles and I'll be converted.

I won't bend to Beatles fascism.

This was basically me until my early 20’s, I was too stubborn and ignorant to accept that they were more than Yellow Submarine, Twist and Shout and Yesterday. When I crawled out of my own arse a bit (I was listening purely to metal, prog, dance, indie back then) it started to make sense to me.

I agree that some Beatles fans can be annoying, but I also find the people who think they’re edgy by saying “They’re sooooo overrated” to be annoying, partly because I can relate to what I was thinking when I used to say that.

 

[Jynx]

This was basically me until my early 20’s, I was too stubborn and ignorant to accept that they were more than Yellow Submarine, Twist and Shout and Yesterday. When I crawled out of my own arse a bit (I was listening purely to metal, prog, dance, indie back then) it started to make sense to me.

I agree that some Beatles fans can be annoying, but I also find the people who think they’re edgy by saying “They’re sooooo overrated” to be annoying, partly because I can relate to what I was thinking when I used to say that.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Lol. You're trying to turn my dislike of The Beatles into a personal failing or claim that I'm just trying to be different to be 'edgy'.

I've listened to their entire discography. I'm a 46 year old grown up. I know what I like and what I don't like. Thank you very much.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Great - but these seem to come from a stem separation, so it's hard to tell what the sources really sounded like.

There’s always the actual album versions?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Lol. You're trying to turn my dislike of The Beatles into a personal failing or claim that I'm just trying to be different to be 'edgy'.

I've listened to their entire discography. I'm a 46 year old grown up. I know what I like and what I don't like. Thank you very much.

Ha and you’re joining a thread called THE BEATLES to tell everyone how you think their music is a level above nursery rhymes and not rebellious or edgy enough for you. Heard it countless times, even from my own mouth.

What sort of response do you expect from people who are clearly avid fans?

 

[Jynx]

Ha and you’re joining a thread called THE BEATLES to tell everyone how you think their music is a level above nursery rhymes and not rebellious or edgy enough for you. Heard it countless times, even from my own mouth.

What sort of response do you expect from people who are clearly avid fans?

This is a discussion forum, no?

I said what I think of The Beatles from personal experience, and although I gave examples of things that actually happened to me with regards some fans, not even a significant proportion, I didn't try undermine anyone's opinion by saying something like, 'Well you obviously just like them because everyone else does because you're a conformist', which would be a reversal of what you're trying to say to me.

And don't worry, I've heard it all before with regards to what you are saying to me now too. 'I used to be like you', 'When you're older you'll understand', etc.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

This is a discussion forum, no?

I said what I think of The Beatles from personal experience, and although I gave examples of things that actually happened to me with regards some fans, not even a significant proportion, I didn't try undermine anyone's opinion by saying something like, 'Well you obviously just like them because everyone else does because you're a conformist', which would be a reversal of what you're trying to say to me.

And don't worry, I've heard it all before with regards to what you are saying to me now too. 'I used to be like you', 'When you're older you'll understand', etc.

I think if there were some valid criticisms then there would be something interesting to discuss - I’m certainly not of the view that everything they did was faultless, and in a lot of ways, the things that didn’t quite work are more interesting. Many Beatles fans enjoy the fact that their sound progressed from writing simple love songs into deep psychedelia and big complex arrangements.

Their work (300 odd songs spanning all kinds of genres) is far too varied to tar it under the same brush - yes some songs are (purposefully) childish melodies. Yes, some have throwaway lyrics. Yes, some songs are soft, or not rebellious sounding.

Those kinds of critiques are like someone wading into a metal thread and saying “I don’t get the hype, it just all sounds like screaming and noise to me”. It’s essentially just bait for people to dive in and bicker.

The early stuff may not sound that heavy compared to what came later; but their covers of Chuck Berry and Little Richard etc definitely kicked things up a notch.

I think there is a distinct difference between not liking something, and not thinking it’s good. Their work has been far too influential and far reaching across almost all forms of art (and continues to be so) for it to be dismissed so casually. If you don’t like it, fair enough. But I bet 99% of all your favourite bands, film directors, painters, photographers etc have taken a massive influence from them.

I don’t particularly like Monty Python but I can’t deny that its influence is enormous, and all things considered, I’m objectively wrong. I enjoy far too much that is heavily influenced by it, as well as Terry Gilliam's own work to dismiss it entirely.

 

[Jynx]

I think there is a distinct difference between not liking something, and not thinking it’s good. Their work has been far too influential and far reaching across almost all forms of art (and continues to be so) for it to be dismissed so casually. If you don’t like it, fair enough. But I bet 99% of all your favourite bands, film directors, painters, photographers etc have taken a massive influence from them.

I don’t particularly like Monty Python but I can’t deny that its influence is enormous, and all things considered, I’m objectively wrong. I enjoy far too much that is heavily influenced by it, as well as Terry Gilliam's own work to dismiss it entirely.

I agree on all of this section. I've only so far mentioned I'm personally not that enamoured by them but yes, lots of my favourite bands love them. I understand perfectly their place in time and their influence. I just much prefer many of the bands they influenced over them and would reach for them before The Beatles even got a look in.

And I can even say similar about metal because although I know they started the genre, I far prefer the bands that were inspired by Black Sabbath over them, as they just sound a little corny to me.

I don't think it follows that enjoying some current medium means you have to also like the influences. I love James Joyce and Seven Samurai and it's clear to me their imprint on all modern literature and film but I can also see why some people wouldn't like them and would never try to use, 'You wouldn't have any of this stuff without them', because it's not clear to me this is necessarily a fact. That if not them it wouldn't just have been someone else.

 

[Sascha Franck]

There’s always the actual album versions?

Sure. But I'm mainly interested in the source sounds, because I find it interesting to see how easy (or maybe also not as easy) they blend together, simply because folks knew damn well how to pre-prepare their recordings, pretty often in some rather unusual fashion, almost kinda counteracting with the good old "shit in, shit out" saying.
I stumbled across some original stems over the years (like stems leaked from digital backups of the old tapes) and some of them have been quite eyeopening. For instance, there might be two drum tracks, each sounding completely horrible on their own but just great once mixed together.
You can get a sort of impression of that from the Making Of Sgt. Pepper, but it's a lot more interesting to have direct access, being able to inspect each and every track.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Sure. But I'm mainly interested in the source sounds, because I find it interesting to see how easy (or maybe also not as easy) they blend together, simply because folks knew damn well how to pre-prepare their recordings, pretty often in some rather unusual fashion, almost kinda counteracting with the good old "shit in, shit out" saying.
I stumbled across some original stems over the years (like stems leaked from digital backups of the old tapes) and some of them have been quite eyeopening. For instance, there might be two drum tracks, each sounding completely horrible on their own but just great once mixed together.
You can get a sort of impression of that from the Making Of Sgt. Pepper, but it's a lot more interesting to have direct access, being able to inspect each and every track.

For sure. So much of the beatles stuff would have gone through several rounds of comping and bouncing stuff down, as well as fairly brave committing of sounds when being put down on tape.

And likewise, I suspect at mixdown, there wouldn’t have been a great deal of additional processing - mostly fader rides, some reverb, some tidying up here and there.

Always fascinating to hear what goes into the sausage, it’s crazy how musically isolated some of the parts can seem and when they all add together something magical happens. So many little happy accidents left in that all add to it

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I don't think it follows that enjoying some current medium means you have to also like the influences. I love James Joyce and Seven Samurai and it's clear to me their imprint on all modern literature and film but I can also see why some people wouldn't like them and would never try to use, 'You wouldn't have any of this stuff without them', because it's not clear to me this is necessarily a fact. That if not them it wouldn't just have been someone else.

I suppose this gets into nitty gritty of semantics and liking vs appreciating. There is tons of great art/film/music that I don’t necessarily enjoy but I can be equally amazed/inspired/affected by it, even if I can only indulge in it from time to time.

With the Beatles, it’s not just about the huge influence they had on others music, but also the influence outside of the music itself. Even now their remasters and documentaries are at the forefront of new technology.

A lot about the Beatles is fairly run of the mill, and could have been anyone - so much of the story is just the right people in the right place at the right time. I actually find it fascinating how they went from being a fairly run of the mill, lazy/unmotivated band of scallies into the biggest band of all time.