ewe2
14-02-2006, 10:07 PM
"There's a lot of stars in the business and a very few who made it very, very big. We were a biggy." - Ringo Starr
So what was it about this band?
Why should we even consider them in this day and age, and do you have to learn them like boring old kings and queens and dates?
Firstly I grew up with this music. I can actually remember them from when I was a toddler in 1967 to when they broke up during my 2nd year in primary school. One of my earliest musical memories is of Penny Lane, and I can still picture the filmclip for Strawberry Fields Forever. Scary, isn't it?
I wasn't so aware of the music prior to Sgt. Peppers, and by that time it had been covered by brass bands, early synthesizers and dozens of Dusty Springfield lookalikes and Joe Cocker clones. But I've never forgotten the emotional impact of songs like Here Comes The Sun, and The Long and Winding Road.
Now, I'm not expecting you to know any of their stuff or even like it. But I do think that if you have any interest in understanding popular music and perhaps why so much of it is crap these days, you'll have to grapple with one of its defining exponents.
It's true to say that rock music, as taken seriously as art, did not exist before the Beatles. They are a kind of blueprint for so much that we take for granted musically these days, almost as if Elvis had gone to the mountain, been told he would see the promised land but never inherit it, and came down with the Beatles Ten Commandments. So in hope that they give you some compass for navigating the history of music of the last 40 years, here they are:
Thou Shalt Be A Group
Popular guitar-based groups did not exist before the Beatles. Yes, I hear you say, but what about Rory Storm and the Hurricanes? Precisely. It was always a (insert star name) and (flashy name for followers) deal. Marketing the whole band instead of a star and a backup band was a new idea. I'm not claiming the Beatles invented it. They were the first to make it work.
Thou Shalt Write Thy Own Material
Unbelievable as it may seem, most performers didn't compose and most composers didn't perform in the early 1960's. Even the Beatles had to fight to get a word in edgeways on the covers they performed on their early albums. Noone expected a band to have hits with their own stuff. It didn't change the industry overnight, but the fact that back then, people had to compare Lennon & MacCartney to the composers of musicals gives you some idea of the novelty of it. They sounded different, and it wasn't just the musical style, it was their own words, their own attitude.
Thou Shalt Have An Image
Again, this might seem bloody obvious to us now but it wasn't then. The Beatles came with a ready-made marketing gimmick (the hair), attraction for the demographic (cute cheeky and optimistic), and their own sound. It was so successful that many record companies these days cling to the image and forget everything else. The Beatles had real opinions and sang about their world in their own words. All You Need Is Love wasn't mere image, they really wanted you to believe it.
Thou Shalt Be Original Even Playing Covers
Looking at the first four or so albums, you'll notice a lot of cover material. This was the way things worked on albums of the time and as you'll see they slowly pushed the covers out. But the covers themselves were no afterthought. Listen to Long Tall Sally, Money, Twist and Shout, Please Mr Postman. In every one of those songs, the Beatles took American songs, made them their own and not only successfully sold it back to America, they completely displaced the music they paid homage to. It's very difficult for someone to cover a song so successfully that listeners are almost unaware they are covers. And very few since the Beatles have had that kind of success except perhaps the Rolling Stones, who copied the Beatles like everyone else. Quick, how many big Beatles covers can you name? Interesting isn't it?
Thou Shalt Not Stick To Formulas
The Beatles had an uncanny sense for how long they could push a particular musical style, a recording technique, a fashion. They didn't need to be told when or how to change their image or music: their first "incarnation" only lasted two years from 1962 to 1964. It only seems like a long era because they released something like six albums in that time. After that, every album was different, coinciding with a complete change in band fashion, even down to the drugs they took. The Beatles never waited to see what was cool, they decided what was cool and did it themselves. Anyone half as good tries to do this in their own careers.
Thou Shalt Challenge Thy Audience To Follow You
And not only did they change what was cool, they took everyone with them. I can only dimly recall how FUCKING HUGE these guys were in their day, but take it from me, everyone paid attention when they did something. This doesn't mean they weren't using what they found interesting at the time, but to give one example: they liked Dylan. They started using accoustic guitars on their recordings (as early as Help!). Lennon started to write Dylanesque lyrics. Their sound changed as a result. People began to pay attention to the lyrics now, and accoustic guitars were in everything. You expected something different with a new Beatles album. You were challenged, you learnt something, you went with it. Few artists have ever done this, but all of the good ones try to.
Thou Shalt Push The Envelope
Of more importance to musicians are the advances the Beatles made in recording technology, and songwriting technique. Several actual inventions were created in their quest for recording excellence, and if there was a machine they could exploit, they used it. Backwards guitar, double-tracked vocals, multi-tracking, tape loops, on some albums there were sometimes several new things per song. Not to mention the extraordinary number of good songs they wrote. They invented new styles of rock music almost off the cuff. You can practically hear all of them on one album, The Beatles, also known as the White Album. So much, in fact, that excepting perhaps reggae and electronic dance music, I can't think of one style they didn't cover. Let's not forget the contributions of Harrison and Starr either. George Harrison did more to promote a musical cultural exchange in popular music than anyone. Ringo is one of the all-time most influential drummers, who never felt the need to blow his musical horn unless the song demanded it. As a longtime musician myself, I know what an invaluable talent that is.
Thou Shalt Expect The Sharks
The Beatles had a creed which basically boiled down to pro-Beatle. It wasn't particularly political, but it was generally anti-business, which became rather ironic when they founded Apple Corps. The Beatles were, in fact, the first publically-floated self-publishing company (Beatles Inc). Nevertheless, both they and their understandably inexperienced manager were still taken for untold millions. The Beatles are a good study for what not to do when you become a success in the music industry and many artists have been careful not to repeat their mistakes. Such as selling off your own compositions to meet tax obligations. Such as offering money to any tom dick or harry to sign on your record label. Then hiring a dodgy manager who then sues you for everything once he got you to sign on the dotted line. Having to sue each other to get out of your mutual contracts and only being partly successful. The list is long and sad. But the suits only had a partial victory.
Thou Shalt Get Out While The Going's Good
Boy is this a hard one to learn for most artists. I like to point to the Rolling Stones for what can happen when you're too afraid to grow up. As with many of their professional decisions, they knew where the wind blew and went with it. Given that Lennon had actually wanted to stop back in 1966, it gives you some idea how carefully they weighed up their industry standing, and when it really didn't work, they didn't hesitate to call it a day.
Thou Shalt Resist A Come-Back
And the correlate to Commandment #9 is never to come back for "just one more tour". "When you go back to school" said Lennon to every hopeful stab at That Question until the day he died. But they DID collaborate to make Ringo's 4th album a success, although not all in the same room. And later Harrison said much the same thing to the effect that John would have to stop being dead. I'm betting that Ringo will be the next to go. Everyone around Paul MacCartney seems to die, which is a bit spooky. And after all, we'll always have the music.
So there are 10 reasons why The Beatles were important, even if you know nothing else about them. Some bands have several of these components, none have had the full package, and perhaps that's inevitable. But you're missing the real band if you don't listen to the music.
Paul had the sexiest voice in rock. John wrote about cool stuff. George played great solos. Ringo put a rockin' beat on it and didn't let you off until the end of the song. Together their music said: "don't be a number, be yourself. We're right behind you."
Links:
Beatles.com (http://www.beatles.com)
Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles)
So what was it about this band?
Why should we even consider them in this day and age, and do you have to learn them like boring old kings and queens and dates?
Firstly I grew up with this music. I can actually remember them from when I was a toddler in 1967 to when they broke up during my 2nd year in primary school. One of my earliest musical memories is of Penny Lane, and I can still picture the filmclip for Strawberry Fields Forever. Scary, isn't it?
I wasn't so aware of the music prior to Sgt. Peppers, and by that time it had been covered by brass bands, early synthesizers and dozens of Dusty Springfield lookalikes and Joe Cocker clones. But I've never forgotten the emotional impact of songs like Here Comes The Sun, and The Long and Winding Road.
Now, I'm not expecting you to know any of their stuff or even like it. But I do think that if you have any interest in understanding popular music and perhaps why so much of it is crap these days, you'll have to grapple with one of its defining exponents.
It's true to say that rock music, as taken seriously as art, did not exist before the Beatles. They are a kind of blueprint for so much that we take for granted musically these days, almost as if Elvis had gone to the mountain, been told he would see the promised land but never inherit it, and came down with the Beatles Ten Commandments. So in hope that they give you some compass for navigating the history of music of the last 40 years, here they are:
Thou Shalt Be A Group
Popular guitar-based groups did not exist before the Beatles. Yes, I hear you say, but what about Rory Storm and the Hurricanes? Precisely. It was always a (insert star name) and (flashy name for followers) deal. Marketing the whole band instead of a star and a backup band was a new idea. I'm not claiming the Beatles invented it. They were the first to make it work.
Thou Shalt Write Thy Own Material
Unbelievable as it may seem, most performers didn't compose and most composers didn't perform in the early 1960's. Even the Beatles had to fight to get a word in edgeways on the covers they performed on their early albums. Noone expected a band to have hits with their own stuff. It didn't change the industry overnight, but the fact that back then, people had to compare Lennon & MacCartney to the composers of musicals gives you some idea of the novelty of it. They sounded different, and it wasn't just the musical style, it was their own words, their own attitude.
Thou Shalt Have An Image
Again, this might seem bloody obvious to us now but it wasn't then. The Beatles came with a ready-made marketing gimmick (the hair), attraction for the demographic (cute cheeky and optimistic), and their own sound. It was so successful that many record companies these days cling to the image and forget everything else. The Beatles had real opinions and sang about their world in their own words. All You Need Is Love wasn't mere image, they really wanted you to believe it.
Thou Shalt Be Original Even Playing Covers
Looking at the first four or so albums, you'll notice a lot of cover material. This was the way things worked on albums of the time and as you'll see they slowly pushed the covers out. But the covers themselves were no afterthought. Listen to Long Tall Sally, Money, Twist and Shout, Please Mr Postman. In every one of those songs, the Beatles took American songs, made them their own and not only successfully sold it back to America, they completely displaced the music they paid homage to. It's very difficult for someone to cover a song so successfully that listeners are almost unaware they are covers. And very few since the Beatles have had that kind of success except perhaps the Rolling Stones, who copied the Beatles like everyone else. Quick, how many big Beatles covers can you name? Interesting isn't it?
Thou Shalt Not Stick To Formulas
The Beatles had an uncanny sense for how long they could push a particular musical style, a recording technique, a fashion. They didn't need to be told when or how to change their image or music: their first "incarnation" only lasted two years from 1962 to 1964. It only seems like a long era because they released something like six albums in that time. After that, every album was different, coinciding with a complete change in band fashion, even down to the drugs they took. The Beatles never waited to see what was cool, they decided what was cool and did it themselves. Anyone half as good tries to do this in their own careers.
Thou Shalt Challenge Thy Audience To Follow You
And not only did they change what was cool, they took everyone with them. I can only dimly recall how FUCKING HUGE these guys were in their day, but take it from me, everyone paid attention when they did something. This doesn't mean they weren't using what they found interesting at the time, but to give one example: they liked Dylan. They started using accoustic guitars on their recordings (as early as Help!). Lennon started to write Dylanesque lyrics. Their sound changed as a result. People began to pay attention to the lyrics now, and accoustic guitars were in everything. You expected something different with a new Beatles album. You were challenged, you learnt something, you went with it. Few artists have ever done this, but all of the good ones try to.
Thou Shalt Push The Envelope
Of more importance to musicians are the advances the Beatles made in recording technology, and songwriting technique. Several actual inventions were created in their quest for recording excellence, and if there was a machine they could exploit, they used it. Backwards guitar, double-tracked vocals, multi-tracking, tape loops, on some albums there were sometimes several new things per song. Not to mention the extraordinary number of good songs they wrote. They invented new styles of rock music almost off the cuff. You can practically hear all of them on one album, The Beatles, also known as the White Album. So much, in fact, that excepting perhaps reggae and electronic dance music, I can't think of one style they didn't cover. Let's not forget the contributions of Harrison and Starr either. George Harrison did more to promote a musical cultural exchange in popular music than anyone. Ringo is one of the all-time most influential drummers, who never felt the need to blow his musical horn unless the song demanded it. As a longtime musician myself, I know what an invaluable talent that is.
Thou Shalt Expect The Sharks
The Beatles had a creed which basically boiled down to pro-Beatle. It wasn't particularly political, but it was generally anti-business, which became rather ironic when they founded Apple Corps. The Beatles were, in fact, the first publically-floated self-publishing company (Beatles Inc). Nevertheless, both they and their understandably inexperienced manager were still taken for untold millions. The Beatles are a good study for what not to do when you become a success in the music industry and many artists have been careful not to repeat their mistakes. Such as selling off your own compositions to meet tax obligations. Such as offering money to any tom dick or harry to sign on your record label. Then hiring a dodgy manager who then sues you for everything once he got you to sign on the dotted line. Having to sue each other to get out of your mutual contracts and only being partly successful. The list is long and sad. But the suits only had a partial victory.
Thou Shalt Get Out While The Going's Good
Boy is this a hard one to learn for most artists. I like to point to the Rolling Stones for what can happen when you're too afraid to grow up. As with many of their professional decisions, they knew where the wind blew and went with it. Given that Lennon had actually wanted to stop back in 1966, it gives you some idea how carefully they weighed up their industry standing, and when it really didn't work, they didn't hesitate to call it a day.
Thou Shalt Resist A Come-Back
And the correlate to Commandment #9 is never to come back for "just one more tour". "When you go back to school" said Lennon to every hopeful stab at That Question until the day he died. But they DID collaborate to make Ringo's 4th album a success, although not all in the same room. And later Harrison said much the same thing to the effect that John would have to stop being dead. I'm betting that Ringo will be the next to go. Everyone around Paul MacCartney seems to die, which is a bit spooky. And after all, we'll always have the music.
So there are 10 reasons why The Beatles were important, even if you know nothing else about them. Some bands have several of these components, none have had the full package, and perhaps that's inevitable. But you're missing the real band if you don't listen to the music.
Paul had the sexiest voice in rock. John wrote about cool stuff. George played great solos. Ringo put a rockin' beat on it and didn't let you off until the end of the song. Together their music said: "don't be a number, be yourself. We're right behind you."
Links:
Beatles.com (http://www.beatles.com)
Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles)