# Bands that SHOULD be one hit wonders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964 "2004-11-16T00:42:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/21 "2004-11-16T10:51:01Z")
> [@June](#): > > Dude. You can’t \*not \* like the Beatles. Hey **June** , don’t take this bad, They took some bad songs and made them sadder. And welcome to the boards! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/22 "2004-11-16T10:55:30Z")
Hey, I can understand not liking the Beatles. It’s just that accusing their post-1965 work of being repetitious, that doesn’t compute; if anything, their later albums are _too_ varied, lacking any sort of common theme. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/23 "2004-11-16T10:57:48Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > And here we go again and again and again. Yes, we know the Beatles were influential and never did any wrong bleaah bleh bleh ad infinitum. I don’t expect you lot to like the bands I like so _don’t expect everyone to like The fucking Beatles._ We’ve been down this road before. They are not the fucking be all and end all of music people. I smell something made out of straw, I wonder what it could be… They’re not my favorite band at all, and I don’t think they’re the be all and end all of music. But I do know that the Beatles’ songs don’t all sound alike. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/24 "2004-11-16T11:01:16Z")
Show me where I said all their songs sound the same. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/25 "2004-11-16T11:06:33Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Show me where I said all their songs sound the same. You didn’t. **Roland** did. We were replying to him. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/26 "2004-11-16T11:09:35Z")
Then why is **Marley** quoting my post? Seriously, some of you folk need to take the Lennon/McCartney cock out of your mouths. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/27 "2004-11-16T11:18:19Z")
**Dire Straits** _Sultans of Swing_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/28 "2004-11-16T11:30:25Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Then why is **Marley** quoting my post? Because your post was attacking our posts that were attacking **Roland’s** posts. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/29 "2004-11-16T11:32:35Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > Hey **June** , don’t take this bad, > They took some bad songs and made them sadder. But… The minute you let them under your skin, then you begin to realize they were friggin’ musical geniuses! > [@](#): > > And welcome to the boards! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/30 "2004-11-16T11:35:34Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Then why is **Marley** quoting my post? Because I was replying to you. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/31 "2004-11-16T11:35:44Z")
For the Beatles as one hit wonders I’ll go for _Paperback Writer/Rain_ which was a seminal moment for me when I was 13. I was alone in the family car at my brother’s football game listening to the radio and the DJ played _Paperback Writer_ over and over again. Afterwards he said “We may as well hear the other side since it’s wet outside.” Because he liked _Rain_ he played it 3 times in a row. For a simple lad from Canberra visiting the big city it was rapturously decadent. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/32 "2004-11-16T11:37:49Z")
But where were you when what happened when? Man has a point, he’s allowed to make it, without the Beatlemaniacs descending on his head. And this: > [@](#): > > Don’t even get me started on all of those bands who invent radical studio techniques that define production for the next forty years. from Ilsa\_Lund is another fucking generalised bullshit statement. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/33 "2004-11-16T11:39:35Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Man has a point, he’s allowed to make it, without the Beatlemaniacs descending on his head. I’m not a Beatlemaniac. My point was simple: you don’t have to be one to know that that statement is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/34 "2004-11-16T11:39:57Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Because I was replying to you. :eek: (noting this now I posted) Which still doesn’t make sense because you’re replying with a statement to something I never said. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/35 "2004-11-16T11:41:42Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Which still doesn’t make sense because you’re replying with a statement to something I never said. In that case, maybe I didn’t reply. What the fuck? ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/36 "2004-11-16T11:42:44Z")
Ah, now you make yourself clear. Alright, I agree, all Beatles songs do not sound the same, but the rest of Mr **Orzabal** s post holds true. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/37 "2004-11-16T12:04:57Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Ah, now you make yourself clear. Alright, I agree, all Beatles songs do not sound the same, but the rest of Mr **Orzabal** s post holds true. See - that’s the diference between a valid opinion (which I happen to disagree with), and a baseless opinion. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/38 "2004-11-16T12:08:19Z")
Which is which in your opinion? Am I the only person reading peoples posts on this thread here? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/39 "2004-11-16T12:22:42Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > Which is which in your opinion? Am I the only person reading peoples posts on this thread here? Your opinion - that the Beatles suck - is perfectly valid. The opinion that the Beatles are repetitive is not so much an opinion as a theory, an extraordinary theory at that, and as such would require extraordinary evidence. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964/40 "2004-11-16T12:30:41Z")
> [@Roland Orzabal](#): > > As to the studio techniques: I am grateful to the Beatles for (apparently, according to artist interviews) inspiring every single rock/rock-related musician IN THE WORLD for the last 40 years. That they did that does not improve their actual music, however. > > Regarding the orchestra: a 40-piece band playing formulaic four-part harmony is no more impressive than four independent musicians playing the same. Symphonic pieces in and of themselves do not inherently possess complexity. It is for that reason that, while I enjoy certain classical composers such as Bach and especially Beethoven, I avoid performances of Mozart like the plague. Actually, Mozart and the Beatles have a lot in common: both were innovative and inspirational, and both invented many of the conventions used in the genres they created, but – through no fault of their own, as they had nothing on which to base it – in doing so, **they were formulaic and tended toward repetition**. The stuff was revolutionary at the time, but unfortunately, not all art ages well. Right, In this bit (bolding mine) he gives you the formulaic repetition bit - I don’t agree. The beetles weren’t, and thats about all they had going for them IMO. > [@](#): > > The invention is often surpassed by the innovation. It doesn’t take anything away from the inventor’s ingenuity – as I said, I am grateful to the Beatles for everything they have inspired – but that doesn’t change the fact that the original creation is far lower in objective quality than that which is built upon it. > > Incidentally, no offense is intended toward those who like the Beatles. I don’t. You can. I don’t care. My point is that people often tell me I should like them because Tears For Fears uses elements which can be traced back to Beatles music. Yes, they do, but they use _multiple_ elements in the same song, twist them in new and interesting ways, and add yet more innovations of their own creation to create something unique. At that point, you may as well attribute the inspiration for the song to the guy who created time signatures, since he invented the 3/4 rhythm in which it’s written. I don’t like the Beatles. That was my whole point. Perfectly valid point. And its got a lot more consideration behind it than a lot of the other general statements brought up here, as I mentioned before. YMMV. Now go put on the White album before your head explodes or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-should-be-one-hit-wonders/274964.md?page=3)