It’s better than The Ohio State University.
Be careful. The Jimi-Hendrix-was-drowned-in-wine guy materialized after a similar lengthy absence when his obsession was invoked. Something about automatic e-mail notification…
I’ll agree that the John Lennon deification gets old, considering what an asshole he apparently was to people.
I know what you mean. It shouldn’t impact your appreciation of his work… but it does.
I feel the same way about the author Orson Scott Card, once I found out he was a raging right wing asshole.
You mean this Winger?
This is incorrect, and seems to be something of a theme in this thread, that the Beatles started out as a sort of weak, bubblegum band (musically) but somehow managed to transform into geniuses.
Certainly their musical boundaries expanded, but even their earliest music was critically acclaimed contemporaneously for (among other things) their use of modulation, time signature changes, and other sophisticated uses of musical theory—none of which the Beatles even understood they were using, having no real education in music theory.
John famously mocked a critic who referenced the Beatles’ use of cadences employed by Beethoven. He didn’t understand the flattering critique, and didn’t care to.
Anyway, the idea that the Beatles started out as a vapid boy band only to transform into the geniuses we (sane people) know and love is incorrect. They were always the bomb, and sophisticated songwriters even at the start, creating art that blew away most of the stuff on the charts.
I know CheeseDonkey is 10 years older and has moved on. Maybe he found an elevator that plays Styx and Bay City Rollers songs and has taken up residence there. Nevertheless, I thought I’d drop this little excerpt from an interview in which Cliff DeYoung was asked about his influences:
I saw the Beatles. They were my influence…John Panazzo and myself were huge, crazy Beatles fans. We did all kinds of Beatle covers."
My reaction when hearing about the latest Beatles’ documentary was … can’t we just move the fuck on already?
I do think most of their music was great. I do believe their impact on rock music was immeasurable, and acknowledge their place in the pantheon of modern culture.
But they broke up 52 years ago and while they individually released some damn good music have never again again had a fraction of the impact.
Move the fuck on, people.
Mozart died 230 years ago, Beethoven 194, and yet they still get studied, movies get made about them.
And neither one even had a hit record.
I’m not saying let’s all just ignore the Beatles. I’m saying enough with the fawning interviews and 6-part documentaries and omigod look we found more footage and rehearsal tapes.
Move the fuck on already.
The better question would be, “What is it about the Beatles that people continue to find so fascinating?” And it’s not just people old enough to remember them. My daughter became a huge Beatles fan at 14 and has loved them ever since. She knows more about them than I do, and I’m old enough to remember their first hit record.
I keep being reminded by threads like this that Malcolm Gladwell used the Beatles as a big example of his 10,000 hours theory.
It was a fresh new idea at the time, but by now most people are aware of it: It takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials.
Gladwell uses the Beatles’ musical talents and Bill Gates’s computer obsession as examples: “The Beatles performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1963, amassing well more than 10,000 hours of playing time.”
I knew the lads played what was basically a tough area (sometimes called Hamburg’s red light district) and would play lonnng sets (I’ve heard late afternoon until 3 or 4 am). So it was 10,000 hours of learning what the crowd liked, what worked and what didn’t, as well as honing their skills.
So I’ve never thought it was genius, or some mutant musical powers. Mostly hard work… doing something they were driven to push themselves at, and something they loved.
.
::sigh:: . If only Styx had had a red-light district to play in …
And Beethoven never got his picture on bubble gum cards, did he?
I was JUST about to look for that Peanuts cartoon, thanks for saving me the time!
.
By the way, Paul McCartney kind of challenged the 10,000 hours rule.
He said something like:
There were plenty of other bands playing the same hours we were in Hamburg, so they put in their 10,000 hours too. But many of them aren’t around any more, so there’s got to be more than just that.
Can you play, “Jingle Bells?”
It’s too late for him to come out and play… and will you please stop calling him “Jingle Bells”?
His name is Digs…
I feel so doxxed…
Like I’ve been kicked in the Jingle Bells…
I can’t find the one where Lucy asks if Beethoven ever bowled a300 game, so this will have to do.
