If Beatles recorded in 1980.

[Ukulele_Ike]

Four thousand dollars! You can give Ringo less if you want to.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@RioRico

My opinion: No. They were no longer a band. Isn’t a band’s average lifespan something like 7 months?

Successful bands? No.

[Thudlow_Boink]

Furthermore, there have been plenty of examples of successful bands that went on hiatus, for a short or long time, so that their members could pursue other projects (solo work, other bands, spend time with family, get on or off drugs, pursue non-musical interests, etc.), but then got back together and made some more successful music. I think the Beatles, had they all lived long enough, could have done this too.

[typoink]

@Horatio_Hellpop

All four Beatles were hitting serious diminishing returns by 1980.

While I reserve a dose of skepticism, I think you may be underestimating the important of how the Beatles impacted each other as a group. Their solo careers became the fluff of four people with nothing to prove and nobody telling them no.

There’s a chance a record in 1980 would have been more bland fluff, but I think there’s at least an equal chance that they would have find a balance of collaboration and competition that would have brought out much stronger material from all of them than we otherwise got.

[GIGObuster]

@Scumpup

I can imagine a Beatles/Michael Jackson collaboration that would have been so epic in its awfulness that it would be derided to this day and none of them would have been willing to even talk about it in an interview for the rest of their lives.

I think there is no need to imagine [del] if there is no heaven [/del]…

Say Say Say

“Say Say Say” received mixed reviews from music critics. The lyrics were named the worst of 1983 by The Buffalo News’s Anthony Violanti,[22] while the Lexington Herald-Leader stated in a review of Pipes of Peace that, aside from “Say Say Say” and “The Man”, “McCartney waste[d] the rest of the album on bathos and whimsy”.[23] The Los Angeles Times’ Paul Grein also reviewed the McCartney album and opined that the singer had redeemed himself with the success of the “spunky” song “but plunged back into wimpdom with ‘No More Lonely Nights’”.[24] Journalist Whitney Pastorek compared the song to McCartney’s 1982 duet with Stevie Wonder, “Ebony and Ivory”. She asserted that “Say Say Say” was a better song, and had a better “though slightly more nonsensical” music video, adding that the song had no “heavy-handed social content”.[25] Penn State’s The Daily Collegian described the track as a good song, despite its ad nauseam broadcasts.[26]

Deseret News stated that the “pleading love song” had a “masterful, catchy hook”.[10] In a Rolling Stone review, the track was described as an “amiable though vapid dance groove”. The reviewer, Parke Puterbaugh, added that it was an “instantly hit-bound froth-funk that tends, after all, toward banality”.[27] Music critic Nelson George stated that “Say Say Say” would not have “deserved the airplay it received without McCartney and Jackson”.[28] Salon.com later described the song as a “sappy duet”. The online magazine concluded that McCartney had become a “wimpy old fart”.[29] Billboard listed “Say Say Say” as Michael Jackson’s all-time biggest Hot 100 single.[30] In a 2007 article, a writer for the magazine Vibe listed “Say Say Say” as the 22nd greatest duet of all time. The writer commented that the song was “a true falsetto fantasy” and that it was “still thrilling to hear the sweet-voiced duo trade harmonies on the chorus”.[31]

Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - Say Say Say (Official Music Video HD)

[K364]

A Beatles session would filter out the songs that are weak, indulgent, vapid or schmaltzy (to a large extent)

In 1979/80 McCartney was pretty strong if you cherry pick: for example “Coming Up”, “Getting Closer”, “Arrow Through Me”.

Double Fantasy had several good songs.

For Harrison, “Blow Away”, “All Those Years Ago”

I would expect a pretty good album, say, better than Let It Be but down a step or two from Abbey Road.

[Kent_Clark]

“Froth-funk”???

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@typoink

While I reserve a dose of skepticism, I think you may be underestimating the important of how the Beatles impacted each other as a group. Their solo careers became the fluff of four people with nothing to prove and nobody telling them no.

There’s a chance a record in 1980 would have been more bland fluff, but I think there’s at least an equal chance that they would have find a balance of collaboration and competition that would have brought out much stronger material from all of them than we otherwise got.

I dunno. Seems to me John and Ringo had better collaborations with Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman from '68 onward than they had with each other or with the other Beatles. I may be underestimating their synergy towards the end, but they were able to fnd other, equally distinguished work partners with very little effort.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@K364

A Beatles session would filter out the songs that are weak, indulgent, vapid or schmaltzy (to a large extent)

In 1979/80 McCartney was pretty strong if you cherry pick: for example “Coming Up”, “Getting Closer”, “Arrow Through Me”.

Double Fantasy had several good songs.

Double Fantasy released about 6 weeks before Lennon was murdered, and sales and reviews were pretty tepid before the tragedy. The best songs, “(Just Like) Starting Over” and “Jealous Guy,” were far from peak Lennon. And since the album was released on LP and cassette, it was physically difficult to skip Yoko’s tracks, which most people listened to under duress.

For Harrison, “Blow Away”, “All Those Years Ago”

The OP posits a reality where John was never shot, which “All Those Years Ago” was recorded as a reaction to. It was a pretty tight song, though.

[K364]

@Horatio_Hellpop

Double Fantasy released about 6 weeks before Lennon was murdered, and sales and reviews were pretty tepid before the tragedy. The best songs, “(Just Like) Starting Over” and “Jealous Guy,” were far from peak Lennon. And since the album was released on LP and cassette, it was physically difficult to skip Yoko’s tracks, which most people listened to under duress.
The OP posits a reality where John was never shot, which “All Those Years Ago” was recorded as a reaction to. It was a pretty tight song, though.

Double Fantasy had 50% Yoko songs, so it was doomed in terms of popular and critical reception. Hilights were (Just Like) Starting Over, Beautiful Boy, Woman. Jealous Guy was from 1971.

“All Those Years Ago” was written and originally recorded before the assassination and was re-written and re-recorded after it.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@Horatio_Hellpop

The best songs, “(Just Like) Starting Over” and “Jealous Guy,” were far from peak Lennon.

“Jealous Guy” was from his 1971 album Imagine. If it sounds like it came from Double Fantasy, maybe that means his style hadn’t changed that much.

[Walken_After_Midnight]

@Thudlow_Boink

“Jealous Guy” was from his 1971 album Imagine. If it sounds like it came from Double Fantasy, maybe that means his style hadn’t changed that much.

The music for “Jealous Guy” was composed in 1968, and it could have appeared on The Beatles’ “White Album”, with different lyrics, as “Child of Nature”.

[RickJay]

@Kent_Clark

They had all matured, both as songwriters and producers, so the 1980 version would have been better. The big difference would be that the songs would be more distinctly different - “all John” and “all Paul” compositions instead of the classic melange of Paul touches to a John song and vice versa.

Also, I think George would have demanded and gotten more of his songs on the album.

I absolutely do not for an instant think a 1980 Beatles album would have been better than Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, or Abbey Road. The odds against that would have been a million to one.

It would have been a great album to be sure. Consider, though, that just a year later, 1981 was the year the Rolling Stones, a band of essentially comparable vintage, with members the same age, put out “Tattoo You.” It’s a terrific album, but no one seriously argues it’s better than Sticky Fingers or Let It Bleed.

I would point out two critical things:

1. Almost all the best rock and pop artists of all time have had a peak that lasted five years or so, ten at the outside. They may last much longer, but almost never put out really innovative, great music all that long.

2. The Beatles were amazing in the 1960s because they were doing things no one else did. They did stuff BEFORE other bands did.

Consider, for instance, Supertramp, another British band. Supertramp made some great albums, and I’ll say this straight up; if you could use a time machine to take Supertramp back to 1966, and had them release “Breakfast in America” before Sgt. Pepper came out, in exactly the form it was actually released in 1979, today a lot of people would strenuously argue that “Breakfast in America” was the greatest album ever made. The reason they don’t today is because it wasn’t made in 1966; it was made in 1979, and while still a magnificent album, it is still standing on the shoulders of giants and wasn’t THAT innovative in the context of its time. Sgt. Pepper started progressive rock; Breakfast in America tidied it up into a perfect album, which is awesome, but it’s just not as impressive an accomplishment.

Anything the imaginary Beatles make in 1980 will be like that; the likelihood the boys could have continued to be that much more innovative in their 40s is just next to nothing. They made excellent music individually but their stuff in the late 70s is objectively not anywhere near the Beatles.

[Mr.Miskatonic]

Given that’s around that period a lot of rock bands were trying disco albums because they figured that is how things are now, I really don’t think a Disco Beatles album is something I’d want to hear.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@Mr.Miskatonic

Given that’s around that period a lot of rock bands were trying disco albums because they figured that is how things are now, I really don’t think a Disco Beatles album is something I’d want to hear.

You know, the biggest knock against the Beatles has always been that you can’t dance to them…

[Personal]

@GIGObuster

I think there is no need to imagine [del] if there is no heaven [/del]…

Say Say Say - Wikipedia
Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - Say Say Say (Official Music Video HD)

Paul and Michael also collaborated on “The Girl Is Mine,” the first single from Thriller, which is a solid effort that I personally enjoy (as I do “Say Say Say”). It was written principally by Michael. And there was “This Is the Man” from Pipes of Peace, which is not good at all.

[Personal]

@Horatio_Hellpop

Double Fantasy released about 6 weeks before Lennon was murdered, and sales and reviews were pretty tepid before the tragedy. The best songs, “(Just Like) Starting Over” and “Jealous Guy,” were far from peak Lennon. And since the album was released on LP and cassette, it was physically difficult to skip Yoko’s tracks, which most people listened to under duress.
The OP posits a reality where John was never shot, which “All Those Years Ago” was recorded as a reaction to. It was a pretty tight song, though.

Nitpick - “Jealous Guy” wasn’t on Double Fantasy but was on Imagine. I agree with you on the Yoko tracks. Drove me batty having to listen to her screeching.

With “All Those Years Ago,” George had already written the music, but the lyrics were tailored to account for the shooting. You’re right – it’s a solid effort, and it included Paul and Ringo (and Linda and Denny Laine), giving us a taste of what may have been.

[RickJay]

There is a fairly strong argument that “Double Fantasy” is the worst album to ever win the Grammy for Best Album. Remember, they gave that award to Celine Dion one year, so that’s saying a lot.

[John_DiFool]

I assumed from the thread title that the OP was asking what would have happened if they recorded in 1980–if they also were born 20 years later than they were. [A much more interesting question IMHO] I can definitely see them being punkers at first, quickly transitioning to Echo & the Bunnymen style postpunk.

[Dahu]

@Bryan_Ekers

There’s a little-known reunion album that was quickly shelved in December of 1979 called The Beatles Holiday Special. Bootlegs are available.

Not sure if I’m being whooshed here or something, but this must be really little-known