This is what I was thinking when I clicked “yes” on the poll before reading the OP.
I’m a huge Beatles fan, and have loved them all my life*, but even I wouldn’t call them the “best”–if only because there’s no such thing as the “best” in music.
You may take the obligatory Pete Best joke as read.
Shoot, I missed the whole “in the history of all music” thing.
No, they aren’t better than Beethoven. They are the best rock band, though.
The Beatles are one of the worst abominations ever to fall upon the world of music. I hold them most responsible for turning the music industry into what it is today, where so much quality music gets overlooked for monotonous radio-friendly garbage. Yes, they had some catchy tunes and moderate talent, but their musical and lyrical “genius” is so far beyond overrated that the English language lacks the word to describe it. Unfortunately, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time and, had they not risen to prominence, another nearly identical band would have have done so.
So, yeah, I voted no, for lack of a third option that expresses my contempt for their existence.
Best? I don’t even particularly LIKE them. How in the hell does HALF of the dope think they’re the best???
I voted “yes” figuring there would be tons of backlash, even though my opinion basically accords with many others… best rock/pop band ever, not better than Mozart.
they vote for whatever makes a good race.
Well, based on records sold and number one hits the rest of the planet apparently agrees.
The Beatles are the best and always will be. The universe is such as it is in order for the Beatles to have existed. This is know as the MopTopThropic Principle.
No. Elvis Presley was.
In what way were they the best?
I can think of songwriters as influential, performers who were better, others who were more innovative.
Put them in a collective, but not above.
I just tipped it back to the “NO” side.
We crammed them down our parents throats and our grandparents throats too. And we’ll be damned if we don’t cram them down your throats and your kids’ after that.
I’m not even close to being a baby boomer, but I voted “yes” in this poll.
However, that “yes” was based on the question I had in my head, not the question in the poll, so I might have to change the answer. I do think they are the best best popular music act of the rock era and beyond. But best musical act anywhere, anytime, any genre? That’s an impossible question to answer. I would vote “no” for that, but I would vote “no” for any possible musician or group of musicians suggested.
Hell yes. Wow, that was easy! As much as I love Mozart and Beethoven and Bach, the Beatles are my personal “best in show” as far as enjoyment and variety.
Not a baby boomer, btw. I wish people would stop assuming that those who disagree with them are being deluded or sold a bill of goods.
They aren’t my personal favorite band. But I’m not passionate enough to argue with anyone who wants to claim that the Beatles were the best band of many generations.
I personally prefer The Rolling Stones, or Led Zepplin, or The Who, or Pink Floyd, or U2 to the Beatles.
Let’s hear some names.
I’d say “best” for rock/pop, but Louis Armstrong was easily the most important musical artist of the 20th century. And as others have mentioned, music didn’t start there.
I voted “yes” but stand along with all the other people who had reservations.
They’re IMO by far the best thing in the pop/rock genre, but I wouldn’t know how to compare them to Miles Davis, Tom Jobim, Duke Ellington, Bach, Mozart, Verdi, etc…
So… they’re the best in what they did, but not in the whole of music.
Who do you vote for, then?