to think the way the Beatles revolutionised music has been largely forgotton?

[VicarsGoingForGoldInKungFu]

i was as guilty as the next man of slating Macca at the opening of the olympics....but then, DH made some "awwwwwww" noises and started to dig out his Beatles collection,( then his Wings collection, but i forgave him and we are still married).....and then that got me googling and i ended up with Dangermouses The Grey Album.....which got me to listening to The White Album......

and then i got googling a bit more and i think that people forget how they completely revolutionised the music scene, how they started, and how they ended up making some really really excellent music. The White Album is brill. id never really listened to DH beatles albums before tbh.....

and i feel a bit guilty now. Macca did deserve to be at the olympics.....just because he is now 70, and wobbles a bit, doesnt and shouldnt erase the musical history that he and his band mates gave us. He shouldnt be cast aside. (and honestly - if you re watch, the backing track started too early and he only wobbled at the start....he got going and was on tune!)

Now we have simon cowell who tells us what we will buy.....all those other bands that people cited as worthy of playing the opening ceromony......they are only here because the Beatles changed things. They did it first, i just think things have moved on so much and so fast that people forget. I am not a raging Beatles fan, but i acknowledge what they did.

so, it is with hands in pockets and staring at the floor that i say "soz macca". I have travelled the boards and i have said this on many of the nay sayer threads....but we should just stop a mo and go give the White album a listen.....

doh.....sorry for the typos.....

No YANBU, - I am also guilty of Macca slating, - I don't think he was the most talented in the band, unfortunately the two who were are dead. And I really didn't want to hear him croak his way through hey Jude at the opening ceremony.

But I am a huge Beatles fan, - I love their music and it was revolutionary, - students study it at music college (my DD did a dissertation on Lennon and McCartney as songwriters) I really do believe they are the best and most important band this country has ever produced, and Lennon and McCartney are the best songwriting team, by a very, very long way.

Did they revolutionise music, though, or did they capitalise and build on the work of others? I like the music, but am just a little sceptical at the idea that the Beatles invented pop music.

Oops. Posted too soon.

I almost died laughing at last night's thread describing Sir Paul as a tortoise on a wig. I think a lot of the anymosity isn't about the music but about his not exactly self-effacing personality.

Well they are part of music history, aren´t they?

Some of the modern bands-will they still be known 52(?) yrs after they were formed?

My 14yr old had heard of Macca but didn´t put him in the Beatles.

But when I said, well, there were "4 lads from Liverpool"-"Oh, John, Paul, George & Ringo-the Beatles"

I don't like the image he portrays. I never have been tolerant of drugs use. I don't much care for Heather Mills either but I don't blame her for removing her self and her children from a haze of dope smoke. I don't agree with sending your children to comprehensives to 'learn values' - they come from the parent. I don't like the way he throws his weight around in public, using minders to push the little people out of the way. Rumours of DV too with both wives. I don't like he compromised his principles with age and sent back his gong but accepted a bigger gong!

I don't like much about him at all.

Lennon/McCartney song writing was alright.

see thats what i have the massive problem with - tortoise in a wig?? the man is 70. he is going to have wrinkles and look aged, his voice may have changed, thats what happens when you age......do we know him personally to gauge his personality?

I unfortunately think Lennon was the songwriting genius of the two, and McCartney was the sweet money making ditty writer of the two. I wasn't alive in their heyday, but did go through a Beatles/White Album phase in my teens. Their solo careers went in very different directions. Felt a bit sorry for him though.

i think it was the combination of mcartney and lennon that made their songs what they are - how can anyone say which one was the better?? it worked because of the both of them. i dont get the macca slating. i just dont get the ill feeling, and you watch what happens when he dies.....people will be wailing and moaning and saying what a god like genius he was.

i just think its sad.
the beatles achieved such great things,

I don't necessarily condone calling him a tortoise in a wig - I'm well aware of his age - but one has to admit its a very creative turn of grade and it was a revelation to see how strongly people feel about him. As I said before, for me he's an irritatingly smug individual who co-wrote some very good songs.

::overlooks The Frog Chorus::

Of course we never 'know' a public personality. But sometimes there are little glimpses - such as media appearances - which are not endearing.

Ahem... May I remind you of another great, if not greater, writing duo of the time?

Anyway, yanbu, he is cringeworthy and at first I thought it was because he isn't dead. But there are plenty of musical legends still rolling on who aren't embarrassing.

Exactly, MrsKR. And what about their debt (in the early days) to American blues and skiffle?

How can anyone say who out of Lennon and McCartney was the better songwriter? Me. It was Lennon without a doubt.

Just compare their solo efforts.

I think McCartney was a far better songwriter than Lennon, their solo work proved that.

I don't like the image he portrays. I never have been tolerant of drugs use. I don't much care for Heather Mills either but I don't blame her for removing her self and her children from a haze of dope smoke. I don't agree with sending your children to comprehensives to 'learn values' - they come from the parent. I don't like the way he throws his weight around in public, using minders to push the little people out of the way. Rumours of DV too with both wives. I don't like he compromised his principles with age and sent back his gong but accepted a bigger gong!

Agree with all of this ^^

I also think that Lennon was the better writer of the two, but accept that he wrote some fantastic songs.

Actually I don't think it has been forgotten. You can be a Beatles fan, know and appreciate all they were and not like what McCartney does now. McCartney does not equal the Beatles and vice versa.

Having said that, it's all down to opinion really, no one can prove who wrote the better songs.

Lennon was definately the better songwriter of the two.

I cant stand McCartney and just seeing his gormless slack jawed gob is enough to put me off any programme.

I also do not think that they single handedly revolutionised music either. They were lucky to be around in an era when there was little to compare them with, and personally I think the Rolling Stones did far superior songs, and have kept going a lot longer too.

I dont think they revolutionised music, their early stuff is rubbish pop compared to The Stones early stuff. I think pop only got a massive shake up with Rock and Roll.
I don't dislike them but in the late 60s there were also The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground, The Doors etc who were much more experimental with their music.

Led Zeppelin.. dont forget them either!

Beach Boys heavily influenced by Beatles and freely admitted they were.

And of course Led Zeppelin.

The Beatles were electic because the different members wrote different type of songs, but nothing earth shattering in my opinion (and I'm always right).

George Harrison was the most talented.

True but The Beatles, Macca in particular have admitted to being blown away/jealous of Pet Sounds.

The success and influence of the Beatles was as much due to cultural factors, like the rise of TV and the cementing of "teenager" as a social grouping, as to their music. Without the burgeoning mass media, Beatlemania would never have happened. In that, they were also indebted to Elvis and the way his manager promoted him.