The Beatles - Overhyped? Music legends?

It tells a story when any band or singer aspires to be compared to the Beatles and their PA tries to juggle figures to come up with the "more popular than the Beatles" mantle in spite of the actual members being totally in awe of the band. The only test of course is if the wanabees  can achieve and maintain global fame forty years after the band ceases to exist and the former members also attain world wide fame for the same period!

Agree the Beatles passed the test of time. Many great and reputable musicians call that band their teachers.
So they are the best, aren't' they? It's fundamental truth, isn't it?
('Best’ means most excellent, most suitable, most desirable, something which surpasses all others)

It was interesting and funny for me to read on some forums the reasons why they weren't best.

Agree the Beatles passed the test of time. Many great and reputable musicians call that band their teachers.
So they are the best, aren't' they? It's fundamental truth, isn't it?
('Best’ means most excellent, most suitable, most desirable, something which surpasses all others)

It was interesting and funny for me to read on some forums the reasons why they weren't best.

Fazakerley

You wait till Brian 78 sees this, he won't be a happy bunny 

Ive only kopped this thread today.

I can accept peoples view that they prefer some other band or whatever but to not get the Beatles or to underate them is a sin..They are music christ ignore the songs theyre famous for and go a bit deeper and youll find they are untouchable. No band has ever wrote songs that are so simple but so unreal  Im not going to try and explain it. Ive albums of all the greats and I can safely say nobody and nothing comes near what they produced. Beethoven and them lads dont have a patch listen to Elanor Rigby strings only, class. People who dismiss the Beatles dont get music

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I am sick to death of hearing about The Beatles.

Everywhere I f**king go it's Beatles this, Beatles that. They are the most overrated band in the history of rock and roll IMO (if you could put them in that category!) If you can dare say to me that the level of music wasn't where it is was as it is now I.e. 60's - 70's, I would gladly disagree.  I know they're from Liverpool and they are a major part of the city's cultural history, but I don't remember them ever talking in a Scouse accent!

The likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bob Dylan, walk all over The Beatles in terms of music! The only good thing about The Beatles was John Lennon & George Harrison, it's a shame they're dead, while we have to listen to 'no more mail' 'peace and love' Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) and that bluenose tit who plays that sh*te bass guitar, Paul McCarteny.

& Rockband Beatles, come on FFS! You could probably put it on expert and give it a 3 year old and he'd complete it within a few hours, are there any real tricky riffs that The Beatles made bar Twist and Shout? (It's not that tricky on real guitar TBH).  It needed to be said, I'm sure I'm not the only one in the world that feels the same.  

Glad I've got that off my chest now...  At least Lennon was a Red and a good artist, Jesus Christ.

Van Halen ruined any argument ye had mate

Have ye ever really listened to the Beatles?

"When I wake up early in the morning, lift my head im still yawning
when Im in the middle of a dream, stay in bed float upstream"

Simple but genius

You could love them, hate them, have no opinion about them. But they changed music. Just the technical recording arts and the ways they recorded, revolutionized the music Industry. They were one of the first to record using multiple tracks for each instrument. They were using backmasking and doing things Club DJ's do now. The song "Tommorrow Never Knows" was made using "sampling" and mixing of sounds.

Not only were they great at recording, but the music was almost perfect.  "Eleanor Rigby", Strawberry Fields, Day in the Life.. those songs were just perfect.

It was a random convergence of a one in a million accident that John,George and Paul formed together and I agree with an earlier poster that John and George were the best writers.  George never got the respect he deserved.  His first true shot of doing his own song was "While my Guitar gently Weeps". C'mon that song is just unreal.

I'm sorry "Court LFC". Led Zeppelin were NOT better than the Beatles. At least the Beatles wrote their own music and didn't steal it from others like Led Zeppelin.   Google it and do a little research. Secondly dont use "Twist and Shout" as a gauge of the Beatles musically.  Everyone played like that in the late 50's early 60's.  It was the BEATLES that broke out of the bubblegum music and made Rock and Roll.

The Rolling Stones are one of my favorite groups.  I dont think they were better than the Beatles or less than the Beatles. I think they were both on the same level.  Plus, Lennon,Harrison,and McCartney were friends w/ Jagger and Richards and helped to record a lot of eachothers stuff. Their was a friendly rivalry, Let It Be/ Let It Bleed for example, but they were all great friends.  The Stones were sort of what the Beatles wanted to be at times and the Beatles were what the Stones wanted to be at times. You could see they both transgressed together and were breaking boundaries w/ each album.

The Beatles were the best group ever based on music,popularity,sales, #1 hits, fans, culturally and sociologically. They were more than a music group. They symbolized something great. I could only Imagine what would of happened if Lennon lived. How much music we missed out on because of an assassin.

Biggest load of tripe thread ive ever read, or refused to read!

The bands mentioned by CourtLFC ie the Stones,Hendrix,Zep and the Who each of them to a man would acknowledge the talent and influence the Beatles had and still have on music. The Beatles were probably the initiators of the psychedelia thing or its best known exponents and as people say the best form of flattery is imitation and they were copied a lot.
Personally I was into the Beatles then the heavier stuff like Hendrix,E.L.P.,Floyd but it always goes full circle and the Beatles still come out on top and remain masters of the genre.

I know everyone has their own opinions and beliefs.  Thats what makes these forums popular and what makes debating so great.  But to say the Beatles are overhyped or question their standing in the world of music is Idiotic. Its non debateable. 

They were so far and away the best musical group ever, it cant be debated.  Their influence,style,music,personalities were just so large and impressionable that its off the charts.  They never had a bad album. Every album which was released, was totally new and influential from their previous album.  Every album had multiple #1 hits.  Every band of the day tried to copy and  borrow from the beatles.They can play any B-side Beatles song on the radio and you can sing to it and know the lyrics.

They constantly changed and grew as musicians. The producing and actual art of the recording was revolutionary. The mixing, tracking and writing of their songs was new and always fresh.

Its like trying to debate if Rembrandt or Da Vinci was a good artist.  Their is no debate.

Music would not be where it is today without the Beatles. Whether you love them or hate them, they revolutionized the music world and it really is a crime to call them overrated. I aint a big fan of Art as Yank Lfc Fan noted those artists, but i understand what they did and would never call them overrated.
Even today bands are still inspired by the Beatles. They really helped move this beast of a machine we call rock music forward, and even bands such as Nirvana were inspired by them. Kurt Cobain was known to be a big fan, and was influenced highly by the Beatles works. Now he is definitely not the only one im sure. Like them or not, i think you would have to be fairly ignorant to call them overhyped

Suffice to say the Beatles are the yardstick that every "supergroup" aspire to equal but to date in spite of the hype nobody has convinced anyone that they have been bettered.

Super group and will never be passed. How many bands will still be listened to 40 years on and not sound outdated

Wow Court, everyone is entitled to their own taste but to call them overhyped is really wrong.
Im like you mate, i love all music be it Elton John or Pantera. 
I love different styles, types that call for a guitar solo and others where it would be wrong. 
Ray Charles once said "Everybody needs the Beatles in their life" its since been re-said over the years by Zakk Wylde, Dave Grohl, BB King, EVH and Lemmy.  Now these people know what they are talkin about when it comes to music right?
I agree with you that Liverpool somewhat does hype the Beatles up but you tell me one band, one band thats come close to what they achieved? People tend to forget that when all is said and done, these were just 4 lads. 
4 lads from Liverpool who changed music in SEVEN years of being mainstream. 
Seven Years. 
Now i cant think of one band who made such an impact in 7 years.  The Foo’s are probably the biggest band in the world right now but they have been going for 16 years, and in 40 years will people call Dave Grohl a genius song writer or just a nice guy who could write a good rock song?
Like i said, everyone is entitled to their own views and regardless of music you like or hate you have to accept that it was a huge part of the music we hear today (I cant stand U2 but i will stand up for them as making an impact) ”  -  Just because you hate something doesn’t make it useless. Case in point Manchester United, as much as we hate and loathe everyone associated with the club we cant say they are crap.  Its a false statement.
To call the Beatles overhyped and to say that only 2 of them were “Beatles” is as Wacko Jacko would say in South Park “Ignorant”
Sure Ringo wasn’t the most talented drummer but he was a great Beatle, as annoying as he is now back in the 60’s he was the man to have drumming.  His style is looked upon as brilliant by a lot of my friend drummers who play in thrash metal bands.  Dave Grohl said the other day “I don’t have to sit here and defend Ringo, he was the drummer of the Beatles and like it or not if he wasn’t their drummer, they wouldn’t sound like the Beatles”
As for Macca, I think i may stand alone here im a huge McCartney fan he was 1 of 2 in the Beatles as a major songwriter, if you think he didn’t have lungs on his just youtube “Golden Slumbers” of Abbey Road and that will shut up even the most avid of Paul haters.  He has gained a lot of bad press due to that skank Mills lately but through it all he is just a guy who has lost 3 very important people in his life. 
He is just going on a tour (26th June – Cardiff, i will be there) He doesn’t have to do this, he can sit in a mansion and wipe his arse with £1,000,000 bank drafts but he chooses to stay in the game.  The 80’s were not his best efforts i will admit, but Flaming Pie, Chaos and Creation in the backyard and Memory Almost Full as well as The Fireman have gained MASSIVE critical acclaim and it must be hard for them to do that as the majority of critics nowadays are Paul bashers.
George was a jem, my favourite not because he was the quiet but i believe his solo career to be far superior to the other 4.  He is probably one of the most under rated guitarist in history, ask any true guitarist, mate some of the stuff he was doin in 67 was unreal, not fast, but skilful and inventive.  I was so gutted when Cancer took him but his solo work is second to none, please check it out and don’t just listen to his Beatles stuff like “Here comes the sun” “Taxman” or “Something”  - as great as they are it doesn’t touch what George did in the 70’s and 80’s
As for John yes he was an artist, course he was, he went to an Art college, he was a genius sure and a great guy.  He wasn’t responsible for the Beatles breaking up, neither was Yoko, they just got tired of each other.  Things like this happen.  Look at Pink Floyd
I think im more or less done with this rant now, remember that there was an awful lot more to the Beatles than Love Me Do and Yesterday, if you haven’t listened to Revolver, White Album or Abbey Road you haven’t lived.
No one will come close, no one can try, everyone will always be second best to the 4 lads who wrote their own stuff, played their own stuff and lived it.  7 years that took them from suited and booted, acid trips, hippies then rockers leaving everybody involved beathless

WHAT?! The Beatles are the most incredible thing to happen to music in the past 100 years! Most the bands you mentioned in your thread were influenced by The Beatles. And what's wrong with Paul McCartney??! How can you criticise a man who has written songs like Let It Be, Hey Jude, Lovely Rita? An amazing man as is John, Ringo and particularly George.

It is an unbelievable thread this. Today's music would not of happened without the influence of the Beatles. Ask any artist of today and they would admit it. I would also say that virtually everyone, could find at least one Beatles song that they liked such is their catalogue of sounds.

The Beatles are up there with The Beach Boys and Pink Floyd. One of the most influential bands to have graced the music scene. You want to talk about hype bands then its got to be Oasis and The Rolling Stones. Good bands but massively hyped

Everybody saying today's music wouldn't be the same, well maybe that's true. But it's not because of the Beatles because the Beatles themselves were influenced heavily by other artists.

They've said how much the Everly Brothers and Motown music especially influenced themselves. So without those influencing the Beatles, the Beatles wouldn't be the band they were. And I'm sure the Everly Brothers and the early Motown greats were influenced by others. That's how music works, people get influenced by different people. So without the Everly's, the Beatles wouldn't be the same meaning Oasis wouldn't be the same.

My personal opinion on the Beatles is I don't mind them. Don't drool over them and think they're great, don't really think they're sh*t either though. Some of their songs are decent, some are schoolyard poetry like Love Me Do.

But, since that interview on Jonathon Ross by Ringo the F***ing gobs***e Starr, I've never listened to a Beatles song in the same way. After saying he F***ing hated the city, my city, and only came back because it was the Capital Of Culture is a F***ing disgrace. And I hate the c**t with a passion for it. I think he said there was a street named after him that he's walked down once. He's never returned to his arl school. He hates ever coming back to Liverpool, despite his family still being here.

Ungrateful F***ing c**t he is. The city that made him and gave him his chance, and now he just shits on us like so many Scouse celebrities to once they hit the big time. Rather see their name up in lights down south or across the pond in America than be idolised by the people who put you there in the first place.

I'm not apologising for my words either. Ringo is a c**t. And his opinion on my city has changed the way I look at the Beatles.

Fair enough as well Billy, changed my opinion too! c**t.

Will never watch Thomas the Tank Engine the same either.

I won't say Ringo's a c**t for what he said. He doesn't despise the city but he did say 'there's nothing he misses in Liverpool' which isn't hateful but just bizarre considering it's the most cultured and admired city in the UK at the very least. Anyway he said it in his mental breakdown year. 'No more letters, peace and love' and all that! Ha!

Ringo Starr says he's too busy to sign autographs

At least Marge Simpson got her painting posted to him in time...

You have to remember though, when Ringo lived in Liverpool the city was a dump in the 50's, he has a song called "the otherside of Liverpool" crap song, but he kind of justifies his words in it

I see Court's point, the Beatles do get massively overhyped. People will talk about them, and exaggerate how great they were. I think they make good music, but not to the scale that I would go out of my way to listen to them.

Anyway, David Bowie is basically the God of the 70's

You have to remember though, when Ringo lived in Liverpool the city was a dump in the 50's, he has a song called "the otherside of Liverpool" crap song, but he kind of justifies his words in it

Sorry but that's bollocks.

Ken Dodd, Ricky Tomlinson, Geoffrey Hughes are probably all around a similar age of Ringo and they didn't feel the need to F**k off and slag the city off for all it's worth.

I don't mind people leaving the city, it's those that leave as quickly as possible then slag the city off that gave them their break anyway. Ringo, Cilla Black, Paul O'Grady (although I think he's from the Wirral). They can't wait to put the boot in.

I think people generally tend to gauge bands and groups by the simple gauge of record sales. I think it was 2009 0r 2010 that the Beatles finally took down Elvis as the most record sales.  But I dont even consider Elvis a true all around musicain like the Beatles.  Elvis never wrote his own music and that alone should be enough to get him removed from the great Musical groups or "Musicians".  The term Musician, by definition is someone who writes lyrics and musicm which Elvis didn't do.

Every Beatles album, changed the music for that day. Not one Beatles album sounded like the previous.  The only exception being Strawberry Fields and Sgt Pepper, but they were both originally intended to be sold as one single album. However they split them up and sold them individually.  Every album was a wake up call for other musical groups. It showed the groups of the day how to create new sounds and use recording to do it.

The only time a Beatles album was influenced by another group was "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys, which Influenced "Sgt Pepper". But "Pet Sounds" was Influenced by "Rubber Soul". So, the Beatles influenced their own Influence.  When McCartney heard Pet Sounds he took the Beatles in a new direction. When Brian Wilson heard Rubber Soul he made Pet Sounds.

If you listen to the entire back catalogue of the Beatles you'd do well to find 5 songs that would not have been hits had they released them or passed them over to someone else to release.