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The Beatles are/were rubbish.
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Dog 3000
Dog 3000
4611 posts

Re: Hold the Fuck On!
May 12, 2005, 19:50
You can certainly examine a group or individual's music on "musicological" terms -- what sorts of rhythmic, harmonic & melodic tools they used -- are they unique & innovative or recycling cliched progressions? This is almost like a purely mathematical analysis, as close to "objective" as you can get.

And in these terms (as well as inventing "the pop group" and their recording innovations in the studio), the Beatles were super-original & influential and this really can't be questioned.

Which is not to say that they were great lyricists (not really, except for Lennon occasionally), or soulful singers (a matter of taste perhaps), etc. There are other dimensions that may be more important to you -- the esteemed Lester Bangs always said that he prized a kind of "emotional purity" over anything else, and so he was not particularly a fan of the Beatles or Frank Zappa but he had good things to say about Slade and Black Oak Arkansas.

Of course taste is subjective -- but the header is "the Beatles are rubbish" and that's a ridiculous thing to say. Beethoven was a shmuck too I suppose . . .
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