"What is the greatest band of all time?" A question that many people have asked over many years. Obviously there is not an outright objective answer to the question, but nonetheless, people will debate it. And regardless who you ask, or what magazine list you consult, one band will almost certainly be present. This is a band whose influence is timeless and whose t shirts are everywhere. This should come as no surprise, but this band is The Beatles. Everybody in the western world over the age of five knows the name at the very least. Something that may come as a surprise, however, is that last March was the first time I actually sat down and listened to The Beatles. I felt very ignorant for having not ever listened to the Fabulous Four, so I decided to educate myself. Exploring the art of The Beatles was an interesting journey, full of great melodies, weird psychedelia, and stereo recording. But it was a journey that I enjoyed.
It's not like I had never even heard a single Beatles song before. You would have to make an incredible effort to do that. I had heard the ubiquitous Yellow Submarine. I had heard Happiness is a Warm Gun, one of my dad's favorites. But never, not even once, did I ever decide "Today, I shall listen to The Beatles!" Yet at the same time I knew that an incredible number of people agreed (and this is a hard thing to do in the realm of debating music!) that the Beatles were either in their top 10 greatest bands, or even the very best. I honestly found that quite hard to believe. If you have followed my site for any time at all, you would know that I do not listen to much classic rock or pop. I gravitate much more towards post punk, new wave, alternative, and goth, released roughly from 1983-1993. That is my go to music scene and time period, and up until listening to The Beatles, I rarely stepped outside of it. Sure, I would listen to Bowie fairly frequently, or listen to OK Computer/Kid A era Radiohead (hey, I oughta sit down with a Radiohead album sometime!), but for the most part I never got too far away from my comfort zone. Even the two artists which I discovered and catalogued on this page, Gary Numan and U2, were different but still fit most neatly into those genres. Practically any U2 fan will tell you that they hit their peak in 1984-1991, with a resurgence from 2000-2005. Most Numanoids will admit that Gary/Tubeway Army put out their best stuff in 1979 and 1980. And the Beatles? Their first studio album was released in 1963. This nearly predates the births of many of my favorite musicians (born in the late 1950s to early 60s). I found it hard to believe that out of everything that came after, The Beatles were still the best band. They were practically the very first rock band. In short, "How could this band which is significantly older than my favorite genres be the best thing in music ever?"
Another important detail about me, in case you just got here; I mainly listen to music via CD. The only time I ever use streaming is when I am at school and I do not have access to my CDs or their digital rips. I used to use the downloaded versions on my phone when travelling, but I have not touched my phone in nearly a week, something I'm really happy about. So just about all of the music I listen to comes from a little shiny disc in a stereo. I have about 25 albums on CD, and the collection is always growing. I intend to write a piece about physical media > streaming at some point on here, because it's something I care about, but anyways. One reality of listening to music on CD or vinyl is that if you want more music, you have to either purchase it, pirate it, or borrow an album from a friend. I never pirate music, (hey, uh... concert boots are off the hook, right?), and only occasionally borrow an album, because my dad or brother don't usually have something I'm interested in at the moment. Which leaves me one option; purchase the music I want. With money. And there are two main ways to go about buying a CD; ordering online or visiting a record store. I tend to order online if I know the precise item that I want to purchase, such as when I bought U2's Best Of 1980-1990 album back in January, or if I want it in new condition. To my knowledge it is difficult to find music shops that sell new CDs, at least in my area. I will go to record stores because I like being there, looking around, seeing all my many options, and exploring. I also often don't have a designated album I'm looking for when I visit a record store. I may think "I'll look for some Morrissey" or something but usually I just pick up whatever catches my interest. It's an experience and much more fun than clicking a few buttons on a computer screen. So I go to the record store pretty much any chance I get.
If you read my entry on U2 last March, I mentioned at the end that I was heading to a record store that weekend. We've kind of got an ongoing narrative here! Anyways it ultimately didn't happen that weekend I don't believe but I did eventually visit a record store. I think it was the weekend afterwards. I went looking for U2 as mentioned (and I walked away with Achtung Baby, an album I may give a writeup on later), but there was also something else in the back of my mind that I wanted to get ahold of. As mentioned before, I felt very ignorant for having never explored The Beatles, so I thought that I should probably get a Beatles album of some sort. While I was browsing the CDs I told my dad, "You know what's silly? I've never listened to the Beatles." and he told me "That is silly." So I decided I was for sure going to get a Beatles album. I looked through the store's Beatles selections on CD. As expected, they had many albums in stock. I can't exactly remember everything that they had, but I can remember the three that I considered; 1962-1966, 1967-1970, and Rubber Soul. Unlike the other two artists I have written about on this site, I had really no reference point with the Beatles, except that they were positively huge. The two songs I mentioned prior were murky memories of my childhood. So there was no album that had the song that I knew on it. I remember asking my dad which Beatles album I should get. He said that he wouldn't go with anything earlier than Rubber Soul, and then pointed at the 1967-1970 album and said that if I wanted to go with a greatest hits album, that one would probably have the best selection. I was very confused because the CD case of the Blue Album (as it's often referred to as) almost looks like two normal sized cases stuck together. I thought that the blue "The Beatles" and "1967-1970" were two different albums, so there was a lot of misunderstandings there. I ultimately stuck with the Blue Album, which I purchased for $10. The policy at that particular shop was $5 per disc - since it is a double album, it cost $10. I was pleased to find that it had an incredible 28 songs on it! I thought that surely some of it would be good. One of the guys at the store suggested that if I like the songs on the Blue Album, I should check out the Red Album next. You can probably guess which one is the Red Album. I haven't done that yet, but I wouldn't rule it out. Dad asked to see what songs were on it, and he told me that it was a pretty good compilation, but he wished that it had Happiness is a Warm Gun on it. You know, I still haven't revisited that song since listening to the Beatles.
So I had done it. I had bought a Beatles album. Now it was just to listen to it. After mowing the lawn once I got home, I decided to give at least one of the two discs a listen. Naturally I began with the first CD, which encompassed material released during the Beatles’ “studio period” where they abstained from touring in favor of releasing experimental material. Disc 1 spans the albums of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band and Magical Mystery Tour, along with several non album singles and b sides included in the mix. Right off the bat, with the disc’s opener of Strawberry Fields Forever, I noticed one thing for certain; these guys took production seriously. In the music of the Beatles, a lot of sounds are panned heavily toward one ear or another, creating a surreal, psychedelic sound. Penny Lane came along and I thought that it sounded like sweety classic pop. Standout songs on Disc 1 for me were A Day in a Life, which I really liked for it’s melancholic intro and outro (sung by my favorite Beatle, John Lennon) following a more upbeat breakdown (sung by Paul McCartney, or Paul Macaw as he is known in my home) after an intense orchestral transition. The way it almost sounds like an entirely different song was very interesting to me. The other main song that caught my attention was the legendary Hey Jude. I like acoustic guitars. The outro was… unexpected for certain, but that didn’t change how much I liked the song. But while there were two or maybe three songs that I immediately liked on Disc 1, I mostly found it to be “weird psychedelia”. One thing that caught me slightly off guard was the prominence of non-rock instruments. Horns, strings, etc. Seeing as how the Beatles were the first proper rock band, I thought that their music would be a bit more purely rock. I forgot, however, that they are classic pop as well, and very experimental. The first time I listened to Disc 1, I don’t think I would have said that I liked it on the whole. I didn’t dislike it but it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.
However, there was a substantial part of me that did enjoy - or at least was fascinated by - the music I heard on Disc 1. I normally wouldn’t have felt inclined to listen to another 45 minute CD of music I still wasn’t sure if I liked or not. But it felt different, and interesting to listen to. So I decided to listen to Disc 2 additionally in the same sitting. I had background knowledge of what the time period encompassed for The Beatles. Disc 2 spans from the albums of The Beatles (or the White Album as it is commonly known) to their final official release of new music, Let it Be. In between those two releases fell what is likely their most well known and critically acclaimed release, Abbey Road. I thought that the second disc may likely be better, so I decided to give it a listen that same night. The second CD begins with Back in the USSR, which I initially found to be closer to what I usually listen to than most of what I had already heard by The Beatles, And it also fulfilled my expectations of “straight rock song”. Then it moved into what became my brother’s favorite Beatles song, While my Guitar Gently Weeps. I know that the highlight of that song is by far and large Eric Clapton’s guitar solos (excellent by the way), but one part that I especially liked was the cymbals and piano notes at the intro of the song. That’s not to say that the best part isn’t the guitar. The rest of the song just kind of backs that up. Then the album transitions into Ob La Di, Ob La Da. This song further proved to me that The Beatles are not only adept rock musicians and masters of production. They can still do the fun, sweet pop thing too. My mom likes that song. I’m not going to go through each and every song on the album, because I honestly thought that most of it was pretty excellent. There were a few songs that I didn’t care much for, such as Get Back. I just thought that song was a bit boring and just galloped along without really going anywhere. But the rest of the album was full of great tunes. I personally loved the Harrison composition, Here Comes the Sun. It was a really relaxed, naturalist mood, and I just had a good time listening to it. Let it Be felt like a statement, or a goodbye. One thing to share, one moral of the story, before closing off. Yes I know that it was actually written before Abbey Road and everything but perhaps because I know that it was the last Beatles record to be released, it gives it a feeling of finality. I loved the piano and how the song builds to include further instrumentation, and Paul McCartney’s vocal was perfect for the song. But my very favorite tune on the second disc, and for the entirety of the compilation, would be the Lennon led Across the Universe. What can I say; I have a really soft spot for acoustic guitar ballads. The transition from the A major to the F sharp minor (tuned down a half step) in the intro was perfection. And the words to the song, "Jai guru deva... om... nothing's gonna change my world," were so powerful to me. The first half of what I just wrote is actually a Sanskrit mantra, translating roughly to, "I give thanks to the divine teacher." Is that not super powerful? The rest of the words are beautiful. I'm not going to copy the rest in, just know that if it is a lyric in Across the Universe, I loved it. The chord progressions are relatively simple but no less beautiful for it. It's a great song, and cemented this key fact; I like The Beatles.
Over time, I would play mostly the second disc, and came to like almost everything on there even more. Songs started to feel familiar to me, and while my favorites remained largely the same, I have a much greater appreciation for the entirety of the compilation. However, I avoided Disc 1. My memory of it was still as this bizarre, unconventional psychadelic venture that I mostly didn't care for. Shortly before beginning this writing, I gave it another shot, though. As what happened with Disc 2, I appreciated and enjoyed it much more. I liked the weirdness, and while I still didn't like it quite as much as CD 2, it was still definitely good to listen to.
At the moment of writing, this is about where I am currently regarding my Beatles fandom. I honestly don't know if I would consider myself a fan, simply because I haven't listened to all that much by the Beatles. I'm a casual fan for certain though. They have many good songs just on 1967-1970, and I'm quite confident that there are plenty more left to explore. But; do I think that the Beatles are the greatest group, band, or artist in music ever? Are they the greatest band to ever tour the Earth? My honest answer is; no. The Beatles are not the best band ever. But: they opened the door for practically every rock or pop based movement that has occurred in music history since their formation, including the postpunk, new wave, alternative, goth subgenres. So while I do not regard them as the best, they are the ancestors of the best, in my eyes. In an interview I heard once with ex Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder, he was asked some question or another that referenced The Beatles. He said something like, "How could you not be influenced by the Beatles?" And I understand this now. So I will give the Fabulous Four this; they are definitely the most influential band ever. Just about every musician I have ever heard state their influences lists The Beatles.
As for what's next, we'll have to see. I haven't explored their discography online yet, so I'm not super sure what "the albums" are. You know, like their canon best albums or whatever. I can guess that most people are going to say that Abbey Road is their Disintegration or Violator or Joshua Tree. But what is for sure is that I am going to listen to more Beatles. Which for me means, as you know, going out and purchasing another CD. As Dad said, I'm probably not going to go any earlier than Rubber Soul, and I'll certainly get an album covered on 1967-70. I highly suspect I'll like it.
I don't think that The Beatles are the best band ever. But they are the most influential and one of the most adventurous and daring groups of their time, and probably ever. Their music is innovative and different, two descriptors that are very much welcome to me. I'm very glad to no longer be ignorant, and I'm glad I like the Beatles.
Favorite songs: Across the Universe, Let it Be, Here Comes the Sun, A Day in the Life, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
