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In reply to the discussion: Best musical group of all time? [View all]not_the_one
(2,227 posts)Last edited Thu May 7, 2020, 01:04 PM - Edit history (1)
Yes, this is generational, but there is only one group that, literally, changed the world with their music.
True story..., I recently had some work done on my house (floor and baseboards). As the worker was leaving we stopped at the front door to chat a second. He was a bit younger than me, but I'm 68. Still, he was no spring chicken.
We were talking about music, and the music we had listened to growing up, and he said that he was riding in his car with his son and a song by Wings came on. He said his son looked at him and said, "Did you know that Paul McCartney was in another group before he was in Wings?" I think the term "gobsmacked" could apply to my reaction...
Like I said, it IS generational, but in a few years MOST young people will have no clue as to who the Beatles were, nor their effect on music, or the world. That is so PROFOUNDLY sad.
The Beatles were good musicians, but had the extreme good fortune of being in the right place, at the right time. They hit the American "6 transistor" radios in early 1963. (Anyone under 50 probably has no clue... They were our first small portable radios. The Ipods of the day.) They were already big in England when they hit Ed Sullivan in February 1964, after the assassination of JFK in the previous fall. There was a combination of tragedy and hope going on at a crucial period of time, which literally affected the direction of politics.
They were part of the English Invasion of musical groups, which gave us a lot of good music (and a lot of bad), by some trailblazing groups.
But the Beatles became more than just a musical group. They changed how rock music was recorded by layering tracks on tracks, and in the process created some of the most incredible albums ever recorded.
Their early stuff was to please recording companies, and (primarily) teenage girls. They were the FIRST true "BOY BAND". (John was already married, but they kept that quiet.) There was nothing prefabricated about them. They were exactly what you saw. The wrote and played their own music, with a few cover songs thrown in.
They started really going their own way with Rubber Soul and Revolver.
Then there was Sgt. Pepper. That album coincided with the "summer of love", 1967. By then they were so intertwined with the love and peace youth movement, they were not only musicians, they helped shape a whole generational philosophy.
Follow that with The White Album, Magical Mystery Tour, Abbey Road, Let It Be, and you have included some songs that will forever by played.
True, in the beginning the recording techniques were nothing like we are used to today, but they did help bring about a LOT of changes and improvements.
But their influence on a genre of music, AND a whole generation, which in turn affected the politics of the world, will NEVER be repeated. Sadly.
edit for spelling