The Beatles

This was my point Shubertmaniac, your starting thread followed by this quote thread of yours and all the other opinions you've expressed here: "Jademo, The London school of British imports were a much different breed from the Liverpool boys. They were going to make it in spite of the trash from the beatles. In fact the Beatles set back rock 10 years. Listen any American garage band worth their salt emulated the Animals, Rolling Stones or Yardbirds, that's why bad boys always get the chicks!! Is it not the reason for rock and roll, hey, do you know what rock and roll is slang for????? The point is The ANIMALS, STONES and YARDBIRDS had far less to do with rock than the music they learned from. I think rock could have made it without the ANIMALS!

O.K., I've just figured out what's going on here. I'm 49 yrs old and was 12 when the Beatles first performed on Ed Sullivan. I sat with my family in our basement rec room and was entralled, as were the rest of my family, even parents. The rest, as they say, is history. However... I do understand where Shubertmaniac is coming from. During the 2-3 years after Feb, 1964, pop and rock music just exploded with innovation, ideas, and excitement, the Beatles indeed being at the forefront of it. There quickly came a time when one chose sides, so to speak, and became either a Beatles fan or a Rolling Stones fan, and the disagreements were voluminous. I was a Stones fan (when I was 12-15 yrs old) and also a huge fan of the garage style bands such as The 13th Floor Elevators, Syndicate of Sound (the summer of '66 I fell in love with Crystal Yarlott to "Hey, Little Girl". I was then able to rely on the song when she dumped me a few weeks later.), the Woolies, etc. Now, we all have to remember what it was like being a young teenager, especially a boy, and how underdeveloped our thinking abilites were. The Beatles/Stones argument pretty much was split down the middle by sexes, guys for the Stones (and other type bands/music) and girls for the Beatles (and even early Simon and Garfunkel). However, as we all grew older and, hopefully, more musically mature, things changed. It wasn't until Revolver and St. Pepper's that I realized the Beatles were something beyond what I had ever imagines or thought about. By the time Abbey Road came out, I understood that this was music for my lifetime, transcending sex, age, and everything else. The Beatles are the greatest pop/rock band of all time and no one will ever surpass them. They join the ranks of those who will never be equaled in their art: Mozart, Beethoven, Bruce Lee (for the sheer visual beauty and his power of expression of his martial art), and Hendrix. These are people who will always be immitated but never surpassed or even equalled. The Beatles easily join those ranks. The fact that we are even having this very long discussion about them proves it. Now, I have to say I still love the great bands of the 60s; I too have all the Nuggets collections and just got from Amazon.com The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette by The Small Faces. (I have one of the greatest garage band CDs of all time, Michigan Memories with "Persecution Smith" by Bob Seger and the Last Heard (sp), "In the Midnight Hour" by The Wanted, "Respect" by the Rationals, "Love's Gone Bad" by The Underdogs, and a bunch more. Too bad this things been out of print for 4-5 years. Anyway, I think it's a bit sad to be as old as we are and still fighting the battles of our confused adolescent egos that should have been abandoned and outgrown 30 or more years ago.

Nice post Tomryan, All that needs saying is said. I retire from the beatles thread.

Bravo, Tom.

Nice Post Tom. It is funny to me however that no one in this thread mentions the one American group at the time that rivaled the early Beatles and later influenced them. The first group I REALLY loved and have become an icon in their own right. The Stones were the bad boys but the Beach Boys were the Beatles' real American rivals. Remember, the Stones, Yardbirds, Dave Clark Five, Hermans Hermits and the rest of those invaders' and their work weren't the inspiration for Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds was. I don't know how many of you Audiogoner's out there were influenced by them but I sure was. All those songs about cars, surf, sun and especially girls sure change my life to the point that I traveled 70 miles each way to surf and live that lifestyle in a few of my summer teen years. Oh, Sweet Bird of Youth, how sweet it was!