Beach Boys vs Beatles in the same years

[Heysaboda]

Ok it's hard 2 say who's better in the 60's out of the bbs and the beatles.. it's a tie. They both are absolutely amazing groups..and well "free as a bird" is my personal favorite.
this might be a bias message board but i'm being honest and i feel like neither one of these groups are better than one another.
beatles had catchier songs, beach boys had sweeter melodies

I agree about "Free as a Bird".... one of my faves too.  Beautiful track!

[Newguy562]

Ok it's hard 2 say who's better in the 60's out of the bbs and the beatles.. it's a tie. They both are absolutely amazing groups..and well "free as a bird" is my personal favorite.
this might be a bias message board but i'm being honest and i feel like neither one of these groups are better than one another.
beatles had catchier songs, beach boys had sweeter melodies

I agree about "Free as a Bird".... one of my faves too.  Beautiful track!

you have great taste that song has an amazing melody. I always been more of a paul mccartney fan than a john lennon fan but that song makes me reconsider.

[I. Spaceman]

Pitting The Beach Boys against The Beatles? Forget that crap. BEACH BOYS WIN EVERY DAMN TIME.

Agreed, this should be the new motto of this board.

Nonsense.  I don't get some of the Beatles bashing that goes on around here.  Obviously, it's a Beach Boys board, so they come first here, but that's no reason to slam one of the greatest rock bands of all time.  I think Brian thought pretty highly of them. . .

I think highly of the Beatles as well from growing up with them, I just like the Beach Boys more these days.  I. Spaceman's answer was an awesome and funny way to say the Beach Boys were better.

Yes, you got what I was saying, as you are one of the prized few with a sense of humour around these parts. The Beatles were great. The Beach Boys were beyond that. Period. End of discussion. Otherwise, head to a Beatles board, right?

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

[Newguy562]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

besides the fact that mccartney is a fan of the beach boys/brian wilson. most of the beatles songs i liked he sung lead on and written most of it (oh darling,all my loving,,getting better)..then again the ones i really loved john did too(free as a bird,dont let me down,across the universe)..now i'm confused :/

[hypehat]

what about the ones they wrote together?


Brian was a better songwriter technically, but not in terms of 'pop' - I Get Around v. I Want To Hold Your Hand, say, one is a technically complex piece rife with keychanges and harmonic intricacy and the other is just the key of C played about with glee. But both work, so Lennon and McCartney cannot be denied. Brian was a better producer than George Martin.

But that's just me.

[Newguy562]

what about the ones they wrote together?


Brian was a better songwriter technically, but not in terms of 'pop' - I Get Around v. I Want To Hold Your Hand, say, one is a technically complex piece rife with keychanges and harmonic intricacy and the other is just the key of C played about with glee. But both work, so Lennon and McCartney cannot be denied. Brian was a better producer than George Martin.

But that's just me.

your just speaking the truth what brian did by himself neither john nor paul could ever do musically
i'm not being biased but BRIAN WILSON IS A GENIUS!!!

[LetHimRun]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

I'd take Lennon over McCartney, but it's really close. John was more experimental to me and I really like the large majority of songs he wrote from '64-'67.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

I'd take Lennon over McCartney, but it's really close. John was more experimental to me and I really like the large majority of songs he wrote from '64-'67.

The songs that made me get into the Beatles were Strawberry Fields, I am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky. Now I would say that Because and Across the Universe are on that list.

Not to say I hate McCartney, but I am not too high on songs like Hey Jude and When I'm 64. However, songs like Elenour Rigby, Michelle, and Let it Be are excellent.

[bossaroo]

how about a list of Beatles/BBs songs with a common element?
i used to have a mixtape like that. it went something like this:

Ticket To Ride ... Girl Don't Tell Me
I Went To Sleep ... I'm Only Sleeping
A Day In The Life ... Surf's Up
Passing By ... Flying
God Only Knows ... Here There and Everywhere

and so on.

[Newguy562]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

I'd take Lennon over McCartney, but it's really close. John was more experimental to me and I really like the large majority of songs he wrote from '64-'67.

The songs that made me get into the Beatles were Strawberry Fields, I am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky. Now I would say that Because and Across the Universe are on that list.

Not to say I hate McCartney, but I am not too high on songs like Hey Jude and When I'm 64. However, songs like Elenour Rigby, Michelle, and Let it Be are excellent.

Seems like you only know their hits compared to the album songs.(from the choice of songs you've brought up)

[JK]

how about a list of Beatles/BBs songs with a common element?

A Day In The Life ... Surf's Up

A Day In The Life ... A Day In The Life Of A Tree 

[Keri]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

Tough call in the Beatles, but I'd go with Lennon, I just love his voice and Strawberry Fields, Rain, I am the Walrus, Lucy in the Sky, A Day in the Life are all amazing, edgy creative lyrics, great use of speech rhythms.

But I can no longer listen to his solo albums, still had the voice but his idiotic belief that he should only write songs about himself and Yoko was an artistic strait jacket that crippled his writing. I do like Imagine and Mind Games (the songs not the albums).

Paul's solo career has plenty of cheese, but his musicality shines through, there is also a lot of invention and diversity.

But I'm coming to like George's solo career the best, the care and craft he puts into his albums is fantastic, there is a sincerity and emotional connection in his song writing and All things Must Pass has by far the most great songs of any Beatles solo album, it also helps that I feel attuned to his spirituality.

[Newguy562]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

Tough call in the Beatles, but I'd go with Lennon, I just love his voice and Strawberry Fields, Rain, I am the Walrus, Lucy in the Sky, A Day in the Life are all amazing, edgy creative lyrics, great use of speech rhythms.

But I can no longer listen to his solo albums, still had the voice but his idiotic belief that he should only write songs about himself and Yoko was an artistic strait jacket that crippled his writing. I do like Imagine and Mind Games (the songs not the albums).

Paul's solo career has plenty of cheese, but his musicality shines through, there is also a lot of invention and diversity.

But I'm coming to like George's solo career the best, the care and craft he puts into his albums is fantastic, there is a sincerity and emotional connection in his song writing and All things Must Pass has by far the most great songs of any Beatles solo album, it also helps that I feel attuned to his spirituality.

Seems like i'm the only one that prefers mccartney's work over lennon's...Paul's work began 2 increasingly develop and his creativy began peaking more as the beatles grew...He sounds so different in every beatles song ..He's the only that can come from a song like "hey jude" to "helter skelter" to "oh darling" to "get back" effortless.(so many styles)

[JK]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

But I'm coming to like George's solo career the best, the care and craft he puts into his albums is fantastic, there is a sincerity and emotional connection in his song writing and All things Must Pass has by far the most great songs of any Beatles solo album, it also helps that I feel attuned to his spirituality.

Lennon over McCartney for me too. Perhaps because of a spirituality or depth or something he has and Paul hasn't. Totally agreed on George and ATMP.

[hypehat]

what about the ones they wrote together?


Brian was a better songwriter technically, but not in terms of 'pop' - I Get Around v. I Want To Hold Your Hand, say, one is a technically complex piece rife with keychanges and harmonic intricacy and the other is just the key of C played about with glee. But both work, so Lennon and McCartney cannot be denied. Brian was a better producer than George Martin.

But that's just me.

your just speaking the truth what brian did by himself neither john nor paul could ever do musically
i'm not being biased but BRIAN WILSON IS A GENIUS!!!

You're sorta missing my point - You can't go round saying 'Brian's better cos he used major seventh chords in pop' or something when The Beatles got the same effect on the early stuff without similar technical innovation. It's not about the technical stuff, even though that is amazing.

[Emdeeh]

But I'm coming to like George's solo career the best, the care and craft he puts into his albums is fantastic, there is a sincerity and emotional connection in his song writing and All things Must Pass has by far the most great songs of any Beatles solo album, it also helps that I feel attuned to his spirituality.

Another George fan here, for the reasons Keri cites. Guess I'm just partial to the "quiet ones."

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Am I one of the few Beach Boys fans that prefers Lennon over McCartney? It seems that most BB fans praise McCartney over Lennon.

I'd take Lennon over McCartney, but it's really close. John was more experimental to me and I really like the large majority of songs he wrote from '64-'67.

The songs that made me get into the Beatles were Strawberry Fields, I am the Walrus and Lucy in the Sky. Now I would say that Because and Across the Universe are on that list.

Not to say I hate McCartney, but I am not too high on songs like Hey Jude and When I'm 64. However, songs like Elenour Rigby, Michelle, and Let it Be are excellent.

Seems like you only know their hits compared to the album songs.(from the choice of songs you've brought up)

I'm saying what got me into them originally. I love plenty of deep cuts. Such as In My Life, Tommorow Never Knows, You Know My Name, Dr Robert, A Girl, Mr Kite, Because, etc...I have all the albums!

[SamMcK]

I rate Lennon/McCartney equally but starting with Revolver I tend to prefer McCartney over Lennon, I still think John wrote some fantastic songs afterwards but Paul carried the band through their last period IMO and his solo career is more fulfilling to me. His songs might not have the same depth as John's but he still made great melodies which just appeal to me more. (Ram>>>>>>>Imagine)

[harrisonjon]

She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand have a raw excitement that early Beach Boys singles lack, presumably because The Beatles were channeling Little Richard and Roy Orbison whilst The Beach Boys came out of the Four Freshmen, Everly Brothers and so on. This doesn't detract from the genius of the chord changes on Fun Fun Fun; it just means that Fun Fun Fun was not as revolutionary in it expressiveness by the white pop standards of the time. Brian was more of a continuation of Brill Building pop, whilst The Beatles were more connected to the reasons why Rock and Roll was culturally important.

Similarly, although Macca was by far a better composer than Lennon, it was John who connected with the edginess and speed-fueled dissatisfaction of the mid-1960's, especially in his Revolver-era tracks (She Said She Said, Rain, Dr Robert). Macca was observing the 60's from a position of comfort, whereas Lennon was unhappy and brooding. Brian was also unhappy and brooding but with greater beauty but less wit and without the lyric-writing ability.

[drbeachboy]

Would you care to explain your last sentence? How was what was coming out of the Brill Building not rock and roll? Not all Brill Building was Neil Sedaka pop.

[harrisonjon]

I wrote 'Brill building pop', so I did qualify it.

[drbeachboy]

I wrote 'Brill building pop', so I did qualify it.

Respectfully, I asked you to explain it, not qualify it. While Brian did write pop, a la Pet Sounds, the songs he was writing from 63-65 were rock and roll. There is plenty of rock and roll that didn't have the harder edge that some Beatles songs possessed. A good portion of what Macca was writing during that time was pure pop.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

The Beach Boys rock songs of the early 60s were closer to punk then classic rock. Songs like Surfin Safari, Shut Down, Custom Machine, I Get Around and Girl from NY City had an edge that didn't need screaming vocals and guitars to make it rock. It is what came natural to them. But Brian was motivated by getting a right feeling as opposed to being the heaviest rock band.

[drbeachboy]

The Beach Boys rock songs of the early 60s were closer to punk then classic rock. Songs like Surfin Safari, Shut Down, Custom Machine, I Get Around and Girl from NY City had an edge that didn't need screaming vocals and guitars to make it rock. It is what came natural to them. But Brian was motivated by getting a right feeling as opposed to being the heaviest rock band.

Exactly! Great post.