I hate the Beatles

[mikeyj]

I was just wondering if any of you know anybody who hates the Beatles and just wont give them a chance? I have started a topic similar to this about the Beach Boys... but in the end I know that the Beach Boys will never be as popular as A) a lot of their stuff isn't as well known B) their voices (now matter how great we think they are) might not be everyone's cup of tea and C) they just generally aren't as commercial.... Anyway, I just don't know how some people can't like the Beatles? I mean they are just so damn easy to like!! One of my friends in particular just doesn't like them at all... he thinks they are so over-rated etc.. So what do you guys reckon? How can anyone hate the Beatles?

[peerke]

I was just wondering if any of you know anybody who hates the Beatles and just wont give them a chance? I have started a topic similar to this about the Beach Boys... but in the end I know that the Beach Boys will never be as popular as A) a lot of their stuff isn't as well known B) their voices (now matter how great we think they are) might not be everyone's cup of tea and C) they just generally aren't as commercial.... Anyway, I just don't know how some people can't like the Beatles? I mean they are just so damn easy to like!! One of my friends in particular just doesn't like them at all... he thinks they are so over-rated etc.. So what do you guys reckon? How can anyone hate the Beatles?

He'll come around in time, believe me.

[mikeyj]

He'll come around in time, believe me.

I hope so... he just doesn't seem to give it a chance... he obviously has something against them for some reason?

[lance]

I don't know about hate, but I have known plenty of people who don't like them. Or who really don't care that much.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I never met anyone who didn't at least LIKE them. 

[kookadams]

I was just wondering if any of you know anybody who hates the Beatles and just wont give them a chance? I have started a topic similar to this about the Beach Boys... but in the end I know that the Beach Boys will never be as popular as A) a lot of their stuff isn't as well known B) their voices (now matter how great we think they are) might not be everyone's cup of tea and C) they just generally aren't as commercial.... Anyway, I just don't know how some people can't like the Beatles? I mean they are just so damn easy to like!! One of my friends in particular just doesn't like them at all... he thinks they are so over-rated etc.. So what do you guys reckon? How can anyone hate the Beatles?

I like the Beatles but I don't think they were the greatest thing since sliced bread like a lotta people do. I don't think they were better than the Beach Boys in any way, I just think they got more hype and had good timing.

[Amanda Hart]

My mom totally hates all British rock, Beatles being the most hated.  I have no idea why she feels this way, her favorite band is Aerosmith and they were obviously largely influenced by the Beatles. 

I feel like I had a very sheltered childhood because of this.  I didn't really know anything about the Beatles or Zepplin until my freshman year of college.

[lance]

More like the Suckles.

[Aegir]

There's various reasons to not like a group rather than objectively not liking the quality of their songs, voices, musicianship, et cetera. I'd imagine most people who say they don't like the Beatles say so because they think they're extremely overrated - they don't understand why the Beatles are regularly hailed as being the greatest band in the world.

[Shady]

The Beatles are overated.

And I know plenty of people who hate them,

And while I don't hate them, I do hate Paul McCartney, well today's Macca not 60's Macca.

[grillo]

I used to collect Beatles stuff back in the 80's & 90's AFTER getting all the Beach Boys I could find at the time. I tried as hard as possible to understand the Beatles like I did the BB. The thing is, the Beatles music, to my ears, just doesn't have any passion, and lacks soul. Also, unlike most BB albums, after a few listens I found I got as much from Beatles songs as I ever would. In other words I cannot get lost in the mysteriousness of the songs because there IS NO MYSTERY. It's like a Kid's book compared to Finnegan's Wake, and I'm just not gonna read the Cat in the Hat more than once or twice. And yes, I even had those yellow dog boots and the Sessions book.
     i remember there was a kid in High School who Loved the Beatles and would go on and on about how crappy the BB were. Typical reaction for that time. This is around '87-'88, so hardly any BB was available at the record store except for crappy tapes and a couple CDs. Still, I told him to listen to my cassette of PS and get back to me. Eventually he realised there was room for the BB in his life.
    Anyway, I now have exactly NO Beatles in my collection and I don't miss them one bit. If I never heard another Beatles song again (like that's even possible) I would not mind one bit. So do I hate the Beatles? Nope. I just think they are the most over-hyped act of all time. No need to try and dissuade me as my mind has been made up for, oh, 15 years on this one. Great thread by the way!

[Sheriff John Stone]

I think The Beatles are the greatest band in the history of rock & roll.

[donald]

I used to like them before John said he was better than Jesus, George became a muslim, and Paul married that one-legged girl who is on My Name is Earl.

Ringo is OK by me.

[phirnis]

I don't like them half as much as The Beach Boys. In fact I even prefer Kokomo-era BB over The Beatles, which is probably downright insane but I just can't help it, really. That said, I like most of what they did until Rubber Soul. After that it's mostly hit-or-miss though, Abbey Road and Let It Be being by far the least interesting of their albums for my liking.

Wild_Honey, if you hate McCartney be sure to check out his faux-avantgardist confessions in the Guardian...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/nov/25/paul-mccartney-carnival-light

Love McCartney II, by the way. Talk about one bizarre little record by a mainstream pop artist.

[the captain]

I think The Beatles are the greatest band in the history of rock & roll.

2nded. Overrated, underrated, too much hype, whatever: irrelevant. For my ears, they put out the most good music and the best percentage of good to bad. I think the only band that comes close on that last measure for me is Velvet Underground, who of course only had four official albums (if you don't count Squeeze) during their lifetime. I can't relate at all to the claim that they made soulless music, but that's OK: I don't have to. Suffice to say I disagree. And if it isn't deep, I'd probably just note that a) it's pop music, and b) THIS IS A BEACH BOYS BOARD, FOR f***'S SAKE! We're talking about lyrical depth as a prerequisite?

[Sheriff John Stone]

I think The Beatles are the greatest band in the history of rock & roll.

For my ears, they put out the most good music and the best percentage of good to bad.

Yep. Exactly.

One could go into a long dissertation about the quality of the songwriting, musicianship, vocals, production, sociological impact, whatever. However, everything they did, with VERY FEW exceptions, was excellent.

[mikeyj]

2nded. Overrated, underrated, too much hype, whatever: irrelevant. For my ears, they put out the most good music and the best percentage of good to bad. I think the only band that comes close on that last measure for me is Velvet Underground, who of course only had four official albums (if you don't count Squeeze) during their lifetime. I can't relate at all to the claim that they made soulless music, but that's OK: I don't have to. Suffice to say I disagree. And if it isn't deep, I'd probably just note that a) it's pop music, and b) THIS IS A BEACH BOYS BOARD, FOR foda'S SAKE! We're talking about lyrical depth as a prerequisite?

I agree with both of you guys... not saying they are my favourite band but as you say they were the most consistent in terms of putting out good material... of course there was still the occasional piece of junk but that's understandable.

[Sheriff John Stone]

... of course there was still the occasional piece of junk but that's understandable.

Yes, but, The Beatles' occasional pieces of junk (like The Beach Boys' BTW) were still better than everybody else's pieces of junk.

[the captain]

I should note, though, I do know a guy who is unwilling even to listen to the Beatles. I don't know why. He used to play bass for me in a band. Very awkward when I'd make a reference I thought was universal (do it like the bass part in [famous Beatles song]." And I'd get a blank stare...

[grillo]

I think The Beatles are the greatest band in the history of rock & roll.

(...) if it isn't deep, I'd probably just note that a) it's pop music, and b) THIS IS A BEACH BOYS BOARD, FOR foda'S SAKE! We're talking about lyrical depth as a prerequisite?

When I talk quality of music I rarely think of lyrics being the part of the song that grabs me, though I probably have more space in my brain filled with 60's and 70's pop lyrics than anything else. I don't ponder Lyrics, I ponder the mystery, the feeling, or whatever it is that speaks to my heart. The Beatles speak to my yawns. Also have to admit i MUCH prefer Sabbath to Zeppelin so...

[SG7]

I grew up on Beatles music, so I have to be bias lol. I do say though without Beatle music in my life, I would have NEVER liked music of that time period. As much as I would like to take the trash out on them now I am a BB/BW fan, I still enjoy their music highly and I still enjoy the conventions I go to every year!

[Alex]

I've only met about 3 or 4 people in my entire lifetime who hate the Beatles (I've also met people who are indifferent to them, but those people are indifferent to music in general). One of them, much like a person described by a previous poster, hates all British bands...I really don't know why. Another one was a classmate of mine in high school, who at the time was really into Zeppelin, Hendrix, Floyd, The Who, Skynyrd, and other "classic rock", who one day in school was singing the praises of Zeppelin and said "the Beatles weren't really that great, anyway." I didn't really think much of it at the time, but if I could travel back in time I would start an argument with him over the Beatles.

[TdHabib]

This thread is very ironic. I just came back from a concert, tribute band called RAIN of the fab four. Really cool experience, great playing. (As an aside, a woman sitting a small distance away from me looked EXACTLY like Linda McCartney! I almost went up to her and said "Hey Linda!" But then I remembered... )

I have to agree with the Sherriff, the Beatles are the best (in my opinion, anyway) and have to have one of the lowest percentages of filler for ANY band. Real duffer. There's very little.

[donald]

I tired of them in the later sixties but did enjoy Abbey Road off and on over the many years.

I recall a time (I'm actually old enought to remeber their time on the top forty) when the Beatles were doing  great new and surprising sounds and styles  back to back to back...bam-bam-bam!!


Nowhere Man-Eleanor Rigby-Day Tripper-Yesterday.  Seemed like every few weeks you were knocked out by yet another very good and very original sounding Beatles song on the radio.  There was a LOT of great music coming out back then but no one else knocked it out of the ball park so frequently as the Beatles.

I grew up with the stuff.  But I can understand some who didn't not finding the Beatles as interesting or meaningful as I did.

Frankly I'm amazed at their staying power finding legions of new fans with succeeding generations.  Kids today listening to the music of the sixties would be like me in middle school listening to Rudy Vallee or going to Mary Pickford movies.

I had to grow up before I was even interested in discovering classic 50's pop or jazz.


I guess the Beatles made quite an impact to say the least.

[Shady]

Everything Pre Rubber Soul was just good pop music, then they had a 5 year period of Brilliance which ended with the pretty weak 'let it be'

Since then none of the Beatles members have made very good music, just a pretty good single now and then.

Still, they are the second best band ever.