What are you listening to right now?

[sinewav]

...that is what if feels like when I listen to them; some basic shit. I like the Beatles, I think they have some catchy tunes, but their music is very...basic.

And there in lies their genius. When you actually start to break down Beatles tracks musically, harmonically, there is a lot of complexity. But they were able to deliver layers and layers of notes and chords in a way that sounded simple and catchy. They had three multi-instumentalists who could also sing (this was slightly offset by their rather indifferent drummer) and the musicianship was top notch. The Beatles split the difference between Robert Johnson and Gershwin. Taylor Swift owes her career to the Beatles in many, many ways.

I'm not really seeing where they "revolutionized music" as my "Guitar World" magazine claims.

A good portion of the Beatles success can be attributed to "right place, right time." As Phyto mentioned appropriation, the Beatles stole a good half of their ideas and their sound if not more. But as Word pointed out, the Beatles had the right amount of charm and were backed by a massive music industry machine who drove them straight to the top of world consciousness for a few glorious years. These stolen musical ideas (rock 'n' roll, orchestral instrumentation, incorporation of Eastern sounds) were then refined and cultivated into brilliant pieces of music that stood well above the next best attempt, and this is why they are so revered. Just like Wagner changed music in the Romantic era, The Beatles changed music in the 20th Century (or rather, the 20th Century changed and the Beatles captured the sound).

That said, there are a lot of bad Beatles songs. But the good ones, man... Think about it. There is no real musical precursor to Elanor Rigby in popular music and no one has been able to top the execution of that song since. The same can be said of several Beatles tracks. Keep one thing in mind though, the Beatles did not write in a vacuum – they worked with some of the best musicians and songwriters in the world at that time, and the music reflects this.

[Word]

That said, there are a lot of bad Beatles songs.

The funny thing is even the songs I consider bad had some sort of influence. I once read in some Rolling Stone issue that they recorded "Helter Skelter" while being intoxicated and just to prove that they can easily be louder than The Who (wikipedia tells it in a slightly different way), thereby inadvertently inventing Heavy Metal. I never liked "Yellow Submarine", but then again, there's the brilliant movie that makes up for that.

"Run for your life" is probably as sexist as it gets (and John Lennon did beat his first wife and later regretted to have recorded that song), but it's somewhat funny if you listen to it without that context (by separating the writer's biography/identity from the narrator of the lyrics) - to me it just sounds like an insane, desperate stalker is singing it while already serving jail time - or some harmless guy with a boring office job, who just got divorced and just happens to have fantasies of violence every now and then...

I guess the only Beatles-song that should never have been made is "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da". (I also don't like the "Let it be"-album very much, with the exception of two or three songs.)

on topic: the new David Gilmour album is OK, but Foals are pretty good IMO (favourite song so far: Late Night).

edit: omg, they also have a song named tron. haha!

[/dev/null]

I could give a **** less about the beatles. They encouraged a lot of musical styles that ended up tainting our modern world.

They were unresponsible wielders of a weapon they couldnt possibly understand. Given the chance, I would remove them and replace all of thier members with something far more in line with my Million Year Plan To Intefere With The Development Of Humanity.

[ConVicT]

I could give a **** less about the beatles.

Listen carefully.

[nara]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

[sinewav]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

That was great. And now I'm late for work because of it.

[Phytotron]

BTW Phyto, I found a St Vincent video yesterday. I don't really get what the video's reason of existence/purpose is, but it's always enjoyable to see her.

I've almost entirely lost interest in her. Too many bleeps and bloops, too much trying hard to be querky/eccentric in a very ostentatious way. Or maybe she just completely flaked out.

Even with her earlier stuff, I always vastly preferred her live performances to the album recordings because she had an actual band using actual instruments, not a bunch of produced, synthetic nonsense. First time I learned of her was catching her on Austin City Limits, and when I then heard the albums I was sorely disappointed.

This is probably a stupid question, and to some people it may seem like I'm saying this for certain people, but I have a few genuine questions: What exactly was it about the Beatles that made them so famous?

The Beatles were always an overrated pop band, just that. They didn't innovate jack squat from a music composition perspective—no more than did, say, Nirvana, whom are also erroneously and laughably credited as revolutionaries. Baloney! But most people, even many music reviewer types (e.g., Rolling Stone magazine), aren't even aware of music beyond pop and commercial, so they see this stuff as "new" when it isn't in the least.

They weren't even original from an image/marketing perspective for the most part.

As Phyto mentioned appropriation, the Beatles stole a good half of their ideas and their sound if not more. ...

That's not what I was referring to. I was referring specifically to their—and other British "invasion" bands'—shameless cultural appropriation and watering down of American black music. Same for Elvis.

The Beatles split the difference between Robert Johnson and Gershwin.

What? No...that's not...like, how...I can't even....

Taylor Swift owes her career to the Beatles in many, many ways.

More accurately, she's popular by taking advantage of the same cultural and institutional phenomena. Same for boy bands, same for the Sex Pistols.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

That literally hurt my ears. Jesus.

[nara]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

That was great. And now I'm late for work because of it.

Glad you enjoyed it. I watched the video many times, it's very cool (and very detailed).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

That literally hurt my ears. Jesus.

While listening to this song today I was actually reminded of the song Convict posted as an example of crappy music the popularity of which he does not understand. I can see why the two might seem similar. If you don't like "club" music, you're not going to appreciate either of them. I thought the song he posted was okay, it wouldn't hurt my ears to hear it in a store, but there is a difference between the two and this song is superior in quality. I mean, they are two different songs. But yeah, if you don't like clubby music in general it's going to sound the same to you as muzak. Personally I do like electronic music, the listening experience is very physical. It runs through you. And Hot Chip the band has its own distinctions: singer's voice, superb lyrics, melodic tendencies, beats, etc.

Other ones I like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo2lCREilQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awZbvhtVUYQ

As always with music though, one either feels it or doesn't.

[LittleSteps]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

That was great. And now I'm late for work because of it.

Glad you enjoyed it. I watched the video many times, it's very cool (and very detailed).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfH5LmhvQQk

That literally hurt my ears. Jesus.

While listening to this song today I was actually reminded of the song Convict posted as an example of crappy music the popularity of which he does not understand. I can see why the two might seem similar. If you don't like "club" music, you're not going to appreciate either of them. I thought the song he posted was okay, it wouldn't hurt my ears to hear it in a store, but there is a difference between the two and this song is superior in quality. I mean, they are two different songs. But yeah, if you don't like clubby music in general it's going to sound the same to you as muzak. Personally I do like electronic music, the listening experience is very physical. It runs through you. And Hot Chip the band has its own distinctions: singer's voice, superb lyrics, melodic tendencies, beats, etc.

Other ones I like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo2lCREilQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awZbvhtVUYQ

As always with music though, one either feels it or doesn't.

You people should really just go to reddit already.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/

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[Word]

I've almost entirely lost interest in her. Too many bleeps and bloops, too much trying hard to be querky/eccentric in a very ostentatious way. Or maybe she just completely flaked out.

Even with her earlier stuff, I always vastly preferred her live performances to the album recordings because she had an actual band using actual instruments, not a bunch of produced, synthetic nonsense. First time I learned of her was catching her on Austin City Limits, and when I then heard the albums I was sorely disappointed.

The last album sounded too experimental to me (as someone who doesn't know that much about applied musicology), so I didn't get the hype that surrouded her all of a sudden (maybe I'm just too adapted to my music taste to "get" her, I thought). Probably just a phase that'll come to an end sooner or later, I'm hoping.

[ConVicT]

I really like it when a game has good music.
This game is so addictive and so is its music.

[Word]

Intergalactic Lovers. (Favourite song is "Obstinate Heart", but there are only live versions on youtube. I like the album version the most).

[/dev/null]

Intergalactic Lovers. (Favourite song is "Obstinate Heart", but there are only live versions on youtube. I like the album version the most).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwaLUUSSbAk
Lust in Space

[Word]

Heh.


Now trying to learn Spanish, so I discovered Soda Stereo (which is apparently the most famous Argentinian band of all time, but I never heard of them) a few days ago. Takes some time to get used to - some of their songs sound like discount-versions of the worst German hits I can think of, but others are quite good ("Fue" and "Luna roja" from the Dynamo album!). Here is some of the band's late singer's solo work.

[/dev/null]

Heh.


Now trying to learn Spanish, so I discovered Soda Stereo (which is apparently the most famous Argentinian band of all time, but I never heard of them) a few days ago. Takes some time to get used to - some of their songs sound like discount-versions of the worst German hits I can think of, but others are quite good.

These ***** didnt learn english, still sweet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ABIXt4CO8A

Fake it till you make it.