For the most part, I’m out of bands so I’m going to give my ode to the greatest band of all time: The Beatles. The thing about The Beatles is that they are in an almost exclusive club of bands that weren’t reactionaries to the times in which they lived in. They defined the times. I used to think (incorrectly) that The Beatles were overrated. I mean, songs like “Love Me Do” and “Help” and “Please Mr. Postman” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” are just simple pop songs, yet they formed the mold for future rock groups to follow. In addition to setting the paradigm of 2 guitars, bass and drums, The Beatles also added elements of music of black musicians like Little Richard and Chuck Berry with white musicians like Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley that would influence rock n roll music for decades.
So let’s put The Beatles impact on music on the backburner for now and just look at the music itself. The Beatles first phase was the “Love Me” phase characterized by simple song structures, simple I love you, love me lyrics (like the song above). It’s what first captivated America on the Ed Sullivan show performance and really sparked Beatlemania. Fast forward to the time they played Shea Stadium and decided to stop touring. So born the social commentary Beatles, who started growing beards and doing drugs. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is their seminal work from this period, almost a rock opera that is considered one of the greatest (according to Rolling Stone the greatest album of all time) that introduced innovative techniques for recording that included adding musicians in addition to just the fab four and experimenting with innovative recording techniques. Just check out the sound below that builds upon the original Beatles sound.
Last but not least of the Beatles phases results in their last album while together and my absolute favorite: Abbey Road. It shows a mature group who’s ability to combine their music together in the face of falling apart absolutely amazes me. Listen to the White Album and you will hear a band at war with itself. Each individual song sounds like it was done by an individual member and in fact that’s the case. In fact, all members except for Ringo refused to record when another member was in the studio. There were George songs, John songs and Paul songs. Abbey Road sees the Beatles come together for one last hurrah and tolerate each other. Their individual tastes and song writing abilities combine to create a concept album like Sgt Peppers of epic proportions. Just listen to the whole album. It’s a piece of absolute genius.
The Music Court 