Mike,
None of what you said makes a bit of difference in the poularity or legitimacy of the band. They MADE the rules and changed them as needed. You can't argue what they did for bands everywhere. Paul plays the most lyrical bass lines, he and John wrote the most incredible music and the musicianship of the 4 as ONE, was so perfect that even if you replaced a Beatle with one that was a better player (technically) ..... you'd loose the chemistry that WAS the Beatles. They were a perfect entity in the music world.
Fresh, Bold, Opinionated, Fun ..... you just can't BEAT 'em.
They are a big part of the reason I am making a living in music today.
Madonna did the same thing for Chick singers when she hit the scene, only in a sexy, slutty way. The Beatles were born in a time that treated that kind of performance as trashy and taboo. What a shame that it couldn't stay that way. There is too much filth in pop music today.

Some parents thought Elvis was "too sexy" for TV ..... they'd have heart failure watching a Beyonce video today !

Progress ...... ?

Dave
While I agree with 99% of what you say about the Beatles and being a big fan also that believes that they changed music forever and opened the door for where we are today....the 1% is Ringo. He was and still is a crap drummer. On many of their albums they had a session drummer in to play.

While they may have opened the door many other bands made new roads from there, such as the Moody Blues with orchestration in pop. Pink Floyd with heavy synth work and stretching the envelope. Many took the ball and ran with it, so while they may have started it, there were many others that contributed to where we are in music today.

They didn't change musical history alone, but did start the change.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 01-23-2004).]

Just wanted to add my $.02 about musicianship over instrument quality. I have a MIDI copy of "The Pro" playing Moon River (from the tyros shootout) and no matter what keyboard plays this MIDI file it sounds great. Kudos to The Pro.
Starkeeper

Yeah, Ringo is no stud, but a better drummer would have gotten in the way of the intricate lines played by the guitars. Drums are a support instrument, and should be played as such. I think "crap" is a bit strong, but I agree he was the weakest link in the band. Still .... he DID have his fans !

I was listening to "Birthday" by the Beatles today. You know Paul played the drums on that track, and he slows down horribly in the drum break in the middle of the song. Why didn't they get a session player for THAT take, I wonder?

I also have inside info on the drums for "They're coming to take me away, ha ha" by Napoleon XIV ( Jerry Samuels, from Phily)
*** His drummer couldn't play the figure in perfect time for the duration of the record, so Jerry (a master editor from the Brill Bldg in NYC) recorded a few bars and cut the tape to make a loop. ( A REAL, literal loop, not like those digital referances that Acid uses today). This song was arguably, the first RAP #1 song. Nothing but spoken words and rhythm - no chords at all. It was also the quickest song to reach #1 in the label's history.

He later re released that song along with the 2 sequals:
** They're coming to get me again, Ha ha"
and Josephine's rebuttle:
** I'm glad they took you away, ha ha"

I produced 2 songs on his reissue on Rhino. It was a blast. He wrote some very creative (but really WEIRD) stuff in the sixties.

Dave
You're right, but I was using crap as a relative term to good drummers. You're also correct in that he was not the handsomest Beatle yet he still really enjoyed a lot of groupie adoration as well. Finally good or bad drummer, he' s a better one than I am and made it alot farther in music than I ever will.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html