are the beatles the best band ever?

[mark414]

and i'm not just talking about in terms of their musical output - their impact on culture, music, basically the whole world.

maybe the question should be "are the beatles the most important band ever?"

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. Most important? Yeah.

[idgiehkt]

2. after the Monkees and The Bay City Rollers, maybe.

Oh, the Partridge family is in there too.

[Critters2]

3. Hehehe

Paul weren't no Davey!

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. ummmm..Guess what my vote was...

:rofl:

[taterguy]

5. What a Euro-centric question

I thought one of the problems with society is that we don't understand other cultures. I admit to being guilty of this so I don't know much about the Beatles' impact on non-English speaking nations. They might be the most important but only because they were in the right place at the right time; and the fact they had a lefty in the group also helped a lot.

[blondeatlast]

23. I was sort of thinking that too.

What about all the unknown blues artists who helped to create Rock and Roll?

They had far more impact on our culture (after all the Beatles copied them!) but are lost to history...

[johnnie]

6. Just thinking about this earlier

Before The Beatles, the UK really never had anyone break big into music in the States. I thought about all the bands that came after them and how much it opened the door for British bands to break into the American Market.

I may be wrong, but who was before The Beatles that Americans took notice to in music? I can't really think of any. Then I thought about how much money they helped bring into the UK. How long would it have taken for it to happen? How about The Yardbirds, The Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and so on?

They also had some great songwriters in the band, they completely changed the way bands record music, they started a whole movement in bands in the States and so many other things the way music was changed when they did their thing.

I like The Beatles a lot, but trying to be not biased, yeah...they were probably the most important band.

[mvd]

7. Best, yes

Most important? That can be debated, I guess. There are a lot of influential classic rock bands and artists, as well as early R&B artists. But no one can change them from being my fave. :hi:

[querelle]

8. Led Zeppelin Was Way Better n/t

[Broken_Hero]

9. nope...sorry....nt

[Katina]

10. best? No, Important? Absolutely

no question about that.

[Joe Fields]

11. Absolutely

[bigwillq]

12. I never got into them but

they were way before my time. Maybe that's why.

[Monk06]

13. With George Martin yes. Without George Martin no.

[kwassa]

14. Dylan was more important, IMHO

He changed the playing field for the Beatles and everyone else in the sixties. Dylan widened the field of pop altogether, in terms of what it could do and address.

[mark414]

15. plus you could argue that the beatles wouldn't be the same with bob

being that dylan is the one that introduced them to pot, and we all know where that took them...

but then i guess we could go further back and say that we probably wouldn't know who dylan was if it wasn't for woody guthrie...

so who knows, i've just been listening to the beatles all weekend

[6000eliot]

19. You could also argue that The Beatles had an enormous impact on Dylan.

Would he have gone electric without them?

[johnnie]

22. But Dylan isn't a band

[ghostsofgiants]

16. They're no Oasis.

[JVS]

21. word!

:thumbsup:

[enigmatic]

17. Yes

Most important? Without question. My personal opinion? Absolutely.

To me, the fact that their entire recorded output lasted less than a decade is more astounding than anything else; that's less time than Guns And Roses "Chinese Conspiracy" has been endlessly mixed for it's lasted pushed-back "release".

To a younger generation, it reminds me on how a elderly guy who was a good friend of mine tried to describe Babe Ruth's fame to me. It's impossible to describe..

[Benfea]

18. Definitely not.

Everything between the height of the jazz age and the first Ramones album was complete crap.

[mark414]

25. whoa

are you serious?

[datasuspect]

20. no - that would be the bee gees

[Lowell]

24. Never cared for them

I remember the British invasion and all the pictures of swooning fans. It was just too weird for me. I always liked Creedence Clearwater Revival better.