The Beatles are a band that I've been conflicted as someone who enjoys music. With them it's either you really like them or you find them utterly saccharine. I'm in the weird DMZ of not enjoying them, but neither hating them entirely. If there is a record of the Beatles that's slowly grown on me, it's Rubber Soul. It's not every song, but the acoustic and softer sounding stuff are what I still enjoy from this album. I guess what I can say is that I appreciate the musicianship of the band.
The Beatles are a band that I've been conflicted as someone who enjoys music. With them it's either you really like them or you find them utterly saccharine. I'm in the weird DMZ of not enjoying them, but neither hating them entirely. If there is a record of the Beatles that's slowly grown on me, it's Rubber Soul. It's not every song, but the acoustic and softer sounding stuff are what I still enjoy from this album. I guess what I can say is that I appreciate the musicianship of the band.
I go through Beatles phases, when I was younger they were my favorite band and I devoured all their content and knew everything about them, etc. Then just due to oversaturation I'll just go months or years without putting on a record of theirs. But then I'll get back into it for a month or two, rinse and repeat. I still love them and come back to it often but you can only listen to so much before needing a break and exploring other groups and genres.No one asked, so here is my top 10 Beatles songs. Probably
I’m Only Sleeping
Happiness is A Warm Gun
Sexy Sadie
I Should Have Known Better
Tell Me Why
Tomorrow Never Knows
For No One
Here Comes The Sun
And Your Bird Can Sing
We Can Work It Out
Edit: nice call on I’m Looking Through You, great song
This is a great take IMO. I change my mind regularly, but I agree that A Hard Day's Night is among their best. I certainly rate it higher than Sgt Pepper and the white album. Depending on my mood, I probably go Revolver>A Hard Day's Night>Abbey Road>Rubber Soul>White Album>Help>Sgt Pepper... unsure about the rest.I go through Beatles phases, when I was younger they were my favorite band and I devoured all their content and knew everything about them, etc. Then just due to oversaturation I'll just go months or years without putting on a record of theirs. But then I'll get back into it for a month or two, rinse and repeat. I still love them and come back to it often but you can only listen to so much before needing a break and exploring other groups and genres.
I will say that their middle period of 1965-1966 is their peak IMO. Help-Rubber Soul-Revolver are just about perfect pop music. I like the earlier stuff too (I'm like one of the few people who will defend Beatles For Sale as an album, it has some real bangers on it), and I like Sgt. Pepper/White Album but not as much as Help through Revolver. I don't feel comfortable saying their later work is "overrated", but the way that critics and fans (especially the toxic Internet rock music community) go on about how they only liked their late stuff and dismiss everything before the White Album has always prejudiced me against their later work, if that makes sense. I still like it when I hear it, but I'd take Revolver over Abbey Road 100 times out of 100.
The Beatles are a band that I've been conflicted as someone who enjoys music. With them it's either you really like them or you find them utterly saccharine. I'm in the weird DMZ of not enjoying them, but neither hating them entirely. If there is a record of the Beatles that's slowly grown on me, it's Rubber Soul. It's not every song, but the acoustic and softer sounding stuff are what I still enjoy from this album. I guess what I can say is that I appreciate the musicianship of the band.
Paul is an especially prodigious musician, best of the four musically (there's just about unanimous consensus on that point). Look up the isolated bass track for Hey Bulldog, it's phenomenal. And he could play piano, guitar, and drums as well. I absolutely understand why people don't like his personality or his songwriting if you're not inclined to enjoy saccharine pop songs, but the dude can play.I've mellowed in my opinion about the Beatles, for in my youth I rebelled against everything they stood for. I was a Stones guy, and I used to put it this way to show why I preferred them - "The Beatles wrote Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds about drugs, then had to deny it was a drug song. The Stones wrote Sister Morphine and never apologized for it."
It was only many years later that I started to appreciate the musicianship of the Beatles. I still think they could be obnoxious jackasses, but no more so than most pop stars, and I'd sit and have a beer with Ringo anytime, anyplace.