Music: The Beatles, greatest "popular consensus" band of all time?

[Perennial]

I view Yesterday as the Beatles equivalent of Creep and Paranoid Android as the Radiohead equivalent of Strawberry Fields or A Day in the Life. They're both kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to different types of massively appreciated tracks by the bands. Personally, I find the former group awful/overrated and the latter group very admirable and great, but probably not their best. For my money, the actual best track of both bands would be Tomorrow Never Knows and Pyramid Song (runner-up Everything in Its Right Place).

Don't really care for Bohemian Rhapsody or Stairway to Heaven, kind of like but don't love Comfortably Numb. My top Zeppelin track would be No Quarter, my top Pink Floyd track would be Dogs, and I don't really like anything from Queen.

That's a fair comparison, Yesterday vs Creep

Have you heard Tool's cover of No Quarter? It's better than the original, IMO... and I love the original!

 

[Perennial]

I view Yesterday as the Beatles equivalent of Creep and Paranoid Android as the Radiohead equivalent of Strawberry Fields or A Day in the Life. They're both kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to different types of massively appreciated tracks by the bands. Personally, I find the former group awful/overrated and the latter group very admirable and great, but probably not their best. For my money, the actual best track of both bands would be Tomorrow Never Knows and Pyramid Song (runner-up Everything in Its Right Place).

Don't really care for Bohemian Rhapsody or Stairway to Heaven, kind of like but don't love Comfortably Numb. My top Zeppelin track would be No Quarter, my top Pink Floyd track would be Dogs, and I don't really like anything from Queen.

Queen also has We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions, which I would also put in the same tier as Stairway, Bohemian, etc...

 

[Sentinel]

I view Yesterday as the Beatles equivalent of Creep and Paranoid Android as the Radiohead equivalent of Strawberry Fields or A Day in the Life. They're both kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to different types of massively appreciated tracks by the bands. Personally, I find the former group awful/overrated and the latter group very admirable and great, but probably not their best. For my money, the actual best track of both bands would be Tomorrow Never Knows and Pyramid Song (runner-up Everything in Its Right Place).

Don't really care for Bohemian Rhapsody or Stairway to Heaven, kind of like but don't love Comfortably Numb. My top Zeppelin track would be No Quarter, my top Pink Floyd track would be Dogs, and I don't really like anything from Queen.

And I thought *my* taste was unorthodox.

But I absolutely despise Radiohead. Nothing I've heard from them sounded even remotely interesting or good.

 

[Shareefruck]

That's a fair comparison, Yesterday vs Creep

Have you heard Tool's cover of No Quarter? It's better than the original, IMO... and I love the original!

Queen also has We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions, which I would also put in the same tier as Stairway, Bohemian, etc...

Not sold on that Tool cover. Some of it is cool, but I despise the vocals and amped up metal-esque riffs. I liked the beginning a lot more than the end (where it's more understated).

Not sure what it is, but I seem to have a great distaste for songs that revolve around a dramatic, ballad-y or anthemic, crowd-pleasing, statement-esque hook in general. Yesterday, Imagine, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Creep, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions (not sure if they should all be lumped together or if I'm using those terms correctly, but there seems to be something there). I find them kind of obnoxious (sometimes overbearing) and I'm just not a fan of that type of song at all. They just don't feel very... organic or grounded to me, if that makes sense.

And I thought *my* taste was unorthodox.

But I absolutely despise Radiohead. Nothing I've heard from them sounded even remotely interesting or good.

I find their Creep -> The Bends -> OK Computer period to be overrated, melodramatic, and whine-y, but I love the Kid A -> present period, after they started being influenced by Krautrock and IDM (maybe some minimalism, jazz and ambient too?). That said, I feel that their influencers (Can, Faust, Neu, Aphex Twin, etc.) are superior to them and they get a lot of credit for innovation when a lot of it is borrowed.

I find modern music pretty barren these days and Radiohead are one of the few keeping it afloat and bringing respectability to it, in my view.

 

[TheTimTamSlammerMan]

Stones>Beatles.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Undeniably, it's the Beatles. Hell, they were at the forefront of a cultural revolution and even helped bring down the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.

 

[peate]

Not sure what it is, but I seem to have a great distaste for songs that revolve around a dramatic, ballad-y or anthemic, crowd-pleasing, statement-esque hook in general. Yesterday, Imagine, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Creep, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions (not sure if they should all be lumped together or if I'm using those terms correctly, but there seems to be something there). I find them kind of obnoxious (sometimes overbearing) and I'm just not a fan of that type of song at all. They just don't feel very... organic or grounded to me, if that makes sense.

I know the feeling. At least We will rock you/We are the champions ended up being a pretty good sports theme with the "Boom-Boom-clap" to get a crowd going, and the Stanley cup on ice celebration. Perfect fit.

 

[Shareefruck]

I know the feeling. At least We will rock you/We are the champions ended up being a pretty good sports theme with the "Boom-Boom-clap" to get a crowd going, and the Stanley cup on ice celebration. Perfect fit.

Yeah... like... they serve a function effectively I suppose (obviously way better than but in a similar vein to Christmas Carols, National Anthems, and Birthday songs, almost), but I'd never think of them of great songs.

To go a bit further, even songs that overtly have that "this is a single" vibe in general tend to have kind of a processed, inorganic artifice to them that doesn't feel quite as alive and breathing to my ears as a lot of stronger album cuts that don't feel like singles do (although I'm able to like the good ones more than I do the Yesterday/Imagine-type songs), yet they're often the ones mentioned as all time greats.

 

[peate]

Yeah... like... they serve a function effectively I suppose (obviously way better than but in a similar vein to Christmas Carols, National Anthems, and Birthday songs, almost), but I'd never think of them of great songs.

To go a bit further, even songs that overtly have that "this is a single" vibe in general tend to have kind of a processed, inorganic artifice to them that doesn't feel quite as alive and breathing to my ears as a lot of stronger album cuts that don't feel like singles do (although I'm able to like the good ones more than I do the Yesterday/Imagine-type songs).

What do you like listening to?

 

[Shareefruck]

What do you like listening to?

Not sure how you want me to answer that exactly. This post kind of gives an idea of what I mean, though:

I view Yesterday as the Beatles equivalent of Creep and Paranoid Android as the Radiohead equivalent of Strawberry Fields or A Day in the Life. They're both kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to different types of massively appreciated tracks by the bands. Personally, I find the former group awful/overrated and the latter group very admirable and great, but probably not their best. For my money, the actual best track of both bands would be Tomorrow Never Knows and Pyramid Song (runner-up Everything in Its Right Place).

Don't really care for Bohemian Rhapsody or Stairway to Heaven, kind of like but don't love Comfortably Numb. My top Zeppelin track would be No Quarter, my top Pink Floyd track would be Dogs, and I don't really like anything from Queen.

It's hard to explain, but sometimes songs sound like they're being created entirely for their own purpose, irrespective of how they might be received by an audience (obviously that's never actually the case, but there's an illusion of that), rather than designed to satisfy everyone in a rounded way (which singles and dramatic/theatrical "greatest of all time" songs tend to feel). I feel like the former type has a limitless peak whereas the latter has a ceiling, I guess.

For example... Revolution 1 sounds way cooler to my ears than Revolution, the single, which, despite being more energetic, feels like it has all the life sucked out of it and has been reduced to just a catchy tune, to my ears (to the point where content of the lyrics barely even register). Something that could only exist as an album cut like Long Long Long tends to feel way cooler to my ears than something like Hey Jude (which doesn't really fit as an album cut and could only be a single), in a similar way.

 

[peate]

Not sure how you want me to answer that exactly. This post kind of gives an idea of what I mean, though:


It's hard to explain, but sometimes songs sound like they're being created entirely for their own purpose, irrespective of how they might be received by an audience (obviously that's never actually the case, but there's an illusion of that), rather than designed to satisfy everyone in a rounded way (which singles and dramatic/theatrical "greatest of all time" songs tend to feel. I feel like the former type has a limitless peak whereas the latter has a ceiling, I guess.

For example... Revolution 1 sounds way cooler to my ears than Revolution, the single, which, despite being energetic, feels like it has all the life sucked out of it and has been reduced to just a catchy tune, to my ears (to the point where content of the lyrics barely even register).

The single was a great jukebox song, but yeah, The White Album version is better. I was asking in a more general preference style rather than Beatles specifically.

 

[Shareefruck]

The single was a great jukebox song, but yeah, The White Album version is better. I was asking in a more general preference style rather than Beatles specifically.

Stylistically, I seem to gravitate most towards that Krautrock mentality most. To oversimplify, rock is a little too straightforward, prog rock is a little too overbearing and pretentious in its ambitiousness, punk is a little too dumb, minimalism isn't as infectious, but Krautrock puts it all together in just the right way.

 

[peate]

Stylistically, I seem to gravitate most towards that Krautrock mentality most. To oversimplify, rock is a little too straightforward, prog rock is a little too overbearing and pretentious in its ambitiousness, punk is a little too dumb, minimalism isn't as infectious, but Krautrock puts it all together in just the right way.

I heard Kraftwerk before but that's about it.

 

[Shareefruck]

I heard Kraftwerk before but that's about it.

Kraftwerk is technically Krautrock but it doesn't sound anything like what I associate with the genre.




YouTube
YouTube
YouTube

 

[Eisen]

That's a fair comparison, Yesterday vs Creep

Have you heard Tool's cover of No Quarter? It's better than the original, IMO... and I love the original!

Crowbar's No Quarter is my favourite.

I found Creep to be a stronger song than Yesterday. Alone for that pre chorus scratch.

 

[Perennial]

Crowbar's No Quarter is my fabourite.

I found Creep to be a stronger song than Yesterday. Alone for that pre chorus scratch.

Do you know the story behind that prechorus scratch?

Apparently the guitar player thought the song was boring to play and just threw it in as a sort of protest...

 

[Eisen]

Do you know the story behind that prechorus scratch?

Apparently the guitar player thought the song was boring to play and just threw it in as a sort of protest...

I never heard that. That's awesome and I agree with him. That scratch makes the song. It sets up an ambivalence and dichotomy that just adds a fantastic flavour. As a bass player myself I get his feeling.

 

[montreal]

happy B-day Ringo, 80 years old!