That's not really contradicting what I said then though.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

"Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" is literally the worst song ever, yet it's the same guy who played guitar on "Your Bird Can Sing," played drums on "Back in the USSR," played bass on "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," and sang "Got to Get You into My Life." Curious.

Robert De Niro did Little Fockers too.

They can't all be all time great performances.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

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that song and Last Christmas by wham make me want to hate Christmas.

I thought wonderful Christmas time was the worst but no Last Christmas by Taylor swift is the worst. Last Christmas by Wham is great.

To this thread’s theme, John Lennon and Paul McCartney are individually responsible for the two worst Christmas songs of all time.

KD nailed ‘simply having…’. ‘Happy Xmas’ should be thrown on the ash heap as well.

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Last Christmas is terrible no matter who is singing it, but that Wham version is just awful. and it pisses me off that it has made its way into the Christmas rotation on the radio or the supermarket play lists as a classic that I will have to endure the rest of my life along with that terrible "All I Want For Christmas is You" abomination from Mariah Carey.

Happy Xmas/war is over is a pretty good song.

Wonderful Xmas time is an abomination.

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I'm usual the first one here to start throwing the "overrated" label on bands....sorry, not doing it with the Beatles.
They're not my favorite, but the body of work is just too good. The Beatles are rated appropriately...as are the Beach Boys. God Only Knows is a beautiful song, so is Across the Universe, Let It Be.

I'm more of a Stones guy personally, but in terms of songwriting and influence the Beatles are more important. Revolver is probably the Beatles at their peak, but Abbey Road is my favorite. I don't get tired of it.
I get JORR's point on the Boomer mentality, but I attribute that more to overrating Fleetwood fucking Mac

The Christmas songs....most are an abomination, so I'm just going to ignore them.

Spaulding dropped a Paul Simon bomb He's nowhere near my favorites, but damnit...he did give us "Late In the Evening". Always loved that one.

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Maybe someone called her Betty...but she didn't want to call him Al.

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It's not my favorite but it's light years ahead of McCartney's Wonderful XMas.

But, it doesn't feel Christmas-y. It feels like I'm up late watching commercials to donate my cup of coffee (which is Christmas-y but not in the same way).

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My Maserati does 186.

DeVito.

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Elections have consequences.

It definitely doesn't feel Christmas-y...I think it only gets counted because Christmas is in the title.

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I'm not questioning the greatness of the Beatles. My point is that this idea that it's settled science that they are the best band ever and that cannot and must not be challenged is absurd.

I get that the Raspberries may not have existed if not for the Beatles, but I might argue that they were a better band and I'd certainly argue that "Go All The Way" is better than any single Beatles song.

And I definitely think the Byrds were as influential as the Beatles. The Beatles begat orchestral pop, ELO, Oasis, etc. the Byrds begat country rock, the Eagles, Tom Petty, etc.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Just finished the last hour and rooftop concert. Overall it was enjoyable. Hard to believe they got anything useable from the roof that made the album. I found it fun to see all of them turn it on and play the songs straight on even in the cold and wind. You could tell the McCartney and Lennon could throw it into that extra gear and lock it down to get those songs done. We never saw them do a lot of the songs all the way through without goofing off during a majority of the film. I also just want to say that the other star of the program was Billy Preston he really brought a lot to the organ and electric piano and really seemed like a cool cat. Really improved the vibe in the room.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

It's hard to measure how influential any particular artist is. Elvis was influential but then he was influenced himself by blues and gospel music.

But it's pretty hard to argue that The Beatles aren't right at the top of musical influences of the past 75 years. They're still making 8-hour documentaries on them. There was that British movie a few years ago about what it would be like if The Beatles never existed.

I think you are just speaking as a musician. Culturally it's not close.

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My Maserati does 186.

That gets back to that Boomer thing though. While I think Brick's opinions on music are often nonsensical, I do understand where he is coming from at times. The Beatles hold that cultural position because they are the favored band of the largest generation. It's almost as if the Boomers bully the things that are important to them into positions of cultural prominence.

For example, Vietnam will always be a bigger deal than Afghanistan or Iraq. It affected the right generation for that to be the case.

I know Brick likes to make his Nelly joke, but seriously, if Nelly had come on Ed Sullivan in 1964 to thrill the Boomer teens, would he be the Beatles?

I know you know what I mean. You're a Jim O'Donnell aficionado. His column is the Boomer Herald. The guy still sits up at night pondering the Kennedy assassination. Jesus himself could get the band back together with Lucifer on lead vocals and you could never convince O'Donnell they were greater than the Beatles.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

They could redo Leather and Lace.

I'm not going to argue the Boomers have influenced the entire culture for far too long. If I was a Boomer, we'd all be listening to A-ha and Asia.

But, intrinsically the music The Beatles made is good. The Long and Winding Road, Let It Be, Gotta Get You Into My Life....there are many duds...Maxwell's Silver Hammer is shit, many like that too.

But the highs are very high (and they were also pretty high apparently). I don't attribute The Beatles popularity to Boomer culture.

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My Maserati does 186.

My favorite "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" story is that when they finished making the Abbey Road album, Lennon was all excited to have Dylan listen to it but he gave him a copy that didn't have "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" on it.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Can you imagine throwing that album on for the first time and hearing Come Together and then Something and them Maxwell's Silver Hammer comes on and you'd be like....WTF happened?

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My Maserati does 186.

been away for a bit with work blocking the site...

but, this is fkn amazing. all the non-musicians are seeing how it works. anyone who has been in a band has done this. seeing the Beatles do it is a treat.

In every situation there are alphas and betas. you are seeing this happen in a artistic creative process under duress. it's about as good as it gets.

also, realize the times. the Beatles did the most with the classic chord changes that Elvis didn't.
EVERYONE (whether they like it or not) are playing a Beatles song in some fashion. Stones, Bowie, Nirvana!!!, Pumpkins, NIN...

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@audioidkid

I never realized how great a vocalist John Wetton was until I heard the stripped down acoustic version of Heat of the Moment . It’s better than the released song . Blew me away .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I actually liked Asia quite a lot at the time.

I won a mirror at a county fair with their logo on it.

Embarrassing facts about Dr. Ken.

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My Maserati does 186.

This. That band you like ? Yep, influenced by the Beatles .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Who hasn’t wept listening to The Smile has Left Your Eyes ?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I guess I shouldn’t admit liking Maxwell’s Silver Hammer more than Come Together.

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I think Doug puts it well. The Beatles get a lot of credit for doing things first. It gets muddled in the mid to late 60s though as the changes, influences, and new bands all came out so fast and compressed.

Also, I think the so called over love comes more from the influence rather than any particular songs. Lastly, George Martin and Brian Epstein were perfect.

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Elections have consequences.

This was a thread about the documentary on the Beatles documentary "Get Back".

It's become a referendum on the Beatles themselves. Say what you will, I find that interesting, and a testament to their (5 pages and counting) relevance. And on my "I Hate the Beatles" bingo card, I had neither of the Kenny's (Loggins or Messina, although oddly I did have McReynolds.)

And JORR, to your references of "Pet Sounds" (who could deny its genius) I just wonder, having watched this creative process unfold, how Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all would have been aided by jamming The Wrecking Crew.