Artist Discussion Series: The Beatles

Elladorine · Post by **Elladorine** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:49 pm

One of my early exposures to the Beatles was from the 60's Saturday morning cartoon series, forever attaching warm, fuzzy memories every time I hear any of their music. It wasn't exactly the best cartoon ever made but I like the character designs and the music was great.

I.E.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T0WMcdZ6Js

My fiance hosted a local radio program on the Beatles for a short while, so we both got exposed to a lot of the music and history of them. My favorite song would have to be "Eleanor Rigby," although I do love most of their music regardless.

Finchx0rz · Post by **Finchx0rz** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:40 pm

THE CARTOON SHOW! I always thought it was weird that the cartoon series is generally ignored...though George did make an oblique remark in the Anthology documentary that can probably count as a reference. The series was corny and the animation was bad, but the shows <em>were</em> definitely cute. The only thing that really irritates me is how the singing voices were often animated to the wrong character. (I do NOT want to see John singing with Paul's voice!) My favorite episodes are "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Eleanor Rigby" and "Paperback Writer."

Elladorine · Post by **Elladorine** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:56 pm

Yeah, I thought it was weird too!!! I wonder if I'd be so attached to their music now had I not been exposed to the show in the early 80's. I did hear somewhere that the Beatles preferred the more artsy Yellow Submarine because it was more "valid" or whatever. . . maybe we're referring to the same quote? My memory on that is hazy. Funny how I hated Yellow Submarine as a kid (and I liked cartoons more than the average kid, even back then) but now I love it.

Anyway, I'd love to see these restored and on DVD. I like how relatively abstract some of the music videos-- er, I mean, episodes come off. It's also an interesting bit of animation history.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 3:06 pm

Wondy, I agree that they can be considered rock music in their time. What I find frustrating is when I ask someone what their favorite rock band is and they spit out (seemingly out of obligation) "The Beatles." Yes, rock is essentially a sub-section of pop music and the two frequently overlap, but I think it's safe to say that for several decades now, "rock" has been distinguishable as its own sound and genre. I also think that because dance music and ballads have dominated the charts for so long and because we don't have anywhere else to file them, that kind of music is now thought of as "Pop," which has become different from "popular music." All I'm saying is that it's time to concede that point and move on. Again, by today's standards, The Beatles can only loosely qualify as "rock" as it exists today. So when I ask you what your favorite rock band is, just please don't tell me it's The Beatles unless you've got a caveat on your own knowledge of music history and personal preferences waiting to follow it up. You know that's not the kind of music I'm talking about so let's not pretend that it is just to honor The Beatles. ("You" is used to stand in for whatever hypothetical person I'm having this conversation with).

-Aaron

Lars Vermundsberget · Post by **Lars Vermundsberget** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:41 am

As for "pop" or "rock"...: Listen to all the songs of roughly the second half of their career as the Beatles, and you may find that the Beatles could fit into a number of different categories.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:44 pm

Let's also not forget our ongoing Disney connections. Paul McCartney apparently co-hosted some sort of TV special called "Disney Time." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260863/

-Aaron

memnv · Post by **memnv** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:30 pm

All this beatle talk made me watch The Ringo Classic - Caveman tonight, I love this movie

Elladorine · Post by **Elladorine** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:41 pm

Ooh, Caveman!!! I'm gonna have to dig out my DVD, I haven't watched it in a while. It's one of the first movies I ever remember seeing as a kid.

musicradio77 · Post by **musicradio77** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:41 pm

I always loved the Beatles. My uncle always loved the group. I have so amny album on vinyl including "Sgt. Pepper", "White Album", "Let It Be", "Abbey Road", "Magical Mystery Tour", "The Beatle 6", "Meet the Beatles", "Beatles '65", "Second Album" and "Something New". The first two Beatles compilations are "1963-66" (Red) and "1967-70" (Blue). Those were great albums. I also have Paul McCartney's "Ram" along with the John Lennon albums "Imagine" and "Double Fantasy" featuring Yoko Ono. "Double Fantasy" was a classic featuring the last three John Lennon songs like "Starting Over", "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels". That album came out days before John Lennon was shot to death near the Dakota home on December 8th, 1980. I was shocked that John Lennon was dead since I was 2 years old at the time. They were all over the news about what happened to John Lennon. YouTube has clips from John Lennon's death:

John Lennon Radio Composite - 12/8/80
John Lennon's Death on KNXT - 1980
WABC-TV Reports on John Lennon's death - 1980

Here is the aircheck of John Lennon's death on Musicradio WABC back in 1980.

Dan Ingram on WABC from 12/9/80

Wonderlicious · Post by **Wonderlicious** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:37 am

AwallaceUNC wrote:Let's also not forget our ongoing Disney connections. Paul McCartney apparently co-hosted some sort of TV special called "Disney Time." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260863/

-Aaron

Just to give you some more insight into "Disney Time"; "Disney Time" was a Disney special in the UK that aired on various holidays even into the late 1990s (that's why I remember it). It used to showcase various Disney shorts and film clips (the film clips being mainly from recent or upcoming releases or rereleases) and had celebrity anchors joining the pieces together. Obviously Paul co-hosted the 1973 one. Here's some more (yet fairly minimal) information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Time

dvdjunkie · Post by **dvdjunkie** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:46 am

And who can forget one of the best 'rock & roll' movies of all time A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles very first movie. I can watch it over and over, it is very good, and pretty darn funny. Almost all of my favorite Beatles tunes are from that period of time.

And dont forget Paul McCartney wrote the theme for the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, which he and his band Wings performed on the soundtrack of the film and also always play it in concert as one of their featured numbers.

musicradio77 · Post by **musicradio77** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:43 pm

Aaron, I looked up on the Musicradio WABC website (the one you heard me since the "Mail Bag" episode on your show as my username "Musicradio77") that "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was their first #1 in New York City back in January of 1964 as featured on the Musicradio WABC survey. This was the first Beatles single ever to hit #1 in the NYC charts as contributed by Ken Williamson. Here is the link:

WABC's All American Survey for Week of 1/7/64

WABC has a lot of Beatle records listed on printed surveys in NYC area where they hit the charts. "Hey Jude" was the #1 song in WABC's survey back in 1968. This was the only Beatles single ever where the song was clocked at 7:10 and made "Hey Jude", the longest Beatles single ever. This was also listed on WABC's survey:

WABC Music Power Survey for Week of 9/17/68

In 1970, "Let It Be" was also a #1 song on WABC's survey for 7 straight weeks.

WABC Music Power Survey for Week of 3/24/70

This was the same year that the Beatles were no more. "Long & Winding Road" never made it to #1 on the WABC survey and it was the last Beatles single to hit the top 5 in New York City. Many Beatles singles were charted in the New York Metro area airwaves. Aaron, you should check out a link about the Beatles and WABC as featured on a link to Allan Sniffen's website:

Musicradio WABC Beatles Page

MichaeLeah · Post by **MichaeLeah** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:56 pm

I can't believe I have missed this discussion so far. I love the Beatles. I think they are the greatest band of all time. I have all their albums and all but just a few of their solo albums. All together I must have 50 or 60 of their albums. They completely revolutionized everything about pop (or rock) music. Few people understand the HUGE contribution they have made. They completely changed the way music was recorded in the studio. The initiated the idea of not puting throwaway tracks on an album. They invented the concept album (I know about Pet Sounds, but Rubber Soul inspired Pet Sounds). I think Abbey Road is their greatest album. There are several tracts on that album that were considered for singles (but the break-up, among other things, prevented this). The medleys on the second side of the record or so amazing.

AwallaceUNC · Post by **AwallaceUNC** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:50 am

Not sure if Love should make it into the "official discography" or not. For now, I've just mentioned it in the notable facts. Anyways, bumping to say that the thread has been updated and this new release is available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_%28Th ... s_album%29

I think it sounds interesting and I saw one of Loomis' posts saying it's not too horrificly remixed. Actually sounds like I might like it, though I'm not entirely sure what to expect.

-Aaron

Ktrek · Post by **Ktrek** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:38 am

Being 50 years old I grew up hearing the Beatles. When I was a teenager I owned all their albums, together and solo. The Beatles played an important role in my love of music but I have found that as I have gotten older their music no longer holds an appeal for me. Having heard all of their songs literally hundreds of times, whether by LP, CD or radio I am just plain burned out on the Beatles. I acknowledge that they were influential in the development of rock music and were some of the very first to push the boundaries of the genre. Without the Beatles there would have been no YES, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Crosby Stills and Nash, Genesis, Electric Light Orchestra, The Police or many other bands. However, the bands I just mentioned, and others, took rock music much farther even than the Beatles could have even dreamed, evidenced by Paul McCartney's weak back catalog (he was never as good solo as he was as a Beatle). On the other hand some of the directions rock music has taken over the last 40 years are far inferior to Beatles music as well. All in all I would say the Beatles were an important band but if I never hear another Beatles song it wouldn't bother me a bit.

Kevin

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:24 am

Some news (or rumors) about a Beatles version of the Rock Band game:

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/10/ ... beatl.html

I didn't even know that we had this thread. I've always loved the Beatles- they're my dad's favorite band, so I grew up with their music. My favorite albums of theirs have always been "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", but I love all of their music. I defintely need to read through this thread!

DaveWadding · Post by **DaveWadding** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:53 am

I'm stoked for the Beatles game...even if its not "Rock Band" per se, HMX will probably have it running on the Rock Band game engine (which is so much better, IMO, than Guitar Hero's). Awesomeeee.

Lazario · Post by **Lazario** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 6:26 am

When I was flipping through all the roomies' Beatles CD's, I was amazed at how many of the bands I listened to growing up totally stole from The Beatles.

Especially Veruca Salt. They stole right from "Glass Onion" in their hit single, "Volcano Girls". Veruca: "I told you 'bout the 'Seether' before, you know the one who's neither or nor, but here's another clue if you please, The Seether's Louise." Beatles: "I told you 'bout Strawberry Fields, you know- the place where nothing is real," "well here's another clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul."

Also, the Smashing Pumpkins' "Lily My One and Only" shares an incredible likeness with "I'm Only Sleeping."

Garbage is also a big fan apparently. If you're a huge Beatles fan, I think you'll notice Garbage's "The Trick is to Keep Breathing" also has an air of Beatles about it. I noticed a direct similarity to one of their songs but I can't remember which one:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b5mRk1BtGJI&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b5mRk1BtGJI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

The_Iceflash · Post by **The_Iceflash** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:24 am

AwallaceUNC wrote:Wondy, I agree that they can be considered rock music in their time. What I find frustrating is when I ask someone what their favorite rock band is and they spit out (seemingly out of obligation) "The Beatles." Yes, rock is essentially a sub-section of pop music and the two frequently overlap, but I think it's safe to say that for several decades now, "rock" has been distinguishable as its own sound and genre. I also think that because dance music and ballads have dominated the charts for so long and because we don't have anywhere else to file them, that kind of music is now thought of as "Pop," which has become different from "popular music." All I'm saying is that it's time to concede that point and move on. Again, by today's standards, The Beatles can only loosely qualify as "rock" as it exists today. So when I ask you what your favorite rock band is, just please don't tell me it's The Beatles unless you've got a caveat on your own knowledge of music history and personal preferences waiting to follow it up. You know that's not the kind of music I'm talking about so let's not pretend that it is just to honor The Beatles. ("You" is used to stand in for whatever hypothetical person I'm having this conversation with).

-Aaron

Well since I'm about one of the biggest Beatles fans on this site (I even collect Beatles vinyl, cds, etc) while still loving other bands (from that era and forward) and extremely knowledgeable about music history, I'm in every position to say the Beatles whenever I'm asked that. It's not out of obligation but out of my fandom.

"Time to concede and move on"? Nope.

Just because it's not what you want to hear when you ask "Favorite rock band" don't mean we can't say it.

Plus, you never EVER classify or judge anything from the past by today's standards.

DaveWadding wrote:I'm stoked for the Beatles game...even if its not "Rock Band" per se, HMX will probably have it running on the Rock Band game engine (which is so much better, IMO, than Guitar Hero's). Awesomeeee.

So am I. I can't wait to see what they do.

Jack Skellington · Post by **Jack Skellington** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:37 pm

I love the Beatles

I always loved "Hey Jude" but after watching "Across the Universe", I got into all of their songs.

My favourite songs now are, "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Across the Universe", Strawberry Fields", and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". (which stands for LSD ! lol)

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Artist Discussion Series: The Beatles