I was asking what makes an artist old? Not comparing the Beatles to Beethoven. A lot of people think he is the pinnacle of music. I don’t know, but do have 7 different complete versions of his symphonies. Hmm, that probably just makes me a nerd.
But honestly. How much do we think of the technique that goes into writing music? The Beatles went from very simple to really sophisticated and complex in an astoundingly short time. None of them were 30 when they broke up. They did everything while growing from working-class boys to men in just a bit more than 10 years.
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I wasn’t replying to you directly. I was just contributing to the thread.
But the key word ‘Genius’ springs to mind when considering timeless music like Beethoven, or The Beatles.
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Nearly as good as wings.
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Boy, oh boy, Wings
Well in all seriousness, did Beatle fans ever consider that there might be people out there that are not so impressed by the Beatles. Yes, they made a tremendous evolution but so does every adolescent teenager on drugs
Which other bands or musicians did you have in mind?
I suppose I should stop renovating our house, refinishing a cabinet, and the next time one of my cars needs maintenance selling it for scrap and buying a new one.
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Wow, some real fans here! I grew up listening to the Beatles, loving them! I love their music. They were a good band, no, a great band! I imagine Peter Jackson (born in 1961) feels the same way. But, you know, that was 50 years ago. As Robert Jorgensen writes, longevity does typically mean something, something special. Does it mean they were Bach or Beethoven? Probably not. Be interesting to see how much they’re played another 50 years from now, after the nostalgia dies.
There are lots of great bands, after all. Was the Modern Jazz Quartet as good as the Beatles? I think so. Some of Ellington’s small groups were even better. Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys?
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When the ashtrays are full, time for a new car!
Bear in mind, the writer is a music critic, forced to listen to all the new music all the time. Probably a tough enough job without having to write nostalgia pieces about long-gone bands.
I certainly hope he didn’t break a nail or get a blister from writing that article. The fact that he felt compelled to write it and it got published speaks volumes about the need for the press to capture eyeballs with unnecessary controversy. I suppose his twitter had a good day. Sigh.
I had the complete Beatles collection on disk and in my Roon library. I actually never liked them much, but thought I needed to have Beatles because I grew up with them. In the end I deleted all of it from the disk. First and last time I deleted any music… good riddance!
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Not everyone likes kimchi.
Good for you! I grew up with a lot of music I did not feel the necessity to add to my music collection simply because it was around when I was growing up. If you are not a Beatles fan, that’s down to your musical preference. I just don’t understand why you would buy the ‘complete Beatles’ collection when you have already grown up hearing the songs? Surely you would have previously decided that they were not for you? 
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Born in October 1965 I really have no memory of the Beatles but bought Revolver the same day as I bought Tubeway Army’s Replicas and they both blew me away.
The Beatles will most definitely be listened to in 50 year’s time, why wouldn’t they, who from today’s crop or the crop in between will usurp them?
Looking forward to watching some of the documentary tomorrow as Storm Barra hits Ireland.
.sjb
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Good man John! Batten down the hatches, and hopefully enjoy the docu. 
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No matter if you like, dislike, think they’re irrelevant, etc. the film is a major accomplishment and unique testament to creativity and the times (just the fashion alone is worth it). It’s history, and we should be curious about it and intent on preserving it. If you don’t care, fine, then find something else to care about. Sadly though, I can’t think of one contemporary music act that has had the same global impact as The Beatles. Since Nirvana, really. It’s something that will probably never happen again in the same way.
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I think that’s right. The world is so much more heterogeneous than it was, thanks to the Internet. All kinds of music is so much more accessible. The '60’s was all AM pop radio. Only so many bands could get airtime in that setup. Bands today won’t get the same mindshare, no matter how good they are, because they aren’t filtered through that same narrow funnel.
More: “The Washington Post spoke to more than a dozen songwriters [meaning: 13] about their reactions to the series about the iconic quartet, the viral moment when McCartney writes the backbone of “Get Back” in minutes, and the sometimes smooth, sometimes arduous process of how to craft a song in the first place. Here’s what they had to say.”
This was great!
Much more interesting to hear the background and history for the tunes, with mixing tracks separated.
To hear “Get back” played more than ten times with “funny” voices is just time wasted.
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There is no way that the Beatles were overrated.
I started seriously listening to music around 1969 when I was fourteen. Beatles music was always around, being played at parties and on radio. I was very familiar with their music and I liked and owned some some of their albums. But back then, however, I was not a big fan. The music that moved me back then was Cream, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and other British Blues invasion music.
I listen to all sorts of music now and when I listen to the Beatles now it never ceases to amaze me how good and how influential that they were. They wrote so many different types and styles of songs and did them so well. They did ballads, rock songs, bluesy songs, pop songs, and songs that still do not fit into any categories. They had all those hit songs and looking back on Beatles catalog, many of their songs that I like the most were B sides (like Rain) or just another song on an album (like I’m Looking Through You). Listen to just about any Beatles album and you will find at least one or two obscure songs that is a gem that you forgot about but still sounds relevant today.
The Get Back film was long but I enjoyed the heck out of it. It showed the Beatles as musicians, songwriters, and most importantly friends that cared about each other. The film also did a great job of showing how the Beatles were kind of painted into a corner. They had to stop performing because it became impossible and then they got stuck in rut after years of only making albums. It was wonderful to see how much they enjoyed performing together on the roof of building.
Get Back gave me the incentive to go back an listen to a bunch of Beatles albums that I had not listened to in a long time. It astounds me how good that they were and how well their music holds up today.
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I don’t listen to the Beatles very often anymore, but that’s more about my tastes changing, not their music. Get Back aside, they are definitely NOT overrated. The breadth, diversity, originality and evolution of music they pumped out in less than a decade is astonishing. No other band, Stones included, is even close in this regard … as McCartney himself said recently “I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are,” … and he’s kinda right.