It has been nearly 40 years since The Beatles released their final studio album “Abbey Road.” Hailed by critics of the era and after as one of the best, it became apparent to listeners young and old that The Beatles would forever hold a place in history. Some forget, however, that this place for The Beatles had been secured already since their first single was released in 1963.
When The Beatles came out, they filled a void. While rock ‘n’ roll had been buzzing for some time, The Beatles had a sound that was fresh, something other bands hadn’t quite been able to grasp. Heavily influenced by Buddy Holly and Elvis, The Beatles put their own spin on the sounds and ushered in the British Invasion and caused the epidemic known as Beatlemania. Granted, The Beatles had amazing marketing, but what about when the pop fuzz wore off? The Beatles simply got better.
Thus began the second half of their career, some say beginning with the seemingly drug-induced “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” While some bands do evolve and grow over time, few do as big of an overhaul on their image and sound as The Beatles did. Here we see the four distinct voices, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, coming together to produce something great.
Shedding their poppy, innocent image, The Beatles found themselves in a generation fueled by the counterculture, fed up with “the man,” and finished with the innocence of the early ‘60s. The Beatles reflected that in their music. Few bands evolve with a generation: many just took the counterculture and ran with it at the peak of the psychedelic music genre. The Beatles kept their music rich, deep, and poignantly simple. By doing this they continued to define their generation, becoming a landmark for the ‘60s music scene.
However, when a band becomes as big as The Beatles have, many begin to argue that they are overrated and undeserving of their place in history as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, bands of all time. People often hate the popularity of The Beatles. After all, why like something that everyone else seems to like?
The problem with this is that people often forget the ongoing relevance of The Beatles. The film “Across the Universe” came out in 2007, using The Beatles’ music as covered by the cast. Cirque de Soleil also made use of The Beatles’ tracks remixed and revisited. Both were popular and fantastic examples of The Beatles’ prevailed standing in the music scene. Bands continue to cover them and site their works as a major influence, drawing on albums such as “The White Album” and “Abbey Road” for inspiration. Teenagers whose parents had never picked up a Beatles album are discovering the songs and adding to an already substantial fanbase. The Beatles continue to define and shape generation after generation, music scene after music scene.
Some also see The Beatles as latching onto the scene that preceeded them. This falls flat, because The Beatles, as previously stated, began an entire new musical revolution, the British Invasion. By adding a British spin, The Beatles helped change American rock ‘n’ roll forever. So when it comes to comparing bands that hit it big after The Beatles, it invalidates history. The Beatles had a niche in music history and did things that were uprecedented. They reached a broader audience that was rarely narrowed by a specific genre or demographic, becoming universal in countries around the world. Even when they first came out, The Beatles were recording in various languages and countries. Whose to say that should The Beatles’ have not existed or had been as big as they came to be, that music would be the same. Yet people continue to doubt.
My question for the doubters is “Have you listened to them?” No, not that simple. Have you really truly listened to them, weighed their growth as songwriters, viewed their evolution from album to album, seen the way they affected not just their generation but the generations after that? Doing this isn’t just required for The Beatles, but all bands. The Beatles showed us that listening to music isn’t as basic as plugging in our iPods or flipping on a turntable. We have to become the music and immerse ourselves in what it really means. A band that can do that: make us think as much, make us feel as much, as The Beatles have done, is truly worthy of any title, including being the best.