The Beatles

[Stepmotheratomicbomb]

This all my life , and still they give, the stones to a certain extent

[Wayward]

I love the Stones, particularly the 68-72 stretch, but really they are a country mile away from the Beatles, in every way!

[MJ2]

There’s not been a band that can touch them, creatively or musically, across multiple genres, before or since.

[Wayward]

I agree, but it is precisely this sort of comment that makes it hard for new listeners because there is no way in one listen you can appreciate that sort of statement.

There are very few records I have listened to as much as The Beatles and still find them entertaining, but I’m still finding stuff in those records I marvel at, and little bits I haven’t appreciated before. The Beatles are at once ubiquitous, and rich in depth. If however, you just surface listen to them, with the pressure of 'THE BEST BAND EVAH ’ rattling around your head, you won’t give them a chance.

[josh]

Not sure if the below is directed at me or in general, but with regards to my post, while it’s obviously impossible to listen without any expectation, in mitigation:

• I didn’t approach the project with a ‘Comeonthen, show me what you got Beatles…’ attitude. I’ve been wanting to listen to their music independently of their reputation.
• I have already heard quite a lot of their music per the OP - and love songs like TNK. Just never listened to an album.

A few years ago I did a similar thing with the works of David Bowie (took ages!) and on the whole, I came away with a much greater appreciation for his music and inventiveness. With the Beatles, I felt like I’d already, for the most part, heard their best work.

@Wayward

I think The Beatles’ reputation puts loads of pressure on new listeners of their records. How can the music ever live up to it? I guess that I have always listened to them, pretty much, and haven’t approached them with a ‘let’s see what all the fuss is about’ type attitude.

[Wayward]

Not directed at you and you don’t have to like them.

[Kevin]

@josh

A few years ago I did a similar thing with the works of David Bowie

I am not sure it is a fair comparison. The works of Bowie span a lifetime, the Beatles 8 years.
But fair play to you for embarking on both journeys.

[Ruprecht]

I suppose the Beatles have an intellectual and an emotional pull for me. I rarely sit and work through their catalogue in any deliberate way though. The intellectual interest comes mostly from the historical context — I admit I take a certain pleasure in this , I’m a geek. When I look at the dates and then look at what else was being made at the time, my appreciation tends to inflate naturally. They were very often on the money, and very frequently ahead of it.

Emotionally, there’s more going on beneath this. Their music has been in my life all my life, so a degree of sentiment is unavoidable. There’s also the matter of musicianship and songwriting… not in the abstract, but in how completely absorbed those things have become. I don’t listen to these records all the time, largely because I don’t need to. I can bring most of them to mind and play them without effort; they’ve become intrinsic in some way.

Familiarity is probably why I wouldn’t describe myself as a mega fan. They don’t occupy the centre of my listening interests, they sit slightly off to one side — less as something to be revisited obsessively and more as a reference point. A touchstone. Something you measure other things against, whether I realise it or not.